Today's New York Times magazine includes a digest of the most noteworthy
ideas of the past 12 months. The list is long. My favorite is the
anti-rape condom. Then there's this
one about blogs:
When the liberal activist Matt Stoller was running a blog for the Democrat Jon Corzine's 2005 campaign for governor, he saw the power of the conservative blogosphere firsthand. Shortly before the election, a conservative Web site claimed that politically damaging information about Corzine was about to surface in the media. It didn't. But New Jersey talk-radio shock jocks quoted the online speculation, inflicting public-relations damage on Corzine anyway. To Stoller, it was proof of how conservatives have mastered the art of using blogs as a deadly campaign weapon.
That might sound counterintuitive. After all, the Howard Dean campaign showed the power of the liberal blogosphere. And the liberal-activist Web site DailyKos counts hundreds of thousands of visitors each day. But Democrats say there's a key difference between liberals and conservatives online. Liberals use the Web to air ideas and vent grievances with one another, often ripping into Democratic leaders. (Hillary Clinton, for instance, is routinely vilified on liberal Web sites for supporting the Iraq war.) Conservatives, by contrast, skillfully use the Web to provide maximum benefit for their issues and candidates. They are generally less interested in examining every side of every issue and more focused on eliciting strong emotional responses from their supporters.
But what really makes conservatives effective is their pre-existing media infrastructure, composed of local and national talk-radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, the Fox News Channel and sensationalist say-anything outlets like the Drudge Report - all of which are quick to pass on the latest tidbit from the blogosphere. "One blogger on the Republican side can have a real impact on a race because he can just plug right into the right-wing infrastructure that the Republicans have built," Stoller says.
In addition to the existing media structure, this line says it all: "They (conservatives blogs) are generally less interested in examining every side of every issue and more focused on eliciting strong emotional responses from their supporters."
That line reminded me of a host on Air America last night who desperately said he wanted to have a civil conversation with a conservative on-air. I've never heard a right wing host say, "I want to have a civil conversation with a liberal. Please call in."
Most lefty sites welcome constructive debates with all sides. Hell, I took a six-month road trip to meet and have conversations with conservatives. Try posting on redstate.org or freerepublic.com: "Why haven't Republicans voted to increase healthcare for the troops?" You'll be kicked off immediately.
This fundamental difference between liberal and conservative blogs (and many liberals and conservatives) will never change.
