Conservative Blogz Rool!That's apparently the conclusion of a Sunday New York Times article on the blogosphere that this article (by lowlife Greg Mitchell) in
E&P attempts to debunk preemptively.
In fact, Crowley admits that his argument for conservative blog supremacy may seem “counterintuitive,” noting the Howard Dean phenomenon in early 2004 and heavy Web traffic numbers for liberal blogs such as DailyKos. (He does not mention that studies of online traffic show that, overall, there are more highly-popular liberal blogs than conservative ones.) But he explains that “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. Conservatives, by contrast, skillfully use the Web to provide maximum benefit for their issues and candidates.”
Crowley then comments that what really makes the conservative blogs allegedly more effective is the infrastructure provided by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and others--"all of which are quick to pass on the latest tidbit from the blogosphere."It always makes me laugh when somebody brings up the Howard Dean phenomenon as an example of the liberal blogosphere's mojo. Yes, the liberal blogs were successful in raising $40 million and an army of volunteers. For a candidate who didn't win a single primary. And I don't believe for a moment that there are more highly popular liberal blogs than conservative ones. TTLB's down right now, but I'd bet that if you checked the top 20 or the top 50 or the top 100 that there would be more conservative than liberal blogs. Yes, Kos is way above everybody in traffic, but some of that is due to definitions. I suspect that if Lucianne's site were considered a blog (which it is) it would dwarf Kos. Ditto for the Drudge Report, which has about as much traffic in an hour as Kos has in a day.
