On Blogs ...

From National Journal's Hotline:

Weekly Standard's Barnett writes, the left-wing blogosphere, "in spite of its passion and singularity of puropose," has shown "no ability to make" Dems "more electorally popular." The conventional wisdom is that blogs "are a growing force with unlimited potential," but the "dirty little secret" is that the "blogsophere's growth has flat-lined," and in many cases, "shrunk."

Why then, do Dem politicians feel an "increasingly powerful urge to genuflect before bloggers?" The "only logical answer" is that politicians still believe the blogs are an emerging and increasingly powerful force." But, if Dems were "rational, they would realize that blogs are a factor in the political culture, but are a limited force with little growth potential."

Eventually, politicians who "flock to bloggers" who use extremist rhetoric "will be asked if they're aware of the kind of company they're keeping. And, if so, how they justify keeping it" (6/15).

While I certainly am a fan of the "new media," this echoes my past writings about blogs. They are a good tool, but they are not the "silver bullet" that many liberals think they are. There is a lot of truth here ...