The Passion of the Blog
My DD said that blogs are "filling a demand for normalcy in politics, for anti-elitist open discussion." I do think blogging opens the door for discussion, but I don't know how anti-elitist it is. I mean, look at DailyKos. Sure, it's popular and yes, there's lots of commenting and discussing, but it's a Democratic blog (or is it better called a blog community?) with a stringent set of rules. There's a flow to it and I'd bet that those who try to swim against the current would be squashed pretty quickly. I think most political blogs are like that, and even though I wouldn't call them anti-elitist, I would call them interesting. I think bloggers who are all pumped up about an issue or a campaign or, say, The X-Files, are the most readable. Because there's passion, and people are attracted to that and then join in, and the passion grows. The attempt at a bipartisan blog was kind of dull, if you ask me.
I do think blogs are useful in politics, and I think -- as My DD was trying to say -- they bring politics away from that imagined sphere of white wigs and high horses and down to the people, down to daily life (which is what it's really about). In that way, I think blogging is a wonderful thing. The Lieberman and Lamont campaign, though important, probably wouldn't have garnered as much attention if it weren't for these passionate bloggers (yes, even the "choke on these numbers!!!" dude).
I do think blogs are useful in politics, and I think -- as My DD was trying to say -- they bring politics away from that imagined sphere of white wigs and high horses and down to the people, down to daily life (which is what it's really about). In that way, I think blogging is a wonderful thing. The Lieberman and Lamont campaign, though important, probably wouldn't have garnered as much attention if it weren't for these passionate bloggers (yes, even the "choke on these numbers!!!" dude).
