No, it doesn’t. The leftists love to come onto a rightwing site and challenge the thinking they see, or at least to harass the posters. Throw in a few links to explore and you have a smersh to ponder over. Besides, one can’t just sit in blogs of one’s own kind for long. That, too, becomes boring when you see all of your memes for the teenth time.

What is necessary is to retreat to the safety of one’s own kind for a sanity check, since there is precious little openness and intelligence to be had on the likes of DU or Kos, or the old warblog, to name a few. Most seem to practice flaming before reason–and after, also.

The so called safety you long for severely limits openness and intelligent discourse in the long run.

Most bloggers, and the media, I have read on the opposing side are rife with the false meme of the day, pushing other’s dreamed up stories, or simply showing their vicious streak. Sometimes, they are trying to spin around their gaffes, to make their false statements appear to be true, black to be white, minus to be plus, and down to be up. Sorting such nonsense out too often is sheer misery.

One longs for the safety of (at least mostly)like-minded, rightwing bloggers, such as at the nuthouse.

Yes.

Yes.

And for openers recall your own purplest of prose:

Sarah Palin “is like a virgin in the Sultan’s harem . . . the corrupting influence of power has yet to perform its dastardly sorcery on her and turn the pure as the driven Alaskan snow child into the coldly calculating political computer that will probably be her legacy once history is done with her.”

Sorry - a little confused here. Did you not read what I wrote? Or can’t you take “yes” for an answer and feel it necessary to point out exactly the same thing that I did about myself?

If I wanted an echo chamber, I’d go to Kos. Don’t need it on my site.

ed.

After the Iraq War started, the 4th estate spent months before they finally decided that maybe they were vigilant enough with their reporting running up to the war.

In this election, the 4th estate repeats it’s error by falling into the same trap.

Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me

In this election, the 4th estate has actually allowed one of the candidates to write his own narrative, based on two auto-biographical books, that is full of holes for large time sequences.

Today, with only 40 some days remaining till the election, a bit of one of those 4 year holes is filled in, but much is still left unknown.

Will the 4th estate be contemplating their navel for that time or will they begin to ask the questions that will give the American people a complete story ?

Not only does the future of their craft stand in balance, the future of the country demands better.

If they are not up to the challenge .. we will look elsewhere.

I think the time is past due for the MSM to start asking “why are the blogs kicking our asses”?

While I don’t agree with many of your posts and analyses, I have and still do support your blog. It is, after all your blog and your perspective, and if I only read the blogs that I agreed with all the time, I would have blinders in place just like those on the ends of the spectrum.

Keep doing what you are doing and I will keep reading.

Good luck.

Your point about the psycological differences is well taken. But the point about the MSM is even more instructive. How could the left and the right be so certain that they are getting screwed by the same media?

The internet age is the age of group think. We seek out writers who reinforce our preconceptions. We have no degree of opposition viewpoint in many cases, because those who disagree with the ideological leanings of the proprietor of the blog are branded “trolls”. (psycology of trolls is another topic of my interest.)

The problem is that we are now our own filters. We have the responsibility, if we wish to be well-informed, to seek out opposing opinions to be given both sides of the story.

And who has time for that crap! We’ve got an election to win. Obama is a known drug kingpin. He accepts contributions from cat-skinners. He is actually an alien from Saturn.

There you go! Take that viral, now!