I have the Power!

Well, not me personally.. but blogging is taking over the world.. okay, at least influencing the mainstream media. This is good news!

Why? Well, lets not be coy. We're at war, but not with the Iraqis. We're at war with Republican's and Christian evangelicals.

Time and again I see bloggers, mainly Kos, Atrios and John Aravosis, get their stories into the MS media. John single handedly crushed the Christians in the Microsoft gay rights saga. Sure, lots of people help by making phone calls, and writing letters and all that, but any great movement needs direction and a place to organize. That's happening in the blogs now.

Even Andrew Sullivan writes this week, "blogging sites like Daily Kos have begun to leave the right-of-center blogosphere in the dust, as far as traffic is concerned."

He goes on to note that it is the community aspect of left wing blogs that leads to their popularity. Most right wing blogs do not allow community involvement and comment systems. Right wingers generally stick their fingers in their ears. They don't want contradictory points of view, nor do they want to be confronted with facts. They prefer to dictate, with no dissent allowed.

Sound like any other large organization? Right wing blogs are exactly like right wing administrations. They are just as wrong.

It gives me a great sense of optimism. Liberals and progressives are not afraid of ideas and discussion. We're not afraid of trolls. This movement is a lot more vibrant than the sanctimonious stench of the right wing.

They are hypocrites - and they fall one by one, pulled under by their own moral failings.

The influence is really quite remarkable, and it's happening time and time again. Just today, John at Americablog points out a Chicago Tribune editorial rebuking the Republican Senators who refused to co-sponsor the anti-lynching resolution. I highly doubt that editorial would have been written if the left wing bloggers weren't pounding on the issue every day. The same is becoming true with the Downing Street Memo, and many other issues.

What do you think the long term impact is going to be? Already we've seen "panels" held by the MSM to explore "blogger ethics". We've seen MSM pundits criticize blogs. Why? They fear it.

The big time left wing blogs are not part of the MSM, but they are quickly pushing aside the MSM editors without even being employed by the media outlet. The fact is, the MSM is pretty incompetent - and rarely would you see editors with the skill of Kos, Atrios or John. I'd wager that most news organization look to the blogs to find story leads.

Perhaps skill is too strong of word. The reason that left wing blogs dig deeper and pound stories harder, is because it's not their job to do it. Every one of them started with nothing and did it because they cared so much about the state of this nation. The MSM cares more about money than the news.

The trends are obvious, and beyond debate. The lefties are growing in influence by shear numbers (that are documented btw). The lefties are beginning to have a great deal of influence on what appears in the news. I don't think we'll be able to get the President impeached or indicted, but I have no doubt that we'll see a wholesale change in leadership over the next 3 years.

And the next time James Dobson screams bloody murder about yet another stupid cause, the media will ignore him. In Europe, politicians rarely. if ever, mention "God", because they know God has nothing to do with health care costs, or the price of a barrel of oil. It won't be long before politicans here realize that too..

Yes, boys and girls; we may establish that vast left wing conspiracy yet!

** Update **

The best editorial writer in the United States has a column today about the Republican coin scandal in Ohio. Would Krugman have written about it had it not been pushed so hard by left wing blgos? Hmmm...

** Update 2 **

The BBC has a story about the influence of blogs to push stories into the national debate. Link: