The Times Loves The Blog

They say timing is everything--- looks like my post from last night on WeMedia was very well-timed! Today in Critic's Notebook in the Arts section of the New York Times, Ginia Bellafante jumps on the "we're writing about blogs" bandwagon with "Watching Rigorous Talk On a He Said, He Said Blog." The Times regularly features articles focusing on bloggers and their blogs, and in return, bloggers tend to focus on artciles written by some of the Times columnists. As one uneasy hand washes the other, Bellafante's piece delves into Robert Wright and Mickey Kaus and their bloggingheads.tv online forum, created about six months ago for "video simulcast political discussions."

Bellafante: "A few months ago Ann Coulter, the right-wing thunder bearer, declared on the Fox News program "Hannity & Colmes" that Democrats harbored "affection" for terrorists. She cited as evidence an Op-Ed article in the New York Times by the author and liberal pundit Robert Wright in which he explored Muslim outrage over cartoons in a Danish newspaper, saying he defended the violence that broke out as 'justified.'..."

Okay, we know here this is going! Last night on one of the talkradio shows, the host was ragging on about how the jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial would not give him the death penalty because they are obviously Democrats. How he figured that out, I don't know. This morning on one of the national news programs, a 9/11 victim's family member said she thought the life term given Moussaoui was a correct decision in that he had nothing to do with and did not participate in the 9/11 attacks. I think she is right: Moussaoui is some kind of a diversion, taking our focus in the wrong direction. If his name was Atta, then they might better sentence him to public stoning, followed by a beheading, then a draw-and-quartering. Point is, I don't think Democrats harbor anything remotely resembling "affection" for terrorists. Our own Senator Hillary Clinton has very vocal and she's taken a tough stance when it comes to terrorism.

While on Moussaoui, I note Michelle Malkin has been rubbed the wrong way by the French, so she returns the favor in her post "Butt Out, France."

Back to Bellafante's article now, which goes on to explore the relationship between Ann Coulter and Mickey Kaus... I picked out a couple of half-paragraphs that identify Bellafante's position:

"The conversations on bloggingheads.tv are called diavlogs. This gadgetry term suggests an information system that is technologically chic or advanced, but bloggingheads.tv is absurdly, comfortingly primitive, a fact regularly acknowledged by its contributors..."

"For years high-minded people have bemoaned the degraded state of political discourse in this country, and bloggingheads.tv wrenches it miles above the sea level of programming like 'Hannity & Colmes.'..." [link to NYT article]

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