#79, November 24, 2005

Plame the Blogs

For what it is worth, it does seem to me that the best analysis of the Valerie Plame scandal and much of contemporary politics is coming from the blog firedoglake (http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/). The three writers – Jane Hamsher, Loren, and ReddHedd (the latter two aliases, I presume) – really do some of the closest and smartest analysis of everything relating to the Fitzgerald investigation and all its ramifications. The comments that readers send in, by and large, seem smarter also than those found at most blogs. There is less of the straight invective against the Bush administration (though the anger is ever-present) or against liberals (at the republican blogs) that tumbles over into crude insults. I am no prude, but I prefer to hear why someone thinks the current administration “sucks,” rather than just hearing them state this in CAPITALS. I also find it a mystery why people need to be the first to make a comment on a thread – again, it seems that substance gets lost in the process.

As much as I think Atrios’s blog (http://atrios.blogspot.com/) deserved its reputation and served a useful function, particularly during the last election, I find now that firedoglake is doing more of the intellectual work needed at the moment. I still visit both sites, but I go to the latter to read, while I go to the former to get the links to reading material. Of course, this is just one person’s opinion, and since I must have had fewer visitors to histrionics than atrios has in a single ten minute span, it is really of little moment what I think.