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NYT: Conservative Blogs are More Effective
New York Times ^ | December 11, 2005 | MICHAEL CROWLE

Posted on 12/11/2005 1:42:14 PM PST by West Coast Conservative

When the liberal activist Matt Stoller was running a blog for the Democrat Jon Corzine's 2005 campaign for governor, he saw the power of the conservative blogosphere firsthand. Shortly before the election, a conservative Web site claimed that politically damaging information about Corzine was about to surface in the media. It didn't. But New Jersey talk-radio shock jocks quoted the online speculation, inflicting public-relations damage on Corzine anyway. To Stoller, it was proof of how conservatives have mastered the art of using blogs as a deadly campaign weapon.

That might sound counterintuitive. After all, the Howard Dean campaign showed the power of the liberal blogosphere. And the liberal-activist Web site DailyKos counts hundreds of thousands of visitors each day. But Democrats say there's a key difference between liberals and conservatives online. Liberals use the Web to air ideas and vent grievances with one another, often ripping into Democratic leaders. (Hillary Clinton, for instance, is routinely vilified on liberal Web sites for supporting the Iraq war.) Conservatives, by contrast, skillfully use the Web to provide maximum benefit for their issues and candidates. They are generally less interested in examining every side of every issue and more focused on eliciting strong emotional responses from their supporters.

But what really makes conservatives effective is their pre-existing media infrastructure, composed of local and national talk-radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, the Fox News Channel and sensationalist say-anything outlets like the Drudge Report - all of which are quick to pass on the latest tidbit from the blogosphere. "One blogger on the Republican side can have a real impact on a race because he can just plug right into the right-wing infrastructure that the Republicans have built," Stoller says.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: blog; conservative; dailykos; influence; internet; nyt; republican; weblogs
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To: West Coast Conservative
You've got to be kidding me. Bloggers on the Right are more influential than those whiny fests on the Left?

This is an outrage! You just wait. I'll get CNNABCNBCBSNewYorkTimesZogby to run a poll on it. That'll learn ya!


61 posted on 12/11/2005 3:38:08 PM PST by rdb3 (I have named my greatest pain, and its name is Leftism.)
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To: West Coast Conservative

...They are generally less interested in examining every side of every issue and more focused on eliciting strong emotional responses from their supporters.


Hey Micahel Crowle, you're totally clueless so go screw yourself you commie basterd. LOL heh heh


62 posted on 12/11/2005 3:42:42 PM PST by UglyinLA
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To: willyd

I mentioned trial lawyers and promptly got booted at DU. That's OK, I've got nine lives left.


63 posted on 12/11/2005 3:42:49 PM PST by listenhillary ("Mainstream media" is creating it's own reality~everything sucks)
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To: West Coast Conservative
HA! LOL!...more liberal "projection" :D
64 posted on 12/11/2005 3:58:25 PM PST by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :^)
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To: Caipirabob; West Coast Conservative
NYT: Conservative Blogs are More Effective...because they're More Truthful
65 posted on 12/11/2005 3:59:56 PM PST by Recovering_Democrat (I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!)
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To: digger48

"(I've never been able to take more than 2 1/2 minutes in DU, myself)"

As long as you are playing in the dirt....check out liberal oasis, juan cole, and talking points memo. They've each staked out their turf.....cia leak....repub corruption.....and my favorite-conspiracy theories about Italian memos & French spies sorta kinda related to our battle in Iraq.


66 posted on 12/11/2005 4:30:10 PM PST by chgomac
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To: tjg

DUers are very profane. So many "f***" word comments!


67 posted on 12/11/2005 4:33:09 PM PST by chgomac
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To: digger48
(I've never been able to take more than 2 1/2 minutes in DU, myself)

I must be one tough SOB. I've been able to stand up to 20 minutes there once or twice.

68 posted on 12/11/2005 4:42:24 PM PST by Hardastarboard
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To: West Coast Conservative

It couldn't have anything to do with the possibility that the basis of liberalism is bovine scatology.


69 posted on 12/11/2005 4:45:44 PM PST by dr_who_2
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To: Hardastarboard
I must be one tough SOB. I've been able to stand up to 20 minutes there once or twice.

Your a better man than I, Gunga Din

or something like that...

70 posted on 12/11/2005 4:46:10 PM PST by digger48
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To: West Coast Conservative

It's amazing that they still hate Matt Drudge. I don't think he caters to the right really, although he seems to be interested in cultural trends and giving the viewer a few occasional nuggets that the big news outlets don't want to publish or broadcast. Most of the time, he just reposts the stories from the MSM. It seems to me that the chief reason why they hate him is that his little operation is just eating into their profits.


71 posted on 12/11/2005 4:55:10 PM PST by dr_who_2
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To: digger48

"(I've never been able to take more than 2 1/2 minutes in DU, myself)

(followed by a 20 minute shower and a hearty de-lousing)"

I must be tougher than you, as I managed almost 6 minutes once. Of course, then I had to go have my brain washed.


72 posted on 12/11/2005 4:59:42 PM PST by Old Student (WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.))
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To: popdonnelly
Ideas such as Bush is a fascist, there were no WMDs, everyone who doesn't think like us is a moron, etc.

Let not forget their favorite. The "J__s" control the media, banking, US foreign policy, ect.

73 posted on 12/11/2005 4:59:57 PM PST by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: West Coast Conservative

Just another NYT whine about how Americans insist on believing the facts instead of the agenda.


74 posted on 12/11/2005 5:02:35 PM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon Liberty, it is essential to examine principle)
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To: DCPatriot

As I have observed, Liberals are able to post on FR. But then their post is read, rebutted, and then it is time to compete to see who gets in before the ZOT.


75 posted on 12/11/2005 5:06:17 PM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon Liberty, it is essential to examine principle)
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To: Old Student
I managed almost 6 minutes once

much longer and ones IQ decreases past the Forrest Gump area of the scale

76 posted on 12/11/2005 5:17:42 PM PST by digger48
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To: chgomac
As long as you are playing in the dirt....check out liberal oasis, juan cole, and talking points memo.

I.....just.....don't......have..........strength..........

77 posted on 12/11/2005 5:19:53 PM PST by digger48
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To: digger48

"much longer and ones IQ decreases past the Forrest Gump area of the scale"

That would explain it...


78 posted on 12/11/2005 5:21:53 PM PST by Old Student (WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.))
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To: Old Student

Isn't that the DU Motto??

"Stupid is as stupid does"?


79 posted on 12/11/2005 5:26:35 PM PST by digger48
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To: digger48

I didn't know the DUers were smart enough to have a motto. If they do, it is "Duh?"


80 posted on 12/11/2005 5:37:13 PM PST by Old Student (WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.))
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