The problem there is that it becomes just another Blog in the public eye.
Look at FR itself and imagine what it could be if JR was an insanely wealthy man or partnered with one for the venture.
I see what you’re saying, but the days of that kind of groundswell site are gone. The current political climate demands $$$ for credibility. Where FR has a legacy, an upstart with no funding has nothing but a prayer.
And I say this having been one of the founding members of what was once a monster ‘ground up” website - www.off-road.com
What I have in mind is not a “blog”. It would be a legitimate news and information site, with opinion/commentaries mixed in, and links to forums/discussion sites where the “articles” found on “my” website can be discussed (such as FR and DU and HuffPo and others).
In fact, if my idea takes off, it could, potentially, replace a lot of newspapers and information sites, and could replace the printed media, at least to a large extent. More importantly, it could take away a lot of traffic from sites such as Google and Bing and Yahoo and AOL, since it could be an alternative to search engines for look-up of news and information and opinion.