blog the vote response

A friend of mine came over for dinner last night and we got to talking about the upcoming elections. She reads Newsweek, jokes about being attached to “old media” and wonders who the bloggers really are. I admit, although I read some blogs, I don’t read political blogs much. And so when she asked, would I recommend to her some political blogs to read, so she could know what the H---was going on…well, I didn’t have much to give her. So I’ve sent her the link to the NOW program (close enough to old media to make her comfortable).

I think one reason I don’t read political blogs is that the ones I know about can all be classified as unabashedly “left” or “right.” I suppose if people are going to be passionate enough about politics to blog, they’ll probably fall on extreme ends of our political spectrum, but I am dissatisfied with the “preaching to the choir” aspects of political blogs. I see Kos’s point that it’s all preaching to the choir, and that getting “offline” is the way to get beyond that, but I think that facts and a critical stance are sacrificed to incendiary or empty rhetoric when one is writing to people who share beliefs. For instance, the “well, we all know Bush is an idiot” joke that passes for political commentary in my classes and on blogs is a travesty of critical, political engagement, but it’s the norm on left-leaning blogs. Anyone have any smart, critically engaged political blogs to recommend?