When you’re a conservative blogger, especially in Minnesota, you get used to being actively insulted and derided by the state’s dominant political\/media class.<\/p>\n
But ignored?<\/p>\n
Bear in mind, Minnesota’s center-right blogging community is, if not the most active and vital political blogging community in the nation, easily among the very short list at the top of the heap.\u00a0 From the bigs like my friends at Powerline<\/a> and Hot Air<\/a>, to erudite generalists like TvM<\/a> and FreedomDogs<\/a>, to acerbic, focused niche-bloggers like Nihilist in Golf Pants<\/a>, Speed Gibson<\/a> and True North<\/a>\u00a0and many, many more (see the MOBroll, leave out the non-conservatives and you get the idea), Minnesota’s center-right blogging underground is big, passionate, and disporportionally influential.\u00a0<\/p>\n So when Chris Cilizza at the WaPo started a list of the “Best State Political Blogs”, state-by-state, nationwide,\u00a0it was reasonable to figure that while it’d probably overrepresent leftybloggers (packs of dogs will sniff each others’ butts, no doubt about it) – but you’d think they’d have some <\/em>fodder with which to impart balance.<\/p>\n Trusting the MSM, of course, is always a long walk to a short splash<\/a>.\u00a0 Behold, “Baghdad Chris” Cilizza’s “Best Minnesota Political Blogs”.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ahem:<\/p>\n * MN Publius<\/font><\/a> Polinaut is an institutional\u00a0MPR production; it’s good and useful, to be sure, but not exactly an organic part of the local blog scene.\u00a0 Politics in Minnesota is a great aggregator of regional political thought; their daily run-downs of the “best of Minnesota blogs” has treated Shot In The Dark and True North very well; they also routinely run four leftyblog links for every overt conservative blog link.\u00a0 Que sera sera<\/em>; it’s a game effort…<\/p>\n …compared to the rest of Chris Cilizza’s risible list.<\/p>\n MNPublius is OK; they’re a DFL flakblog; they’re like Minnesota Democrats Exposed, only without the regular game-changing scoops.\u00a0 Minnesota Campaign Report is earnest but comical.\u00a0<\/p>\n MNBlue (Note, Mr. Cilizza; they’re called “Minnesota Progressive Project” these days)?\u00a0 Well, when they’re not letting Grace Kelly regurgitate her tingly-fingered Obama worship<\/a> or her addledpated 9\/11 conspiracy theories<\/a>, they’re broadcasting risibly-obvious lies<\/a> from anonymous hacks with curious axes to grind. In other words, they are the single dumbest blog in all of Minnesota.\u00a0 Bar none.<\/p>\n In the meantime, you’ll look in vain for Minnesota’s real <\/em>influential political blogs; Powerline<\/a>\u00a0and Ed Morrissey at Hot Air<\/a>, homegrown productions that are\u00a0among the most powerful blogs in the world<\/em>; for MDE<\/a>, which made headlines in the NYTimes and was perhaps more responsible than anyone for erasing Barack Obama’s coattails for Al Franken; for the scads of center-right bloggers that get better traffic and more credibility than at least two of Cilizza’s choices.<\/p>\n It’s a polling thing, of course; liberals read the WaPo, and if you read leftyblogs from Kos and Atrios on down to Minnesota Progressive Report, it’s pretty obvious the typical leftyblog commenter does nothing but sit in his mom’s basement and crank out dyspeptic screeds eighteen hours a day; stacking the votes in a poll like Cilizza’s is child’s play for that pack of loonies.<\/p>\n
\n* Minnesota Campaign Report<\/font><\/a>
\n* MN Blue<\/font><\/a>
\n* Politics in Minnesota<\/font><\/a>
\n* Polinaut<\/font><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n