Last week Ross Kaminsky appeared on Independent Thinking along with Brad Jones of Face the State.
Six months and two hundred sweeps ago, we took a hard look at the Republican blogs in Colorado using the criteria that to be included, the blogger had to write frequently and had to write frequently about Colorado subjects. Rossputin didn't meet that criteria. He almost never wrote about Colorado subjects, and except for Clay Calhoun, who had put up a sign "gone fishing" on his blog, he doesn't list a single Colorado blog site on his blogroll.
We misspeak. He did list ColoradoPols.
Because he didn't write about Colorado subjects, he didn't make it to our favorites list and so we missed his shift in subject matter. Now that we see that he is writing about Colorado, we will be including him on our sweep.
Today, he writes about the show. Every blogger has a different style and the link just provided is a not so pretty printable version, which is what we will be using on the sweep. His blog doesn't allow us to use his more aesthetic version in links.
He seems to take pride in not being a "good Republican." That is both refreshing and offputting at the same time. Good republicans care about their party, sometimes enough to criticize it when it messes up. Voters have their own very effective way of criticizing a party. When the voters speak and the party leadership or parts of the party choose not to listen, it is important that loyal Republicans speak up and oppose policies, strategies, and voices that have handed us minority status.
No one can claim that in Colorado the Republican party has been a success over the last decade, so people like Rossputin have a right and obligation to speak up. On the other hand, it is hard to be taken seriously within the Republican party when one wears his dissent on his sleeve.
Ross and Brad's appearance on the show was troubling to us. It was clear that Ross never reads Republican blogs that originate in Colorado. When asked, he couldn't name a single one, and he was asked more than once. He was quite conversant with the national blogs, and he went out of his way to promote Colorado Pols (because they are so wrong). While he couldn't name any Colorado Republican blogs, he did dismiss them all by opining that they are mostly "single subject" blogs.
Brad has a high opinion of "news aggregators," and a less high opinion of anything else. He, like Ross couldn't name a single Republican blog. Actually, he could have, but he chose not to.
There are two "Republican" news aggregators in Colorado. One, What's News Colorado does no original commentary and doesn't identify its ownership. The only thing that makes us suspect that it is owned by a Republican is that we first found out about it through Mark Hillman's site.
The other, Face the State, does some original reporting and opinion, but isn't consistent about writing daily. Sometimes it doesn't even write weekly. It's claim to fame is that it exposed Merrifield's "a special place in hell," comment. Until Brad Jones can find the resources to write daily, it is hard to call what he does a "blog." It is more a news clipping service with occasional news and commentary.
It is very hard to justify Brad's smug view that his site should rank so far above other good Colorado blogs that they don't deserve a mention when he is directly asked to name good Colorado sites. Others may disagree, and indeed, we hope that Face the State eventually fulfills its promise. It isn't there yet.
Because one guest couldn't name Colorado Republican Blogs and the other wouldn't, it is easy to see the point of the woman whose letter is answered by Rossputin. It might have seemed like left wing blog bashing when it wasn't.
If she stumbles on this essay we would say that Republican blogs, with a few very obnoxious exceptions, tend to avoid name calling. They usually write thoughtful essays. When they criticize Democrats, they tend to be sophisticated in their thinking, their arguments, and their language. Most importantly they do what they do out of conviction. No one pays them to write what they write.
Most left wing bloggers wear nice suits when they appear on TV, and for a good reason: They are being subsidized by Democrat multi-multi millionaires. They get paid to be nasty, and so they have to be nasty to continue to get paid. It is a vicious cycle (pun intended).
And...while the letter writer may no longer like Independent Thinking, we have great admiration for it and watch it weekly. There aren't many shows that look into a single Colorado issue for 30 minutes in ways that the print media can't or won't. If you don't like the spin, then look past the spin and concentrate on the facts. It is a gem that would be sorely missed if it disappeared.
