Just a couple of things rattling around the internets today. And a rant .....

First, Bobo is at it again. In his most recent column, he decides to show all kinds of concern for liberals as they fight it out over Joementum and Ned Lamont. Bobo is quite worried about that dynamite throwing rabble that is supporting Lamont, and it's terrible impact on the staid Democratic Party (oh my!). Of course he never shows that kind of concern when the Republicans fight it out (Spectre almost lost in the Pennslyvania primary, .... hello?).

The most salient point in the above article is that people are actually paying to have access to Bobo's writings, which are simply a regurgitation of the conservative narrative about those wacky, wild-eyed internet liberals. Shoot, anyone could have gotten that same narrative about three weeks ago on any number of conservative blockhead blogs for free!

The second highlight is how many in the media just don't get blogs. I know I know. It's been written about a thousands times already. But I just want to say it again. Let me write is very clearly just in case anyone who misunderstands happens to wander by:

1) Anyone can start a blog. ANYONE!

2) Once started, it's yours.

3) Because it's yours, you can do anything you want with your blog. This includes censoring, banning commentors, putting up wacky pictures, ...... anything!

4) A blog is not a newspaper, magazine, tee vee show, or any other licensed media outlet.

5) Blogs are not journalism. They are pure editorial or whatever the blogger wants it to be.

And finally,

6) If you don't like a particular blog, don't look at it! There are plenty of others where that one came from.

Because a blog gets a lot of traffic does, indeed, give that blog certain leverage. But the leverage comes from the information being put on the blog creating a center of gravity amongst it's readers, not because of a particular individual (Markos? anyone). I know to the pundit stars, who preen themselves in the green room prior to their multiple media appearances, this is a foreign concept. They've deluded themselves into thinking that they are the stars and it's about them, not the information. And perhaps they have actually become stars, not a happy development in my mind. However, unlike these self-important pearl clutchers, blogs go back to true citizen participation with the idea being paramount.

So. When Ned Lamond draws a couple of hundred thousand dollars online while Joementum gets less than a thousand, it's not because a blogger "star" has endorsed Lamont. It's because a lot of people, yes, ordinary people (unlike the wacky, wild-eyed descriptions you often hear) have put their money where their mouths are. And as more and more people access the internet and participate, blogs will increasing become a barometer of the political climate.

End of rant.

Update: Digby slowly, and very carefully, explains to Democrats who are critical of the Lamont insurgency exactly why Joementum is in trouble. Do you think they'll get it?

Nah.....