Is there a blogger whose opinion actually matters to you?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
You and Greenwald are pretty much the only two I read anymore.
That thread the other day where you guys were going back and forth was one of the more interesting things I’ve read recently.
I don’t know if that means your opinions matter to me or not, but I at least find them entertaining 🙂
You, Digby, Greenwald and Hilzoy.
I wouldn’t do it if it didn’t matter to me. Under the circumstances, my current favorite is Ilargi’s doom-porn at theautomaticearth.blogspot.com. Take your smelling salts along with you.
Nope. Every single one of you is completely wrong on occasion. All of you are partisan in some way, sometimes to the point of blinding you. None of you agree with me 100% of the time – your biggest failing, IMHO…
A blogger? A single Blogger? Nope… Taken all together the entire Blogosphere is pretty darn good. But taken individually you each suck in your own special way.
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/12/9/185823/095
That’s a good point of view. I think I agree with you. The whole is bigger than the parts.
Yes, I value your opinion and Markos’s opinion. Also Darksyde, Bonddad and Jeff Huber and others. I used to value Jerome’s opinion until this year when he went bonkers.
I don’t agree with all of the bloggers all the time, but I always value the opinion.
In what way did Jerome go bonkers?
I read a lot of blogs for a lot of different reasons. Some are flat-out hilarious, others are serious and factual, others offer special points of view that I look for as a way of broadening my political horizons. I especially like you Booman, and Atrios, Glenn Greenwald, John Cole, and Amanda Marcotte. For laughs, I like Rumproast with Kevin K and Betty Cracker.
Thanks for doing what you do. It is appreciated!
Nope.
I find you’re informative and interesting and generally writing about the issues that concern me in the US. Living in Ireland it is important to have an alternative to the MSM take on things.
I do think you can be remarkably US centric in your view of the world and I wouldn’t give much weight to your views on countries/issues outside the US – all of which you write about through a US national interest prism. But hey, we all do that, to some degree, when writing about countries other than our own, so that isn’t really a criticism.
However it is worth bearing in mind that other countries have value in themselves, and are not merely of interest insofar as they conform (or not) to a US progressive take on the world.
“I do think you can be remarkably US centric in your view of the world and I wouldn’t give much weight to your views on countries/issues outside the US – all of which you write about through a US national interest prism.
“…it is worth bearing in mind that other countries have value in themselves, and are not merely of interest insofar as they conform (or not) to a US progressive take on the world.
“
Agreed 100%, and this self-centered view of the world is a serious flaw. There is an American supremacist assumption – unconscious in many cases, I think – that the world exists to serve the United States’ interests, and that the United States has a natural right to dominate and impose its will on everyone else. In this regard the only significant difference between most liberals/progressives and those on the “other side” is the lengths they are willing to go to and the means they willing to use.
Booman Tribune ~ Serious Question
I can’t speak for US Liberals/Progressives in general, but think this would be a bit harsh if applied to Booman. What distinguishes US progressives I do read is that they are intellectually curious, do have an awareness and receptiveness to the notion that all the world doesn’t want to be like the US, and are prepared to work with different perspectives and consider what facts are available to them. These attributes have not characterised the neo-con project, and, if the MSM is to be believed, neither do they characterise mainstream USA.
Well, he said this about OpEds, but it still applies. He wrote a book about propaganda, and how to read a newspaper properly.
His advice on opinons? Don’t read them.
I pretty much subscribe to that. Data is interesting. Perspective is interesting. But opinion? Pretty useless. But those bloggers who, like yourself, present the data to back up your opinions at least educate me so I can make up my own mind. Those who just speak and have nothing behind them (like Kos, a lot of the time) carry no weight with me.
I like the The Booman Tribune, The Rude Pundit, and Counterpunch. Thank God for the internet and the blogosphere. I love them both!
Drudge’s opinion “matters” too, despite being wrong on nearly everything.
Just saying.
If by “matters” you mean authoritative then none, but if you mean whose stuff do I find most interesting and (in at least some ways) relevant then that would be the Frog Pond and The Rude One. Special shout out to Jack and Jill Politics, of course.
Yours, dude. I did come to meet you first before anything else at ykos’06.
Sure, but I don’t go so much by pre-set ideas about this blogger or that blogger. As I follow the news from day to day, I find I have questions. The way the Internet works, one can readily find the bloggers who are posting on that particular issue. I like to get an idea of the range of views, and I keep going until I get some guidance. I don’t judge beforehand where I will find it, and in this way I often come across blogs I’ve never seen before.
That said, there are a few blogs I read regularly because, for whatever reason, I just like them. Blogs consist not only of bloggers, but also the commenters that create a certain tone. A blog, as you say, is a certain kind of community. I read Booman Tribune and Balloon Juice almost every day, and Al Giordano pretty regularly.
I think that The Voice In The Wilderness made an excellent point in differentiating between those whose opinions matter to us and those with whom we agree.
Those whose opinions matter to me include you, Mithras, John Cole, Duncan Black, and Josh Marshall. They’re pretty much my first reads for analysis, as opposed to entertainment. My second tier would be Dick Polman, Robert Reich, and Jon Swift.
Those with whose opinions I always agree include me.
Are you kidding? Hell yes. First of all you…plus John Aravosis and his gang, all the front pagers at Daily Kos, Josh Marshall, Atrios, Steve Bennen, nearly all the posters at Open Left, MyDD and Firedoglake, Digby, Jesus’ General, The Rude Pundit, Bob Geiger, Calculated Risk and Bonddad. Although his opinion doesn’t matter to me in quite the same way, I always read Kevin Drum. A guy who I think deserves a lot more attention is Dana Blankenhorn.
Every morning I start the day quickly cruising through a half dozen websites of traditional newspapers from across the country. Lately this is seeming more and more like an obligation rather than spontaneous enjoyment. Then I settle in for the fun stuff with my blogger reads…and that includes many more than I’ve listed.
I predict that one of these days they’ll open the Pulitzer Prize up to sites like Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Booman Tribune and Talking Points Memo. And when they do traditional print journalists are going to find themselves on a long journey into the wilderness.
My regulars, whose opinions I value but don’t necessarily always agree with, are Ian Welsh and Stirling Newberry (at wherever they’re currently posting – Ian is mostly posting at FDL right now and Stirling seems to mostly be posting at The Agonist and FDL right now). I also regularly read Sean-Paul, Numerian, and tjfxh at The Agonist. And, of course, you, here at Booman Tribune.
I also frequent, but not as often, FDL (Jane, Christy, looseheadprop, and emptywheel). I’m quite fond of AMERICAblog, but like the general FDL, I only frequent it when I have the time, or if there’s a specific topic or event.
But, as I inferred earlier, rarely a day goes by that I don’t hit the bloggers in the first paragraph. I’ve learned useful things from all of them. The perspectives give me something to weigh my own views against, and often expand my knowledge and understanding.
Sorry, I left out Calculated Risk and Barry Ritzholz (The Big Picture). They’re in my ‘regulars’ column. I also periodically checkout Nouriel Roubini.
If you mean someone whose opinion makes me rethink my assumptions about an issue, then there aren’t many. Josh Marshall is probably the blogger whose opinion I respect the most, although the fact that he seems to share my wavelength on most issues probably has a lot to do with it.
Nate Silver has very worthwhile opinions on subjects. I wouldn’t ready this blog if I didn’t think BooMan had a lot of great things to say (I mostly loved the trash-talking before the election, such as letting the GOP know that they’ll finally understand community organizing on Nov. 3rd.). I also like Markos’ style – very partisan and cutthroat, but still sensible on most issues.
The bloggers that I read, but disagree fairly often with are David Sirota, Matt Stoller, Jerome Armstrong. Aravosis is sometimes over the top, I read him for entertainment value, but he rarely offers a deep substantive angle to a subject.
I guess overall I prefer the analyst-bloggers over the bomb-throwing bloggers. Marshall, Silver, BooMan are best at analysis. Stoller, Armstrong, Aravosis do their share of analysis, but often engage in bomb-throwing (“Obama’s not a progressive”, “Obama can’t win”, “Mormons are all bigots” etc.) that gets them attention but also keeps me from taking their opinions too seriously.
Nate Silver in regards to politics (but not Baseball!) and that’s about it.
BooMan Tribune is the only blog I visit every day, but Euro Trib is a close second as are several local blogs to keep up with in-state happenings. I enjoy reading most everyone’s opinions, whether I happen to agree or not, rather like good conversation.
Yours, Booman.
Al Girodano.
John Cole.
Steve Benen (and Hillzoy)
Publius
Kevin Drum
Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann<snicker>
Andrew Sullivan (on some subjects, but not all)
Helena Cobban. I do not always agree with her, and I do not share her uber-pacifist views (she is a Quaker), but I respect her deeply for her amazing depth and breadth of knowledge and and comprehension, and her simultaneously high principled and down-to-earth practical approach.
All bloggers I spin through have opinions that matter, or I wouldn’t read that blog.
that’s kind of how I see it, and I don’t understand the counterargument.
I think it depends how you interpret the word “matter”.
Respect, yes; persuade me to change my mind, no.
Persuade me to change my mind, hardly ever, but often give me a new perspective or more information. My home blog (where I have blogging rights but almost never do) is BadAttitudes, and I visit nearly every day, as I do Atrios. Most days I check in here; some days I check other places, lots of other places.
No, because if I disagree with them, their arguments don’t persuade me, and I’ve disagreed with all of them on occasion. (Even you, Booman, though I must say you’re in the top one of two of total agreement!)
However, my friend bloggers, who don’t normally blog about politics–their opinions matter to me. If they comment at my blog and approve or disapprove of what I say, I pay attention and learn from their comments, even if I disagree with them. I think it’s due to the personal relationship. Anonymity brings a certain “I don’t care” attitude. It’s easy to write off the opinions of those you don’t know when they disagree with you on a deeply held topic like politics.
When it comes to the Middle East:
Juan Cole provides great information, but I have more often than not found myself at odds with his analysis on Iraq (and I am far from alone in that). The fact that he has never been to Iraq is only part of the problem. He has a number of personal prejudices, including an unconscious kind of American centrism that tend to taint his thinking, though he is better than many if not most others.
When it comes to Iraq specifically, Badger at Missing Link is one of the best. He is a Canadian who scans the Arabic media and translates and analyzes critical articles. He has some worthwhile commenters too.
And the blogger whose opinions I share virtually 100% is the very well-connected Ra’ed Jarrar of Raed In the Middle. He is an extremely knowledgeable, and well-connected Iraqi young man (the Raed of Salam Pax’s “Where’s Raed?”) from a wonderful family whom I had the privilege of meeting with in Amman this year. He knows what’s going on, and his interviews and articles are spot on and very articulate. Google him, because his blog is only a tiny sample of what he has to offer. His mother, Faiza, has a great blog called A Family in Baghdad.
greenwald. atrios on economics.
I like most of the writing at FDL.
Seriously.
Larisa Alexandrovna
Jeff Huber
Sabina Becker
Eric Jackson
Orrie Orenstein
I did enjoy Billmon and Gilliard because they had worked as journalists and could, ya know, write. The current batch you could put in a blender and not tell the difference by style or content.
Well, except Digby and Somerby still fighting the Battle of 1998:
You smell that? Do you smell that? The Big Dog, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of the Big Dog in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ GOP ratfucker. The smell, you know that smell of the Big Dog’s crotch, the whole hill. Smelled like … victory. Someday this war’s gonna end…
Yes, Billmon was great. Gilliard was good, I guess, but he was way to harsh with anyone who disagreed with him.
you