The rights blogs are shrinking, at the same time the lefts are growing.

The right couldn't handle the give and take on The KOS website.

The truth really does have a liberal bias.

Markos doesn't tell anyone what to write, or how to write. People just say what they think.

Kos admirers keep saying things like this, but it's not true. Moderators have already deleted at least one user diary related to Jerome Armstrong's SEC woes, as I describe on my blog. The bunker mentality's setting in.

Bowers was writing about content production, and in many ways the issues he raised had as much to do with infrastructure as anything (DKos, for example, uses a technology that allows users to write their own diaries, which make up the most substantial portion of the site's content, whereas Powerline users only read what its owners publish - thus the "bottom-up" from DKos and the "top-down" from Powerline). What he said then is still true today. Can a Powerline user write his own story that might appear on the front page of that blog? Is Markos the only person who can publish to the front page of DKos, where everyone has the pleasure of either taking his words at face value or leaving? No on both counts.

What you're currently arguing is that Advertising Liberally, which networks numerous blogs together, is a form of editorial control that Markos uses whenever he pleases. Although evidence that this is the case is dodgy at best, as you readily admit, the very fact of Bowers' analysis being true (which it is) makes this a non-issue.

Precisely because the left blogosphere has a "bottom-up" structure, Markos CAN'T compel liberal bloggers to write what he pleases. You can go over to DKos right now and post a diary on the hitpieces that Zengerle is writing about Markos, and he will be powerless to stop it from making the recommended list. The man has no power except to ask his friends not to blog about the issue - even if they agree not to bring it up, the issue can still be discussed on the left blogosphere because it's out of their control.

Similar action is impossible on the right blogosphere. At best you can e-mail Michelle Malkin, Powerline, Glenn Reynolds, etc. individually, and hope that one responds by discussing it. If they don't, then you're SOL.

The point is this: the right blogosphere consists of individuals who set up shop with their megaphones, and if you visit them then the only thing you can hear is their voice. The left blogosphere consists of communities of people who gather in forums and discuss amongst each other, and if you go to their forum you can hear any one of a thousand different voices.

The most control that Markos has is that he can ask his friends not to respond to certain accusations until he can do so. His friends have the choice whether to do that or not. Beyond his circle of friends, even the purse strings of Advertising Liberally are extremely weak.

That and it's kind of the opposite of the Ann Coulter truism about the popularity of talk radio on the right. The left side of the blogosphere appeals to many with a lot of time on their hands and a tendency to bitch about how bad things are.

How much acid does one need to drop, to be able to complain that the �New Republic� doesn�t lean left far enough,a nd indeed is merely another tool of the right?

How many joints does Kos have to smoke, to aver that he is at the political center?

Answer: None. He's nucking futs, but he comes by it honestly.

How many joints does Kos have to smoke, to aver that he is at the political center?

(Shake of the head)

Clearly, what happened there, was the upper end of the leftsphere was now suddenly suspect, and the lower levels of this multilevel outhouse known as the left side of the sphere, suddenly found that their direction had been cut off. Finding no external direction available, and torn between loyalty and logic, the results were akin to hat of throwing a stick of dynamite into a pan of hash. Things started flying all around that kitchen. It was particularly messy, and still is.

It should also be said, however, that the left is clearly playing the Johnny come lately to the party. And, that, whereas they managed to show up in that Chile, they still, quite clearly, don't understand the dynamics of what it is they're dealing with.

I suspect and suppose that at least part of this issue is the mental disconnect between the usual suspects on the left in blogdom, and the usual suspects on the left end of the political spectrum outside of the blogging world. Let's face it, they're not even speaking even close to the same language.

We can speculate all day about why that might be. But in the end, I think we will end up forced to conclude that the reason for the disconnect is the degree of isolation and echo chamber isn't found among the elite left , in the sphere, for many of the reasons that you describe.

It's that degree of isolation that causes so many leftists sites to get so heavy on the hit charts. The far left crazies are simply not getting anybody else to say what they want to be said. And so, they become increasingly isolated in their point of view.