Weblog Awards Endorsements

Our longtime blogfriend Kevin Aylward (of Wizbang fame) is enjoying record success with his annual Weblog Awards.

After a few years of being shut out of the process, OTB has been nominated for Best Major Blog.  It would appear that we have more “Authority” than readers, as we’re currently next-to-last, narrowly holding off Joe Gandleman’s Moderate Voice for last place.  OTB can’t possibly win, so if you’ve got a dog in the fight between AutoBlog, InstaPundit, and the mommy blog, feel free to vote your conscience.  If not, please vote for us to spare us the indignity of losing.

Dave Schuler‘s other blog, The Glittering Eye, is making a respectable showing in the Best Small Blog category, which appears to be going to something called Rumproast (I shudder to think what it might be).

Kate McMillan, who went from OTB commenter to part of the first crew of guest authors to co-blogger here to become easily Canada’s most influential blogger is currently in a tight race with Ace for Best Conservative Blog.  Her site, small dead animals, has won Best Canadian Blog every year the award has existed (2004-2007) until apparently being barred from the competition this year to give someone else a chance.

No bloggers with such close OTB ties are nominated in other categories.

Michelle Malkin’s Hot Air and Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish are duking it out for Best Blog.  They’re both regular reads and outstanding blogs, so you can’t go wrong either way.   Sully is one of the pioneers of the blogosphere and the only blog that I’ve read consistently since before I took up blogging myself six years ago.  Hot Air is one of the more innovative sites out there and has gotten better with the addition of Ed Morrissey, who had a standout blog before joining forces with Allah.   I’d give it to Sully, though.  He’s on a list of maybe five bloggers who I consider truly indispensible.

Michael J. Totten is currently edging out Juan Cole, who’s running a rather nasty “beat the neocons” campaign, for Best Middle East or Africa Blog.    Vote Totten, vote often.

Michael Yon is currently edging Blackfive for Best Military Blog.  If this were 2005 and it was Mike against Matt, it would be a toss-up that I’d probably give to Matt.   The addition of other bloggers to the mix at the latter, however, has shifted the signal-to-noise ratio decidedly in Yon’s favor.

Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight is running away with Best Political Coverage and rightly so.

None of my favorite liberal blogs is nominated in that category, so no endorsement from me.

I recommend boycotting Best Blog Design.   I have no idea how any of the blogs got nominated for the category.  Only two of them are even remotely attractive and none of them are at all innovative.  There are quite literally hundreds of free WordPress themes that are nicer.

FILED UNDER: Africa, Middle East, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. The coveted OTB endorsements have been released. http://tinyurl.com/9kad9b

  2. Weblog Awards Endorsements: Our longtime blogfriend Kevin Aylward (of Wizbang fame) is enjoying record success w.. http://tinyurl.com/9kad9b

  3. Dave Schuler says:

    Like OTB, The Glittering Eye is competing with a number of much larger and obviously more popular blogs.

    I’ve checked out all of the competitors in all of the categories. De gustibus non est disputandum. It does irk me, however, when dull, poorly written blogs that don’t have much to say that you couldn’t find in 10,000 others have such strong followings.

    For some it may be the case that they were once worthwhile and developed a following back in the day but stopped writing anything interesting on any subject long ago. I think that’s the case of 70% of Glenn Reynolds’s blogroll, for example.

    Some of it may be confirmation bias—the echo chamber effect. Some I just don’t understand.

  4. steve says:

    Given the tenor of your blog, which I have been voting for, I am surprised you read Malkin. I read many, many blogs every day. I start with the milblogs, then go to foreign affairs/politics, then economics blogs. I read both sides of the spectrum. There are a number of blogs I have read for only a few months, then given up on because they are too hopelessly partisan and just not worth the dross. HuffPo, Kos, The Corner are in that group. I regarded Malkin as among the worst. She also does not seem especially bright to me, as I have some research experience and her occasional citing of statistics is just awful IMO.

    AS I respect and appreciate your team’s writings here, and the New Atlanticist, what do you see in Malkin’s writings? Has she changed?

    Steve

  5. You got it! I don’t understand how a couple of the blogs got nominated.

  6. Wendy says:

    I happen to be the owner of one of the blogs which was nominated for the Best Blog Design. Of course there are hundreds of WordPress themes which are nicer but they aren’t unique and probably thousands of others are using the same one as yours if you use it.

  7. James Joyner says:

    I am surprised you read Malkin.

    I like Michelle personally and thought her blog was one of the best in the blogosphere when it launched. It eventually because more shtick than analysis and I gradually read it less.

    Her spin-off blog, Hot Air, featured the writings of AllahPundit and Bryan Preston when it started. BP moved on a while back and she brought Ed Morrissey on board. It’s a more analytic tone than at MM’s eponymous site, which is more red meat driven.

  8. A reader says:

    Small dead animals are quite the flame throwers themselves.

    I subscribe to your blog, James, because it tries to avoid red meat (or partisanism or those who disagree are the devil themselves). So I was also surprised at your Malkin recommendation.

  9. steve s says:

    I (not the same steve as the one above) was also very surprised that you read Malkin. She’s an utterly bonkers partisan, Red State Jonah Goldberg Powerline Hugh Hewitt partisan bonkers.

    Then again, I think Joyner, Jonathan Rauch, and Sullivan are almost the only conservatives I read anymore. The parties are really segregating into Smart vs. Stupid. A situation I’m not very happy with, by the way, as Democrats realize that intelligent, modern people have no choice but to vote against the GOP, they’ll start taking such people for granted. I’d like to see the GOP get back to being full of sensible, sane people like Eisenhower and GHW Bush. Or as the modern GOP calls them, RINOs.

  10. RW Rogers says:

    Everyone has their likes and dislikes. Sullivan is one of the last people on earth I would ever vote for for anything save perhaps “self-important windbag and whiner extraordinare.” For that matter, Malkin isn’t my cup of tea either. JMO. YMMV

  11. Joe R. says:

    Has Sullivan stopped believing that Trig is Bristol’s baby yet? If not, he deserves nothing.

  12. PD Shaw says:

    I agree w/ Joe R. Andrew’s Palin screeds and their subsequent infection of the MSM make his blog the worst of 2008.