RVABlog’s most unpopular is ‘influential’ at Blognet News

A recent Christopher Newport University poll revealed that 55 percent of its Virginia respondents had a positive view of the performance of Tim Kaine, their governor. The same CNU poll said that when it comes to the election next year to replace retiring Sen. John Warner, former-Governor Mark Warner presently leads the two most often […]

October 20, 2007; 8:48 PM • by FTRea

A recent Christopher Newport University poll revealed that 55 percent of its Virginia respondents had a positive view of the performance of Tim Kaine, their governor. The same CNU poll said that when it comes to the election next year to replace retiring Sen. John Warner, former-Governor Mark Warner presently leads the two most often mentioned Republicans by a two-to-one margin.

Hectoring Republican-leaning bloggers reacted by calling the sitting governor, “Governor Timmy” and referring to the front-running Democrat as “Marky Mark.”

Then there is a particular Richmond-based, rightwing blogger who consistently touts his “influence rating” at the statewide political blog aggregator Blognet News. (It beats me what an “influence rating” is supposed to be.) This blog’s political posts routinely regurgitate hardcore propaganda from such unbiased sources as the Drudge Report and FreeRepublc.com. Then, to ramp up his bloggy influence, the blogger adds his own special touch of semi-creativity — he boldly labels all Democrats as “Democrat(icks).”

Tim Kaine and Mark Warner must be burning the midnight oil trying to think of some way to make him stop such devastating political commentary.

What this particular blogger doesn’t brag about is this: At the RVABlogs aggregator, which displays titles and excerpts of posts from 215 blogs in the Richmond area, his busy-but-boring blog is rated dead last in popularity, No. 215!

In fact, there’s no other local blog even close to his negative rating. (To see which blog this is you have to join RVABlogs.)

Of course, RVABlogs is not a political-blogs-only aggregator. Most of the blogs displayed there are not political, but plenty of them are, at least in part. So, RVABlogs is more like a sampling of Richmond’s general population than what you might see at Blognet News.

Truth be told, many of the 215 blog publishers displayed at RVABlogs are somewhat put off by the relentless silliness of so many partisan political blogs, left or right.

Moreover, what’s seen at RVABlogs is representative of Richmonders who are engaged with what’s going on today, but two-party political bickering is not something most of them dwell on to the exclusion of all else. More than so many Democrats or Republicans, this group of 215 is probably more reflective of the undecideds and independents most campaigns go after. Some are still in the process of figuring out if they want to be donkeys or elephants. Some are Greens. There are Libertarians, and freethinkers, as well as some who are just apolitical. Others are crazy.

This jab at some on the far-right isn’t meant to say every conservative blog based in Virginia is as silly as those from which my examples were drawn. But too often the loudest voices coming from the conservative blogosphere seem more interested in being part of a snickering click of self-styled patriots than they are in truly influencing anyone beyond their own blogging team.

Influence ratings, indeed.

Update: Please note that in spite of what you might read elsewhere, this post offered no link to blogger No. 215, nor was his supposedly “influential” blog named.

October 20, 2007 8:48 PM 0