Whose Readership is Bigger? Ours or the MSM?

I admit, I don’t know the answer, but it’s a fair question. According to the latest State of the Blogosphere report (March 14, 2005) there are now over 7.8 million active blogs with 30,000-40,000 new blogs being created each day. This morning, the MSM is trumpeting the Bush administration’s triumph in passing legislation on the Schiavo case. But the MSM has not informed the public that Texas Governor George W. Bush passed legislation in 1999 to allow Texas Hospitals to pull the plug on brain-dead patients whose hospital bills had not been paid. The MSM does report that Democrats who oppose the legislation view it as a political ploy and diversionary tactic and that tainted Republicans like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) are seen as shamelessly grandstanding hypocrites. However, without loudly proclaiming that George W. Bush passed legislation to kill impoverished brain-dead patients when he was Texas governor, the MSM is telling only half the story. But it’s possible that it doesn’t really matter what the MSM is reporting. Bloggers get the word out. What matters is how people will be voting in 2006. And that’s when we will know if bloggers have been effective. Way back in the 1950’s when Jean Shepherd had his radio show from midnight to six ayem on WOR in New York City, hundreds of thousands of fans listened every night. When Jean told his listeners to put their radios on their window ledges so his quirky monologues could waft out into the night air on hot summer nights, that’s exactly what his listeners did. And yet, one of the charms of his show was that he maintained the conceit that only two or three people were listening and only those two or three were getting the real poop. It is somehow appealing to think that liberal bloggers are a small group and that only we are getting the real poop. But is that true? I don’t think so. If we are not getting through to the American voters, why are the neocons so worried about us? If we are just an annoying gnat buzzing around the heads of the White House fascists, why would they like to shut us down? But a visible sign would not be a bad idea. I think that wearing a Red Star of Courage bracelet or lapel pin is a dandy idea. Red Stars of Courage Bumper stickers. Red Stars of Courage T-shirts. Why red stars? Because the freeper assholes are putting the label “Commie” on people who oppose the Bush administration. Since apparently they don’t know what a Commie is, I say we all should adopt the Red Star of Courage and show it with pride.