Bloggasm

In this week’s series of interviews with conservative bloggers, our first up to be questioned is The Agitator.

Simon Owens: As the election season begins to warm up, how do you think the Immigration issues will affect the election results? Will there be a mass mobilization of Mexicans to the polls to vote for Democrats?

Radley Balko: I’m not sure about that. The Democrats seem to be pretty pro-immigrant. But then, so is the White House and the RNC. I suppose it’s possible that Hispanics might try to send a message to the anti-immigrant wing of the GOP, but remember, only U.S. citizens can vote. That rules out all of the undocumented immigrants, as well as all non-citizen immigrants here legally.

On the other side, I think you may also be looking at a wash. Immigration opponents have more allies in the GOP than they do with the Democrats. But they also seem to be frustrated that the White House and Republican leadership in Congress hasn’t taken more drastic action. Neither party is giving them what they want (as someone who supports liberal immigration policies, I’m more than happy with that).

My guess is that given that neither party’s really representing them, come November the nativist right is more likely to be disillusioned than angry.

Simon Owens: By calling your blog “The Agitator,” you seem to be commenting on the edgy conflicts in politics and how they can reach a climax within the anonymous confines of the internet. Do you ever find this to be counter-productive to your cause?

Radley Balko: Not really. I chose the name because it’s memorable, marketable, and the domain happened to be available. “Agitator” also commonly pops up to describe many of the people I admire from history, too.

Simon Owens: Do political bloggers develop rivalries with other blogs? Do you have any rivalries?

Radley Balko: Not that I’m aware of. There’s an interesting power dynamic in the blogosphere. Higher-trafficked bloggers don’t seem to bother to respond when lower-trafficked blogs pick fights with them. So to have a real rivalry, there needs to be contention between two blogs of roughly equal influence. Doesn’t seem to happen that often. I’m not sure it’s a “rivalry,” but I am enjoying the ongoing squabble between Glenn Reynolds and Andrew Sullivan, though.

Simon Owens: Who are some of your favorite pundits outside of the blog world?

Radley Balko: John Tierney has brought issues to the op-ed pages of the New York Times that have never been there before. Nat Hentoff is one of the more eloquent defenders of civil liberties around. Syndicated columnist Crispin Sartwell is always interesting, provocative, and witty. Michael Kinsley is brilliant. Jack Schafer’s my favorite media critic. And though he’s not ovetly political, I’m a huge fan of Chuck Klosterman.

Simon Owens: I’ve noticed that political pundits on television often cite political bloggers as sources. Do you think that bloggers are starting to do all the investigative work for television pundits these days?

Radley Balko: I’m not sure television pundits ever did much investigative work. That said, I always think it’s a mistake to separate the world into “blogs” and “traditional media.” There’s too much overlap between the two, and there’s far too much diversity in the blogosphere to make sweeping statements about what “bloggers” do or don’t do. I think blogging is more of an extension of the newsstand than a competitor to it.

There are blogs that do some fantastic investigative work and original reporting. But to be honest, I’m not sure I’d call any of the blogosphere’s more celebrated exercisis in scalp collecting “investigative work.” Memo-gate, Ben Domenech, Jeff Gannon — pick your blogosphere “victory” — all struck me more as grudge-settling and partisan cheerleading than muckraking. Yes, in each case, blogs uncovered some new information. But I’m not sure what was really accomplished, other than getting a political opponent fired or embarassed.

But as I say, there are a great diversity of blogs out there. And there are plenty that are offering some great original reporting, interesting niche analysis, and actually breaking news.

Simon Owens: What are the top five blogs you would recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

Radley Balko: I’ll skip the big sites that everyone already reads, and offer some blogs you may not be familiar with.

I like To the People, a group blog that skews heavily libertarian, but branches beyond public policy into sports, celebrity, and irreverence. They’re very, very funny, too.

It’s not a traditional blog, but TheNewspaper.com is a terrific niche site covering motorist issues. The site documents the many ways (traffic cameras, roadblocks, gas taxes, speed traps etc.) cities use traffic laws to boost revenue, exert authority, and generally trample on the rights of drivers.

Reason Magazine’s Hit & Run is a daily read for me.

The Cato Institute’s new blog should prove to become an important stop in blog-land soon.

One more? Rogier van Bakel’s blog does a bang-up job covering Nanny State issues.