(and havent) files, comes this from my comments section
which, i promise you, patient readers of this page, is the last word on the instaissue – unless glenn wants to add something himself
from LowerManhattanite (emphasis and links mine):
As a daily reader and sadly, not a daily commenter (as kids, the 9-to-5, and screenplay writing eat up a man’s time) of both the busblog and instapundit, I have to say that I am in agreement with Tony on this issue.
While I may not share the opinion of insty’s being the “world’s greatest blogger” ( a title to be taken with the same grain of salt as the value of venturing into a coffee shop with a sign blaring “world’s best coffee”), the man’s influence is undebatable.
And as Smilin’ Stan said lo’ those many years ago, “with great power comes great responsibility”. A large part of Reynolds’ credibility comes from his seeming moderateness in form and presentation.
Tony and Andrew Sullivan (yep…both names in the same sentence—hell…commence to freezing) both noted insty’s canny pushing of the GOP agenda in soft, chewable form—with light barbs and well placed “heh‘s” and “indeeds” after brutal quotes from braver cons than he. Insty always has the fallback defense of “hey..I didn’t say it, I merely quoted it /linked it”—which frees him up as a voice of moderation. Clearly he agrees with a lot of these goons, verbal thugs, and talking point hitmen as he virtually never disagrees with them.
But again, his bogus moderate stance as far as HIS words go allow him to appear far from the fringe with the zealots and outright flacks he quotes and promotes (via links which lead to the desired “instalanche“)—i.e. Drudge, Hewitt, Malkin, Little Green Footballs. Were he to be lumped in with these hyper-partisans, whatever “credibility” he has as a non-partisan (which is how he is spun on cable shows) would vanish and he’d be relegated to the periphery with his pals under their moniker—as biased purveyors of a near-lockstep party line. And image-wise (which is apparently an issue with him)…that’s undesirable.
His waffling on his stance—up until his angry, and defensive outburst (Sheesh! For a guy who posts 30 times a day and is clearly as busy as hell, he sure seemed pretty vexed about one guy’s opinion of him on another blog. Maybe he could save time searching out criticisms in his comments section—oh wait…he doesn’t have one. Hmmmm…) IS disingenuous and well…pretty damned craven in that while linking and quoting the hooligans, he also NEVER gives bad news, presents a bad poll, or notes a lie from the side he claims to not be on.
There’s no problem with being one-sided or biased, but you know what? Say so and be done with it. Affecting a distanced veneer in while standing knee-deep in the muck makes one look ridiculous. That’s where the likes of kos or Atrios haave a certain level of integrity beyong Glenn in that they readily tell you where they stand—and let the “hits” fall where they may. But Glenn won’t do that (until now…and rather pissily at that—could he have seen some internal GOP polling that’s got him vexed?)…because in visibly allying himself with the lunatic fringe he gauzily promotes, he’d lose the high ground of the “center”.
And very few (if any) are willing to call the mighty G.R. on his faux centered-ness out of fear of a deluge of venom like Tony’s gotten here and fear of pissing off a potential super-linker of insty’s stature. Somebody’s gotta do it as every power-broker needs checks and balances and a transparently one-sided 800 lb blogorilla like Glenn especially needs to know that his charade is indeed visible to many.
It’s funny though how so many folks are hung up on Tony’s pointing out the elephant (no pun intended) in the room and rushing to insty’s defense instead of noting the unwavering truth of his point—namely the willful myopia of Glenn’s pushing of one agenda with absolutely no criticism of it while routinely trashing it’s inverse. “You’re jealous of his hits”, “You hate him!” “It’s his blog, there are no rules!”, and so on and so forth the comments go. Simply note that insty is pushing for fairness from others (Rather, the U.N., Kerry, his foes in academia) that he does not practice himself while promoting those who hopelessly one-sided.
What’s good for the Glenn is good for the Rather, and if one is going to point out bias and unfairness, well…one should walk the walk…even if it’s just a brief stroll.
Perhaps Glenn can take a cue from Tony and post this paraphrase at the extreme left of his blog’s welcome screen: “nothing in here is unbiased against the left” At least then youd know exactly where he stands.
and you people say i can write?
shit.
xeni + sk smith + welch gets the big wigs to say who theyre voting for… someone gives a “most likely”. sheesh.