I've been reading dailykos for years, and want to find similar sites that present political and campaign news from a progressive perspective. I'd appreciate your suggestions for sites that are similar in outlook and content to the main page on dailykos, and that you would recommend for reading.

(Cross-posted from Burnt Orange Report)

This is an unofficial part of our "Shattering Blogger Stereotypes" series. The myth shattered -- that bloggers hate the traditional media. The following is a report on an extensive study I completed as part of my coursework at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University.

Texas’ newspapers are adapting to the new online medium in noticeably different ways, especially when it comes to political reporting. An examination of the nearly 1,000 blog posts featured on the respective political blogs of the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, and Austin American-Statesman during the month leading up to the Texas primary shows that formal conventions of journalism often do not make their way from the paper pages to the web pages of Texas’ leading newspapers.

As we all watch the election slowly unfold, it's important to keep your eyes wide open. Kos and the diarists here are terrific, but it's a very good idea to look at some of the right wing blogs to see what "the opposition" is saying. You get a better chance of seeing whether you are or are not in an echo chamber, can occasionally find some good writing, and might even learn a thing or two.

A caveat: I voted for Bush the last two elections. This year, I finally saw how utterly bankrupt the Republicans are in terms of ideology, and I'm hanging my hopes on Obama and a better way. But that doesn't mean I erased my old bookmarks... feel free to use a convert's old tricks.

Here are they are, then: some of my favorite right-wing blogs. Some are good for "enemy research"; some are just good reading for the non-political topics that come up; and some are just nifty. Browse around. It's a big Internet. The more you listen, the more you learn.

A caveat before you good exploring The Dark Side of the Force: Don't troll. Just don't. It's not worth it, really. I'm entirely convinced that no one has ever won an argument, ever, on the Internet... and honestly, in the end, it's just tacky. Read. Don't write. Be respectful of the other guy, and treat them as you'd like to be treated.

I hate it when someone posts a middle finger aimed at a product they haven't even tried, simply because they judged it by its name and the initial press release.

I hate when folks on the left decry concern trolls telling democrats and feminists how they should behave, and then turn around and concern troll others, without actually doing all the legwork to support their position.

Here's another roundup of Netroot Nation 2008 coverage in the media and on the blogs.  There will be a special Daily Kos edition soon along with a final roundup edition when I can get them pulled together.  

Check out the previous NN08 roundups:     #1      #2

Crossposted at Reality Window

I have to admit that we have been very geeky about this whole thing.

Mrs. Lupin and I used to watch the Tour on TV when we lived in L.A.. Now, here we are, and this year, the Tour came right through our little village in the South of France!

It was obvious from looking at the schedule that was printed in the local rag that we’d have to look fast and not blink, otherwise we would miss it, but part of seeing the Tour is the experience of being there as much as seeing the racers.

[More under fold]

I'm always curious about how events like NN08 are covered so I poke around to see who's saying what.  I thought I'd pass along some of the more interesting bits I've found. It's not an exhaustive list.  Please feel free to add your finds in the comments.  

So, here's a round up of news and blog coverage of Netroots Nation through about 2pm EST on Saturday.  Check out the links including lots of video links below the fold.

Here's yesterday's edition.

Cross-posted at Reality Window

Hi y'all. I'm sitting in the Darcy Burner panel about prepping to run. Darcy is full of cool geekiness and true courage: hope I get to interview her over the weekend.  

So, re: the Unofficial Netroots Nation Podcast, I've been getting to talk with some wonderful folks, both known and not. Here's the Chair of the DNC, our very own Gov. Howard Dean, talking with tlg, the incoming DNC member for Asia, backstage before his Keynote speech:

This is my favorite site on the internet, hands down.  I check in probably 5-6 times a day, at least, every day.  So these recommendations are constructive suggestions offered in the most positive possible way.  Post a comment offering up your suggested improvements to DailyKos as well. Maybe somebody with some sway will give this thread a read.

Bill Moyers is right on the mark again!  His article in In These Times entitled  "Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column?  Corporate media colludes with democracy’s demise." is telling it as it is.  He starts with this story:

I heard this story a long time ago, growing up in Choctaw County in Oklahoma before my family moved to Texas. A tribal elder was telling his grandson about the battle the old man was waging within himself. He said, "It is between two wolves, my son. One is an evil wolf: anger, envy, sorrow, greed, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is the good wolf: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The boy took this in for a few minutes and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf won?"

The old Cherokee replied simply, "The one I feed."

Democracy is that way. The wolf that wins is the one we feed. And in our society, media provides the fodder.

For more look below:

Every day there is something new in the Corporate Media, conservative, progressive or liberal blogs that references a position that Obama and McCain has that doesn't sit well with a group of Americans.  Maybe I understand that old saying that you can't please all of the all of the time...  IMHO, journalistic integrity is falling to the wayside and is being replaced by sensationalism only.  It's just getting to be too much when backdrop colors and campaign VP selections dominate the news.

But that isn't just it.  I love my country and appreciate the liberties that are granted to me by the Constitution.  I'm just confused at how so many important issues ie: schools going to 4 days, states going to 4 day work week, rising costs of gas, food, unemployment and lack of healthcare really aren't highlighted unless it's part of a stump speech.

There is nothing that I would love to see more than to have Barack Obama as our 44th POTUS.  I support him with structured volunteer time, money and informal conversations at work and while I'm out.

I really appreciated Georgia10’s thoughtful response to my op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor about Millennials and online activism.  Her thoughts, and many of the comments, correctly give credit to the amazing power of the internet to inspire and aggregate the energy and passion of individuals young and old.  As I sit here writing this, knowing that hundreds if not more people will instantly read it when I click a button without any need for some mainstream editor to approve or disapprove of my ideas, it’s hard not to be reminded of how the internet is changing the entire political landscape.

That said, I want to respond to Georgia10 and others, clarify a few points --- and  push a bit harder on some.

hey folks,

i'm trying to put together a list of awesome blogs and bloggers who talk about the legal rights of ordinary americans, through the lenses of governmental abuse of power and corporate privilege (um, can someone say fisa?)

i'm especially interested in identifying the dailykos bloggers who focus on this. below is the list i've got, and why i'm doing this. please help me out! thanks!

I have read some recent posts on this site and others that have condemned Obama for his moderate positions concerning Iraq, Abortion, Rape and Gun Laws and I fear that the Democrats and Liberal community will AGAIN snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The .Guardian Newspaper has an interesting piece about the blogosphere in the UK being dominated by the Right, and asks whether this will continue when the Conservative Party (almost certainly) wins the next General Election.

In the US, as far as I can ascertain, the blogosphere is dominated by the Left (DailyKos, HuffPo, Atrios, MoveOn.org) with the only Right-wingers able to use the medium effectively being the Libertarian fringes (such as Ron Paul's supporters).

The big questions for me are, firstly, whether it is true that this is because the Blogosphere is essentially a tool of opposition to government (the US has a Republican in the White House, the UK has seen 11 years of rule by the notionally Left-wing Labour Party), and secondly, whether dominance of the blogosphere will shift to the other flank when these governmental arrangements are reversed.

 Before coming to DailyKos, I was a law blogger.  We pride ourselves on relative objectivity (which, I am sorry to say, I definitely lost in the passion of the primary season).  Fantasy or not, law bloggers are usually concerned about legal arguments, not political arguments, hard as the dividing line may be to find.

Sometime between posting at Volokh.com and other sites, I discovered that TalkLeft.com had become a pro-Clinton site.  That surprised me, because I remembered TL from undergrad.  I visited.  The truth was stranger than fiction.

The New York Times editorial today goes after the "new and not improved" Barack Obama. These reports of flip-flops are greatly exaggerated—why, it's almost as if the corporate media were attempting to unfairly shoehorn a Democratic candidate into a well-established negative frame—and to whatever extent that he has shifted to the center, well, welcome to American Politics 101.

•     The Kentucky Post has reported on the status of the case where the federal government prosecuted a landlord for renting apartments to illegal immigrants.  The jury found in favor of the defendant, whom the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund represented, and agreed with his argument that he did not intentionally harbor undocumented immigrants.  Immigration News Daily also reported on the case and claimed: