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March 09, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
Did You Make Congress' Blog List?
Everyone who blogs about politics and policy would like to think that people in power read their blogs. Thanks to Right Wing News, some bloggers now have proof in the form of a blog reading list for a handful of Republican lawmakers.
The list obviously provides only a snapshot into the favorite blogosphere haunts of congressman, but it is still telling. Here are some of the insights I gleaned from the list:
-- Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio is the most voracious, least partisan and thus the smartest blog reader. His list includes 33 blogs from across the political spectrum.
I'm not singling Ney out for praise because his list happens to be the only one with Beltway Blogroll on it. (That's just a happy coincidence.) I think he's the smartest blog reader because he doesn't limit his blog journeys to the GOP echo chamber. Ney has faced some pretty harsh criticism at top liberal blogs like Daily Kos, The Huffington Post and, especially, Talking Points Memo, but he reads them all anyway. No doubt about it, that's smart.
-- Rep. Joe Wilson is the most parochial of the bunch. He reads only one blog, SCHotline, and it's from his home state.
Ney and Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona also are partial to home-state blogs. Ney reads Buckeye State Blog and Ohio 2006, and Franks' list includes Arizona Congress Watch and Blog for Arizona.
-- RedState made the readings lists for all but two of the nine lawmakers polled in the survey. Wilson and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, are the only ones who don't read RedState. Cornyn's Texas colleague in the House, Jeb Hensarling, reads only RedState and Quorum Report.
-- The biggest surprise to me: Hugh Hewitt, Instapundit and Power Line apparently are not required reading for Republican lawmakers. Each made multiple appearances in the survey, but RedState appears to be the favorite of more Republicans on Capitol Hill.
-- Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, who has his own blog and blogs at RedState, is the only member surveyed who cares enough about what his colleagues think to actually read one of their blogs. He ranked Congressman Conaway's Blog, the online forum for the office of Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, among his favorites.
If any other lawmakers or their aides in either party read Beltway Blogroll, I'd like to hear from you. I'd also like to hear from any other officials in Washington. Tell me which blogs you read regularly and I'll post them here. You can e-mail me at dglover@nationaljournal.com.
Posted by | 10:33 AM
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Welcome, Congressman Ney! (And thanks to John Hawkins for the great post identifying the Congressman as a reader.) [Read More]
Tracked on March 9, 2006 01:18 PM
