For the two-week comparison of a liberal blog to a conservative one, I chose Talking Points Memo on the left, and Michelle Malkin’s blog on the right. After some brief background information on both, I will compare and contrast the two blogs over their content and style.
Josh Marshall started Talking Points Memo in November 2000 during the Florida recount. Since then, TPM has grown into a popular blog with three spin-off sites. TPM Media is headquartered in New York City, but the blog is maintained by Marshall and partner David Kurtz in Washington.
Michelle Malkin is a syndicated newspaper columnist and author of three books. She is also a contributor for the Fox News Channel and another blog, called Hot Air. Malkin is also based out of Washington.
Here are my observations of the two blogs on the following topics:
Style
TPM is witty and sarcastic with most of its posts. The bloggers also make an effort to regularly showcase valuable or informative comments from their readers. They also do a pretty good job of compiling what other bloggers and pundits say about the same issues they’re writing about. This is usually done in a “pundit roundup” or something of the sort. It serves as a valuable vehicle for web surveillance, while also showing that TPM is interested in the opinions of others. Something else TPM does is to use the blog in a Twitter fashion with many of its post. There are numerous one-liners and other short quips that are usually entertaining.
Michelle Malkin is a my-way-or-the-highway type of blogger. She leaves very little room for debate over anything she writes about. She is stinging in her criticism and, like much of her staunch conservatives, stops at nothing in order to discredit or write off the opposition. She will also pursue and try to make a big deal out of things that seem very trivial. Finally, she seems to have a weird puking fetish. Much of her posts invoke a reference to puking, vomiting or airsickness bags.
John McCain
When I first started reading TPM on Sept. 24, it was monitoring the ties between McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and Freddie Mac. TPM provided details on the alleged impropriety, but didn’t really dwell on the issue. The bloggers also acknowledge that they had much greater admiration and respect for McCain before the election process started heating up. Now, they see him as just another politician with a big ego, and even wonder if he will ever regain his reputation with the political media. TPM criticizes McCain for being impulsive, reckless and quick to change his mind. I found it funny that they called McCain’s suspension of his campaign the greatest “dog ate my homework” excuse in history.
Malkin doesn’t even bother to discuss the allegations of wrongdoing between Freddie Mac and Davis. It’s like the allegations aren’t even there. Malkin doesn’t appear to have much of an opinion on McCain, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want the Republicans to win the election. In her view, any Republican in office is better than the alternative choice. She criticizes McCain for not attacking Obama on certain personal issues. She sees nothing wrong or unimportant about bringing up nonsensical attacks. McCain is uninterested in letting his campaign’s tactics get any uglier and Malkin can’t stand that. Malkin is unsatisfied but she’d clearly rather have McCain win the office.
Barack Obama
TPM takes a fairly balanced view towards Obama. They don’t go overboard with praise, but instead methodically show why they think he’s the better candidate. They carefully point out all of the lies said about Obama by Republicans and give proof at the same time. TPM really expresses concerns over some of the hatred and fear that’s spewing from the right in regards to Obama.
Where TPM thinks McCain’s campaign has become dirty, Malkin thinks Obama’s is dirtier. She constantly brings up a “goon squad” of legislators and judicial employees the Obama campaign has “hired.” This seems nothing more than wishful thinking on Malkin’s part. Just because some judges in Missouri have come out and said they support Obama and will challenge anyone who tries to slander him, does not mean they’ve been “hired” to do so. Sure, they can do better things with their time, and probably shouldn’t let those opinions become public, BUT it doesn’t mean they’re “hired” employees. Malkin also claims the Obama campaign has aggressively gathered bums and the homeless to get them registered to vote in an effort to turn the election. Malkin calls this “voter fraud” and in one post referred to Obama as a “Chicago-trained thug.” Hmm…
Federal Bailout
TPM took a skeptical view on the bailout. It felt the Republicans were putting a spin on the negotiations and the original failed vote in the House. TPM said it was a calculated gamble on the part of the Republicans in hopes of a future political benefit. If the bailout is to fail, then the Republicans can come back and blame the Democrats, etc. TPM called it a “win-win” situation for the Republicans. Besides that, TPM also made light of the climate of fear about the economy that many Congressmen were feeding. There was one funny video they posted that showed various Congressmen giving dire warnings.
Like TPM, Malkin is skeptical about the bailout. Well, not even skeptical; she hates it. Regularly referring to it as a “crap sandwich” Malkin is very angry about the mass panic and feeling that something must be done immediately. She blames Republicans and Democrats equally, which was kind of surprising. Still, when the first vote in the House failed, Malkin called the speech by Nancy Pelosi venomous and said she couldn’t listen any longer. In fact, a lot of Republicans claimed after the vote, that Pelosi’s speech caused them to vote how they did. TPM on the other hand, said Pelosi’s speech was very unremarkable and was shocked at the spin conservatives tried to put on it. Finally on the topic of the bailout, one of Malkin’s favorite lines on these posts has been “God save us from bi-partisanship.”
Sarah Palin
TPM is very unsettled about the notion that Palin could one day become President in a worst-case scenario. They say that she is grossly inexperienced and dangerous in her own right, pointing to abuse of powers in Alaska. One of their main vehicles for attacking her is the videos of her awful primetime interviews. TPM says Palin at first countered McCain on the bailout and was also forced to retract some of her foreign policy statements.
Malkin inexplicably thinks Palin is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Malkin has a disturbing fascination and admiration for the Governor of Alaska. It’s almost as if no matter what anybody else thinks about Palin, Malkin just writes them off. I cannot for the life of me understand what it is Malkin sees in her. It just makes me angry, but the following statement from Malkin, written after the vice presidential debate, says it all: “Sarah Palin looked presidential. Joe Biden looked tired. Sarah made history. Biden is history.”
Debates
Both blogs, and I assume almost all of the noteworthy ones, have live-blogged all three debates thus far. TPM thinks Obama won both debates, although not in dominant fashion. Malkin refuses to really talk about who “won,” but instead tries to focus on gaffes, real or perceived, made by Obama. As far as the vice presidential debate, TPM thinks Biden definitely got the better of Palin. Malkin, of course, has a completely different take on it and thinks Palin dominated. Her blog post on the debate was titled “Sarah rocks!.” One interesting difference was the perception of Tom Brokaw, the moderator in the second Obama-McCain. Both TPM and Malkin thought Brokaw was favoring the other side.
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