RESTORING BALANCE AND HARMONY IN THE UNIVERSE
Reading the latest "top 100 blog-wanna-be" this morning, it hit me. Could "The Huffington 
Post", the left-wing "celebrity" blog organized and launched yesterday by Ariana Huffington succeed where Air America Radio failed (here, according to Andrew Sullivan), and slipped in the ratings? The formula for the blog has been well-publicized, as described by the Online Journalism Review here:
"...now she's hoping to go steady, with a blockbuster news site called Huffington Post that will live a dual life -- part headline news aggregator a la Drudge Report and part group blog with a roster that reads like a Who's Who of limousine liberals (with a few conservatives thrown in): Tom Freston, Vernon Jordan, David Geffen, Nora Ephron, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Tina Brown, John Cusack, Gary Hart, Mike Nichols, Rob Reiner. "
It could succeed where Air America Radio stalled, especially if the "Huff-and-Puff Post" embraces pod casts, aggressive omni-media syndication, and/or having their celebrity posts being quoted in every conceivable form of mainstream media in a big virtuous cycle.
When I first heard about the imminent launch of the Huffington Post blog network, I thought, "how clever"...in a celebrity-obsessed culture like ours that gave us Paris Hilton with her almost 3 million hits on Google, why not?
Naively, the thought of the super, uber-blog in political or partisan terms didn't occur to me. But now, seeing Ariana's own introduction to the blog on day two of its launch, it hit me ("duh"...), like a ton of bricks...
Welcome to Day Two of the Huffington Post. More of the top news stories as they break. And an abundance of riches on our group blog. While our team is still trying to figure out who won -- or lost -- our launch sleep deprivation pool, Gary Hart is raising the most important long-term question on Iraq: are we there to promote democracy or are we there to stay? Joe Scarborough follows up on Jon Corzine’s post on Sudan. And Larry Gelbart recovers from a bad case of bulmedia (reading and watching so much of it you start throwing up).
The general media has been heralding the new blog, as the New York Times weighs in here, and other mentions here.
The main technical nitpicks I have on the site, still in its second day of public operation are two-fold:
- There is no convenient search box, or celebrity blog-roll, which can allow the reader to find a specific blog, say by Bill Clinton...and,
- The comment/feedback links have not been activated in the blog area, only in the news area, so readers can't have a lively discussion of their own on the blog posts.
Fortunately, the opposition is already rallying to alleviate this, at this site, "Huffington is full of crap", which allows readers to leave comments to the HuffPosts on its blog.
But the right, if they're serious about mounting a response, needs an uber-celebrity blog of their own.
My own suggestion, would be to enroll none less than recent Time magazine cover girl, Ann Coulter.
With 1.5 million Google hits of her own, this "Paris Hilton of postmodern politics", (Vanity Fair), and Ms. Right (Time), could likely muster up a formidable blog 
network of her own that would give the HuffPost a run for its money.
I can already see it...the "Ann Coulter Disspatch"...(other reader suggestions are welcome)...
That would make things right again in the wild and woolly world of poli-media blogs.
P.S. For a "proper" and comprehensive review of the Huffington Post, check out this Opening Day review one at Wizbang, along with links to other reviews. Also, there's a more colorful, Hollywood-laced one here by Nikki Finke of LA Weekly.
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