Huffington Post Day 2
No, this blog isn’t going to become a one-stop critique clearinghouse on the Huffington Post. With all the pre-launch publicity for Ariana “The Kook” Huffington’s effort to change the blogosphere, though, it behooves us bloggers to give our honest opinions on what she’s doing right. Unfortunately, she’s not doing much of anything right.
It’s only Day 2, but there’s no reason to think things are getting any better, or will soon. Nikki Finke has an excellent column that goes into a lot of the smoke and mirrors that Huffington used to get the word out about this travesty. (Hat Tip: LaShawn Barber) My own visit, today, makes me quite sure this will not become one of my daily reads, much less a subscribed RSS feed.
Today’s roundup?
Joe Scarborough notes that Sudan’s muslim majority is still slaughtering, raping, and enslaving non-muslims. Of course, he never once mentions that the oppressors are muslims.- Bill Maher has discovered that Bio-Diesel exists.
- Gary Hart has discovered that the US being invited to build permanent bases in Iraq might conflict with pulling out all our troops as fast as he’d like. He’s one big thinker, that Gary Hart. I seem to remember this discussion going on at about the same time that we invaded, but if Hart knew what was going on, he wouldn’t be a liberal.
- Larry Gelbart couldn’t put a single coherent thought together for a blog entry, so he treats us to a couple dozen incoherent ones instead.
- Haim Saban puts a coherent thought together, and writes one paragraph. Here’s hoping that Gary Hart reads it.
- Rob Reiner bemoans the state of the media in an entry that shows none of the talent that has made him so enjoyable as a director.
- Danielle Crittenden wrote something about Hollywood and what font you should use to flatter your boss, before launching on something about DC -vs- Hollywood that so completely bored me that I didn’t bother reading the script. Really horrid stuff.
- Andy Stern gives us one of the high points. He offers some advice to the Democrats on how they should once again become the party of the working man. This entry is well-written and informative, while offering a message that needs to be heard. Maybe you’ll agree with him and maybe you won’t, but at least this guy can deliver a good opinion piece.
- Jerry Brown offers yet another incoherent list of somethings that’s unreadable.
- Larry David gives us another high point. He demonstrates how wimpy the complaints against Bolton’s leadership style really are. He explains how badly he has berated an assistant for giving him too much milk in his coffee. This one’s fun.
- In a true example of journalistic quality and responsibility, Walter Cronkite tells us how glad he is to be a part of Huffington’s shell game, and that he hopes to actually write something for it someday.
Ariana, I could produce a blog of greater quality than yours by spending all day on the toilet and taking pictures of the bowl. This “Post” of yours has been two days in existence, and has produced exactly TWO entries that are worth reading, and only one of those has been of any serious merit. This whole thing is reminiscent of the South Park episode where the kids work to produce a quality newscast, only to be beaten in the ratings by a show full of closeups of pets with a wide-angle lens. You’ve taken thousands of dollars of other people’s money and produced the same thing that others have for $100 in hosting fees, only of lower quality.
This is so typical of liberal methods. Start by raising a lot of money. Follow up with flashy ideas. Gain the involvement of a bunch of “beautiful people.” Declare your efforts to be the best thing since sliced bread. Follow up with a declaration that your effort is an answer to the “right-wing control” over whatever industry it is you’re going into. Get the cooperation of the major media in tooting your horn for you. Produce lesser-quality pap that appeals to the leftiest of the left. Watch the money dissapear when revenues don’t turn up. Re-tool your efforts, not to match what the audience needs but to meet the new, lower budget. Repackage your marketing to say that your offering is a necessity to the few rather than the panacaea it was originally touted as. End as an also-ran with a shoestring budget.
Rush Limbaugh started on a shoestring budget, offering people views that they had been missing in the major media. His ideas appealed to millions, and now he makes millions of dollars as a great success.
Air America started with millions of dollars, offering people views that they could get in the major media nearly anywhere they looked. Their ideas appealed to dozens, and now they’re coasting as best they can on what little money they can bring in as a great failure.
I wonder which of these the Huffington Post will emulate.
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