What Are The Best Indy/Centrist/Moderate Blogs?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Blogging, BlogrollSolomon Kleinsmith, who is a contributor here from time to time and just started a great new site The Rise Of The Center, has put together a list of indy/centrist/moderate blogs you should check out.
The Pragmatic Center – Nick Goebel, who I’ve chatted with a bit, has his head on straight. His blog is a mix of common sense political talk on national and Michigan state politics.Third Party and Independent Daily – This site doesn’t just stick to centrist type stuff, as any third party groups are discussed, but there is a lot of great coverage of smaller stories you don’t see anywhere else, related to those on the front lines of the war against the two party system.
POLI-TEA – Probably the site out there that is most like mine… so of course I think its great! haha… Almost all really in depth discussion. Its a must read.
Centrist Zealot – I only came across this one a few days ago, but its already one of my favs. Schmitty, one of the two man team that runs Centrist Zealot, have chatted a bit and he’s really got his head in the right place. CZ is a lot more… snarky than Rise of the Center, but the content is good.
So, what are your favorite reads around the middlesphere?
And how about in the rest of the blogosphere? Not all liberal and conservative blogs are awful. What do you check out from time to time?
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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 and is filed under Blogging, Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 5th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
I’ll have to check these out, since I don’t have any anymore. They all crapped out. I did a census of my own a year or two ago, and none were especially active.
Disturbingly, it suggests that if you’re not part of either echo chamber, it’s hard to sustain things.
Centerfield used to be good, but it no longer loads properly for me in either browser. I used to like Alan’s site. Then he came here, and then he disappeared.
August 5th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
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August 5th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Not clear who’s running poli-tea. I like it when folks give visitors a little capsule “here’s who I am and where I’m coming from” manifesto.
August 5th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
We at Centrist Zealot were honored to be on the list. Hope you guys check us out. Love to hear what you think. We don’t really think of ourselves as “snarky”, we prefer “crass and infantile”.
August 5th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Kranky,
Alan is really pursuing his writing career and is apparently making great strides, so political blogging had to be put to the side. And Centerfield doesn’t load for me either. Pity.
August 5th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
I’ve become a fan of the Pragmatic Center but I also like the Centrist Zeolot
August 5th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
http://centerfield.blogtownhall.com/default.aspx
If this is it-loaded for me.
August 6th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Thanks for the shout-outs to Poli-Tea and Third Party and Independent Daily, Justin and Solomon! Poli-Tea is primarily a commentary blog, whereas TPID is more devoted to news coverage. Kranky, there is a little ‘about’ section at Poli-Tea, but it’s kinda tongue in cheeck. Basically, at some point I had gotten so fed up with the typical BS coming from all the usual suspects on both sides of the duopoly divide, and had grown so frustrated by the fact that I couldn’t find very much commentary devoted to criticism and critique of the two-party state as such, that I decided if I wanted to read something along those lines, I was going to have to write it myself. Since launching Poli-Tea and TPID, however, I’ve gotten to know a ton of great blogs and bloggers devoted to the same or a similar project. Like Donklephant, for instance. :-)
August 6th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Hey! They can cuss on Centrist Zealot! Why the #@^&! can’t we??
August 6th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
michael: Is cussing really that necessary for debate?
August 6th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Solomon, thanks for the recommendation! I agree, all of those sites are great including yours. I’ve also been a fan of this site for a long time and I have become a big fan of Centrist Zealot since you recommended it. I think I’ve read all of their posts already. Freaking hilarious, I swear on Helen Thomas’ grave.
August 7th, 2010 at 7:23 am
@Aaron-
While it may not be necessary, I think there are occasions where the words might convey more meaning (or a special meaning) The pic of the guy next to the Westboro Baptist loons with the sign reading “F… this Guy” Conveys a meaning more heartfelt and funny than another word would have.
None of that is to say we should have it here. Just that they are a tool. They can be used for good or evil.
August 7th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
It doesn’t censor you, so as long as you don’t piss off justin too much…. (knows from personal experience).
August 8th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Justin: I saw Solomon’s list, too. Delighted that he included The New Moderate, of course, but I’m even happier to have discovered some lively (and even gonzo) moderate blogs out there. So many of my centrist links were dead — or deadly dull. Now I’ve updated my blogroll — and I’m excited for the future of our tribe.
August 9th, 2010 at 9:46 am
While I’m not sure if anyone here (including myself) would consider Andrew Sullivan to be a “centrist,” I find his Daily Dish blog to be consistently excellent reading on a wide variety of topics.
Agnostick
[email protected]
August 10th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Thanks, Justin. It’s nice that each link has a distinct voice and that they actually, gasp, live up to the centrist/moderate tag by taking both of our dominant parties to task.
August 10th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Oh, and two sites which I…enjoy isn’t exactly the right word, are Newshoggers, which is left-leaning but extremely detailed and resolute in its opposition to the Afghan war among other things, and The Decline of the Empire, which appeals to me on the basis of the author’s utter disgust with what is a clearly damaged, if not broken, government. Sorry for the lack of links, but they should be easily searchable for those interested.
August 10th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
This inspired me. I decided to take a stab myself with The Cranky Critter. Feel free to stop by and let me have it, if you have a mind to.
This will allow me to pursue and plump things that inspire me, instead of say, haunting open threads. The one current events post so far relates to a growing web theme, the one where folks are questioning the cost and return on higher education. I’m gonna try to do a minimum of a post a day for the time being. And I’ll be looking for that hard to define middle ground, as usual.
August 12th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I consider Andrew Sullivan to be more of a columnist… he works for The Atlantic. He’s also pretty darn liberal… although not a left winger by any means, and often moderate.
May be splitting hairs, but I only am including independent blogs here. I’m planning similar lists with columnists, think tanks, blogs I’ve found more recently but haven’t gotten a good feel for, etc etc etc