I don't get many opportunities to watch it, unfortunately, but I really like Bloggingheads.tv. For those unfamiliar with it, Bloggingheads.tv is a video web-cast that brings together prominent bloggers from the right and the left to discuss nat'l and internat'l issues. Commentators include Robert Wright, Mickey Kaus, Mark Schmitt, Matthew Yglesias, Matthew Continetti, David Corn and James Pinkerton, among others.
It's more thoughtful and less self-congradulatory than Sunday news magazines, it allows more detailed analysis than Sunday shows, and because it features bloggers -- instead of the same-old television commentators, pundits and campaign advisors -- there's a vitality and edge to it that I think is lacking in old-media programs like MTP.
So, for those who have seen it: What do you think?
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 December 2007 06:54 (eighteen years ago)
Things wrong with this.
1. Mickey Kaus is involved.
2. None of the conservative contributors have any redeeming features because conservatives in general are hacks.
3. While more "informative" than talking head grudge matches on Cable News, it doesn't seem "real", like there are no stakes involved.
― DustinR, Sunday, 23 December 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)
All that stuff is fair (esp. about Kaus, who is sort of detestable). I actually like the fact that there are no stakes involved. It means that the participants aren't always barking at each other or swinging for the fences rhetorically. I think the low-stakes makes BH.tv more approachable and thoughtful.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 December 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)
Actually, I'm not sure I agree about your No. 2 criticism. James Pinkerton is conservative, and really thoughtful. I don't like Kaus, but he's a smart guy whose given a wide forum on Bloggingheads.tv. And Eli Lake is also a worthy conservative commentator.
All of these are good right-of-center voices, and they don't have that all-sorts-of-smugness attitude of traditional right-wing pundits.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 December 2007 16:44 (eighteen years ago)
I listened to part of a Pinkerton diavlog (I download the mp3 bloggingheads feed, so I don't have to look at those people), and found him to be annoying. I thought he defended Mike Huckabee in a really, really disingenuous way. I'm pretty down on all of the conservative bloggers in general. Of course, at this point I'm pretty negative on political blogging in general.
The science dialogs are *awesome*, though. I'm always excited to listen to those.
― J, Sunday, 23 December 2007 17:12 (eighteen years ago)
I saw that Pinkerton diavlog last night (the one with David Corn, right)? Pinkerton was a bit disingenuous about Huckabee. But I thought Corn actually was the more annoying of the two, and I generally like him. He was just too dismissive, in a way I haven't seen him act before.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 December 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)
(I generally like David Corn, I mean).
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 23 December 2007 17:14 (eighteen years ago)