Conservative Blogging-Cooperative, Not Coordinated and Quite Singular

Now that much of the fallout from the priapic junior high zit-squeezing that was JournoList has landed, left-wing noise punks like HuffPo are jumping ugly on anything that even kinda-sorta resembles right-wing media/conservative blog coordination. 

So let’s cut to the chase:  Is there a right-of-center JournoList?

There could be, but it’s highly doubtful.  Listen to Ace as he demolishes the PuffingtonHost charge that he coordinated with members of the so-called right-wing noise machine:

Number of emails to/from Allah, Ed, The Anchoress, Jim Hoft, any representatives at Fox, or Andrew Breitbart to/from Myself: Zero, until today, an hour ago, when The Anchoress emailed me this link about how we “coordinated.”

Last time I emailed anyone on that list was two days ago, when I emailed Ed to tell him his Gallup story was wrong (and he didn’t email back).

Before that? I wrote Andrew Breitbart on Sunday about getting me in touch with someone he might or might not know (it was a total flier) about non-political business (he didn’t email back).

Before that? Some point in the last month I emailed Allah some one-line observation, I think about a person, rather than politics (he didn’t email back).

Before that? I am pretty sure I have not contacted any of these people, nor been contacted by them, it at least three months. I have almost never emailed The Anchoress or Jim Hoft, ever, and nor they me; I used to email Allah every so often, but we sort of stopped doing that (or he stopped, then I did); and I have traded like two or three emails, all short tip-type things, with Ed Morrissey, in, like, my entire life.

So not much there.

You wanna know why else there isn’t a JournoList on the Right?  There’s no time for it, according to the great Little Miss Attila: 

Bloggers do send each other links. We send them one-on-one, and as group emails to our own customized link-pimp mailing lists (almost all of us small-time bloggers act as our own publicists, and send out emails every day, or week, or month — demanding that Glenn Reynolds, Rush Limbaugh and whomever else look at what we’re writing). And Elizabeth Scalia, Jim Hoft, Ed Morrissey, Allahpundit and Ace all get mail from me, to which they occasionally respond when time permits. But these writers are all too big to have to send out “look at me” emails. And although there are sub-groups of Southern Californians, chick-bloggers, warmongers, Jesus freaks, libertarians, and energy bloggers that I consult with and link to from time to time, most of us really are too busy to coordinate actual “media strategies,” because we generally also have day jobs and/or home obligations, along with the writing of at least one essay a day and throwing up as many shorter posts as we can.

I don’t think I have to say this to anybody, but this cheesey little blog thang ain’t my full time job.  I love shooting the shit with bloggers and I always try to hit my homies’ websites out on teh internetz.  But coordinating a political message with them?  That would be rough stuff even if I wanted to.  Between work, co-workers, family, friends and every other obligations, there are very few hours in a week that I can actually devote to writing.  Then, on top of all that, I’m supposed to break out my Reich-Wing Secret Decoder Ring and my 1,000,000 hit point Dick Cheney Amulet of Conservative Evil and figure out what the agreed-upon message is supposed to be for the day?  Nah, that ain’t happening.

Besides the lack of time, think about the various perspectives some of my blogging pals have.  Amusing Bunni’s lead post is a Rule 5 job (and a lovely one at that).  Bunkerville looks at the German fat tax thingy.  MK examines taxpayer funding of comedy clubs.  Fuzzy Logic has a video about the Breitbart/Shirley Sherrod story.  Matt zings CNN for wanting the government to regulate bloggers.  Angel wants a new dog.  Trestin busts out the Reaganey awesomeness.  Karen grooves out to the original Mad Max.

Forget about ideology for a bit.  First, try getting those eight writers to get on the same page about their various interests.  These are people that only have to answer to themselves.  They’re not assigned a story by an editor.  They talk about whatever the hell they wish.  

But okay, lets say you’ve gotten them all on the same page.  That won’t happen, but whatever.  Say you have managed to get those ducks in a row.  Now try to tell them they have to write about the same political event or issue.  That’s pretty nuts. 

Sissy Willis has a neat idea to describe the improbability of a right-wing JournoList.

“Grizzlies are generally loners, but they are still North America’s most social bear. They gather at food sources and often forage in family groups,” according to the Bronx Zoo website. Sarah Palin’s metaphor for common-sense conservative women — “Mama Grizzlies” fiercely defending their young — resonates beyond female political candidates to become a perfect metaphor for everyday fellow Americans and social-networking citizen journalists like the Tea Partiers, both women and men, who are entering the political fray to battle the fear-and-smear machine that would douse the lights of the Shining City Upon a Hill.

Lone grizzly vs. wolf pack. Individualism vs.collectivism. The metaphors fit.

JournoListers were basically all card carrying left-wingers.  Lefties tend to like collectives of all sorts of flavors; the JournoList email jobby was just another snuggly group think security blanket.  When there was a threat to their political views, they angrily pounced on it.  When there was a way to advance their preferred policy ideas or candidates, they swung into action with extreme vigor.

I don’t know about anybody else, but this herd mentality isn’t for me.  I suspect it isn’t for many other right-of-center types either.  So yeah, a conservative JournoList could be out there.  But for a number of reasons, it’s highly doubtful conservatives would create this sort of douchebaggery.