Political Ruminations

Huffington Post Blogger Bob Cesca on the AOL Deal

A long time blogger on Huffington Post, and one of their most popular bloggers, Bob Cesca gives readers his take on the sale of HuffPost to AOL:

On the other hand, I don't know what that will mean for the flow of opinion. And of course, I'm referring to my own participation. Until now -- and perhaps into the future -- I've been given full latitude to write whatever I want each week (with a few exceptions now and then). Naturally this is partly because the "bloggers," including me, aren't paid.

…To these points, I've been assured that nothing will change, and I hope that's true. Again, it's really been the blog that makes that site great, and it would be a shame if voices were tempered or silenced. I hope AOL understands this. I really hope. I wrote for AOL's Walletpop blog last year and the arrangement didn't work out very well. We'll see what happens this time around.

 

Adding… I truly hope that AOL does not move the site further right in terms of political outlook. Arianna has been something of a Firebagger, but at least the site is still mostly left-leaning.

Disclosure: I was a commenter on HuffPost for quite a long while, but rarely comment any more for a variety of reasons. I stopped commenting when they installed the badge system in spite of the fact that I had what was at the time, one of the larger followings. That system was simply the final annoyance in a long list of them.

A few of the other reasons…. were The Huffington Posts’ use of false, inflammatory headlines to drive traffic--this really, really annoys me; their so-called “science” section [the science section is just BAD, with no redeeming qualities. It isn’t science, it is pseudo-scientific drivel from the likes of anti-vaccination queen, Jenny McCarthy, and assorted quacks such as Dr. Joseph Mercola. If this move to AOL improves that situation, AOL will have done us all a great service, because Arianna is way out there when it comes to anything science related.], the anti-semitism which was allowed by the moderators, and the trolls that many of us believe are on HuffPosts payroll.

Updating Daily Political News Brief

What we're reading today:

Howard Kurtz has an excellent analysis of Bill O’Reilly’s Super Bowl Sunday interview with President Obama.

Over the weekend, former Vice President Dick Cheney defended Egyptian President Mubarak, saying that Mubarak had been a  “good friend” to the United States, and should be treated well.

Former President Bush avoids arrest for war crimes in Switzerland. [if only…]

Rep. Jane Harmon [D-CA] resigning from Congress to head up a bi-partisan think tank.