This blog especially, but there are others, are very dangerous in that Republican elected pander to them. Case in point... look at one topic AG Bob brought up in his remarks at last weekend's Blogs United conference. He looked at who was in his audience and what does he decide to talk about?  Illegal immigration! Why the hell do you bring up immigration at a blog conference?  On the flip side, look at the wonderful comments presented by Creigh Deeds. 

Another example... BVBL is the driving force behind the Help Save groups that have taken a foot hold in NoVA. They thought they could parlay that success and simultaneously ram a Help Save Virginia Beach group down our throats.  There is no grassroots down here to support it. It failed. One reason is coz we luckily have responsible electeds (namely Senator Ken Stolle) who don't pander and inflame like AG Bob does and responsible blogs (namely VB Dems) who work to put out any sparks that might turn into flames. 

If you were a print journalist, taking the most extreme blog out there, one that pandered to fear, racism, and homophobia, and gleefully reporting that its writer was unconcerned about evidence to back up his wild claims, wouldn't that be a great way to discredit the blogosphere?

Unfortunately for the WaPo and other mainstream media, it's not accurate.  There are many blogs out there, both on the left and the right, that do a far better job of covering issues. 

And that article certainly didn't belong on Page 1 of the national section.  It should have been a Metro, Virginia section, story at best.  And it should have been far more balanced by showing the influence of other large blogs - both right and left - that are not as inflammatory and that actually use research and evidence to back up their arguments.

This was a piss poor frontpage story for the Washington Post.  If it WAS going to be on A-1, it needed a great deal more work.  Frankly, it reads more like an opinion piece - one very favorable to BVBL - than a real news article.  Very strange, that of all the stories coming out of the Virginia blogosphere, they would pick this one.

I agree that the article goes way too easy on him.  It reminds me a lot of the 60 Minutes piece on Rick Berman that made him look more like a crusader for freedom than the corporate shill he really is.

Some men, like Michael Jordan, use their hairless head to express their unquestionable masculinity. For others, like George Costanza and BVBL, hair less becomes inspiration for misguided efforts to desperately prove there may be some testosterone left in there somewhere.

While folks can make passing comments about the appearance or motivations of BLBV, it is only one of a growing cadre of blogs/web sites that use incendiary rhetoric to stoke "anti-immigration" fires.

This web site: [http://www.forthecau...]
out of Potomac Falls, VA, is run by a former Pat Buchanon web master, and has been growing over the past couple of years.

Members of the various groups are very vocal, politically active, and organized. What we have seen in VA is probably a preview for "anti-immigration" campaigning in 2008. 

People overcompensate for preceived flaws as much -- or more -- as they do for real ones. I was making fun of his overcompensation.

I read many parts of this article aloud to my wife. We really wonder why did they write it the way they did. I know that they often write ironic pieces that give back handed compliments to their subjects, but the tone came out too positive towards BVBL in my opinion. But hey, maybe when the Post seems to celebrate someone whose claim to fame is bigotry my sense of irony diminishes.

As for the Washington Post editorial, I agree with most of the content, but I disagree with one point: the Senate passing the flawed bill would not have calmed down xenophobic sentiments. And it seems that the WaPo forgets that part of the reason why  the bill couldn't get passed was because of the pressure against it brought from these xenophobic groups. They are smart enough to know that one shouldn't confuse the causes with the effects.