politburo diktat 2.0

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang Reflects

In a very nice, longish post, Kevin sums up his experience running the 2005 Weblog Awards. As Lefties dominated many of the large categories this year, I was struck by Kevin’s comment about that:

It’s no secret that Wizbang is a conservative blog, … Over the past three years I’ve tried to keep that label well removed from The Weblog Awards. The Weblog Awards were never intended to be, nor have I ever purported them to be a “conservative” event. Call me an idealist, but I do believe that it’s possible to engage in such competitions in a spirit of openness to all political leanings. I think the 2005 edition of The Weblog Awards proves that. Conservative bloggers who may have grown accustomed to a dearth of liberal nominees and finalists in The Weblog Awards should probably divorce themselves of the notion that liberal blogs will (or should) stay away because they have their “own” awards (The Koufax Awards). …

Denigrating the apparent victories of several liberal blogs in major categories, is in my opinion, childish. I didn’t hear any teeth gnashing in 2004 when Powerline won the Best Blog category, nor should there be a hue and cry when (it appears) that DailyKos will win that award this year. Maybe there’s not a lot of audience overlap between those two blogs, but the fact that each won the top award is testament to their reach and influence.

Kevin’s sincere statement gives the lie to this from PZ Myers:

I’m not a fan of The Weblog Awards, but you really should go vote for Jesus’ General in the Best Humor/Comics category. …

As long as we’re talking about making people sad, you could also vote for Daily Kos in the Best Blog category, even if you don’t think it is the best blog…but it will make the wingnut hosts of the award feel all frustrated and angsty, and they’ll probably change the voting rules next year.

Kevin was wholly pleased at the broader participation this year, and was not at all “frustrated and angsty,” nor will he change the voting rules next year.

Primary definitions of “liberal” from Answers.com: “1. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry. 2. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.” Who displays more liberality here?