Ezra Klein on the role of blogs in the progressive movement

From Ezra Klein:

[M]y sense is that liberal blogs are not much interested in claiming independence from the liberal movement. They're interested in being recognized as a valuable wing of it. Hamsher's idea for "fellowships" actually seems like a perfectly appropriate way to understand the connection. The issue isn't that Americans United for Change want "free publicity." It's that they're not recognizing the operating costs that render that publicity possible. What Hamsher and others seem to be arguing is that if blogs are to be considered part of the leftwing infrastructure, that the moneyed elements of the coalition realize that full-time blogging isn't a costless endeavor and commit to funding blogs just as you'd fund field organizing. That's not, as Gawker would have it, extortion. It's movement-building. And they're part of the movement.