I had to agree: surely all of us care deeply, surely readers want to think about where the candidates stand, surely controversy alone stimulates discussion, and surely that kind of discussion is exactly what TPM Cafe should be doing. Isn't it why we're all here?

And then I came to TPM Cafe, and it seems to me that Josh feels the answer is no. Am I wrong? I have to say that I've been very disappointed in the number of posts simply shilling for candidates, and I suspect that at least some others are, too.

We have plenty of posts on candidates, by MJR, Reed, Larry, and recently an invited guest from the Obama campaign. And every one of them is either at the level of, gee, this person is so cool or this person is such a slime. Are others put off by that as much as I? Both posts seem to me to misrepresent the candidates and to distort the political process. They also echo the kind of campaigning that is going to get us in trouble by feeding GOP attacks, even if some of the posts complaining about opposing candidates seem to be denouncing them for doing just that.

I realize that our regular posters are entitled to strong opinions about the candidates. We all have them, and anyone we respect enough to read regularly is worth our patience when they go a little overboard. But again, one poster was an invited guest, and this is all we are seeing. I realize, too, that politics gets TPM Cafe more comments and more hits, and this is a business, too.

Still, I think it's the wrong way to go. I can see evidence that others do, too. I've seen comments talking about "shilling." I've seen the most fervent comments and blogs sticking to anger at Clinton's hawkishness and at one stance or another on health-insurance mandates. Maybe those comments are mistaken about where the candidates stand, but they're there. there are too many die-hard partisan commenters that I simply scroll right by. And Josh over at TPM felt he had to defend himself against mere horse-race coverage. Conversely,

Where is this site going? And is it too late to turn it around?

John

http://www.haberarts.com/