Hugh Hewitt, who has been a great friend to this blog and its two authors, writes in his WorldNetDaily column about his new book and the "adopt-a-Lefty-journalist" program he's launching with it:

Is it possible to penetrate the cocoons that Dowd, Krugman, Dionne, Hunt and most reporters at the bigs live within? Not if we rely on their own intellectual curiosity. They don't get out much, and when they do, they don't talk with the red state folks.

So adopt a couple and begin to send them the books they need to read. Start with mine. Track down an address via the Web – most major papers have their mailing addresses pretty accessible, as do most studios – and have a book or two or 10 sent off to a national name and to a local reporter as well. Send a gift card with a note encouraging these people to broaden their horizons, and ask for some demonstration that the book has been received. Try and get them interested through persistence and patience in the half of the two Americas they disdain to recognize much less understand.

It's not a bad idea, although I'm less optimistic than Hugh about turning around the chattering class. Why not expand the program beyond journalists? I plan to give my second copy to my daughter-in-law, who will already be somewhat receptive to the message. (I'd give it to my son, but if it's not about physics or calculus, his eyes glaze over rather quickly.) Once I'm done reading my first copy, I plan on giving it to someone on the fence, someone who could go either way in the next election.

I'm going to suggest this to CQ readers: First, buy the book and read it yourselves. Highlight the key passages and flag them with little Post-It page markers. Hand the book off to a friend who, even if they don't want to read the whole thing, can at least hit the couple of dozen passages you think will be key to their understanding. Then, buy another copy and do it again.

Earlier in the column, Hugh notes the impact that the blogosphere has had on the media and the electorate as a whole, and he recommends sixteen blogs for daily reading:

# WorldNetDaily
# FreeRepublic
# Instapundit
# Lileks
# Powerline
# RealClearPolitics
# EvangelicalOutpost
# FratersLibertas
# OutsideTheBeltway
# RedState
# Tim Blair
# RogerLSimon
# InfiniteMonkeys
# DaschlevThune
# Captain's Quarters
# ShotInTheDark

Whiskey and I both extend our thanks to our good friend for such a gracious recommendation.

Addendum: It occurs to me that one way of addressing the journalistic imbalance would be to hire more columnists from the right into syndication, especially those who regularly point out media bias issues. Any syndicators should feel free to drop me a line anytime to discuss compensation and promotion ...

UPDATE: Joe Carter has a spot-on tribute to Hugh's influence and generosity. George Bailey, indeed! (via Fraters Libertas)

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is