The Great Falls Tribune’s editorial board writes a column called “The Edge” that is published every Saturday on their Viewpoints page. It is where the editorial board members kind of let their hair down some. The Viewpoints section is one of my favorite parts of the newspaper. I always read “The Edge” first on Saturday mornings.

In this past Saturday’s column (I cannot find it online) they looked at the disappearance of right-wing blogs in Montana and made some interesting observations. They asked, “why more moderate or left-leaning blogs are sticking around in Montana” instead of the right-leaning blogs.

I have been an active blogger since January 2005. As a recovering right-wing blogger who is now more independent, I have always held moderate beliefs (I see both sides). The Western Word is more of a blog where I comment on the news and issues. Up at the top of the page I state that The Western Word provides “Independent Commentary about Politics, Sports, the Media, and Current Events.”

I thought maybe I could shed some light on the issue of the scarce right-wing blogs. Throughout my blogging years, I’ve been called a “Bush lover” a “Bush hater” a “Liberal jerk” an “Obama lover” and “Obama hater,” “mentally ill,” and it goes on and on. That’s the life of a blogger. I approve all comments so the nasty ones never make it to the comment section of the blog post. Plus some are sent directly to me via e-mail.

If you look back on my blog posts, you would be hard-pressed to find me supporting any liberal or progressive candidate two or three years ago. That is not the case today. In November 2012, my ballot was checked for about 80% Democrats and about 20% for Republicans.

Why? It’s partly because the Tea Party takeover of the Republican Party made me change my attitude. While they have some views that I can support, some of their tactics and comments soured me to their movement. When I hear about leaders posting jokes about traps and watermelons, or candidates talking about “legitimate rape” or saying that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen” it made it very easy for me to vote for non-Tea Party candidates.

Don’t get me wrong, the Democratic Party has demons, too. Montana needs to make it easier for independents to run for office so that we can have candidates who vote for what is right and not what their political party wants. Maybe if Montana had more independents in office, we wouldn’t look on in amazement when we hear about a group called “Responsible Republicans.” Sadly, the people who can make it easier to elect independents are Republicans and Democrats who serve in the state legislature, so don’t look for too many changes.

As many readers and friends know, I worked for a pretty conservative U.S. Senator, Conrad Burns, for about 12 years. In today’s political climate, I am not sure he would pass the litmus test to be a Tea Party endorsed candidate (his 1993 vote for liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg might sink him).

The Edge column also contained this little gem of a statement that I can’t let go:

Blogs from respected news organizations, such as The Lowdown from Tribune Capital Bureau Chief John Adams, are faring better. Maybe that’s because real journalists check out information before they post stories out on the Internet, and it’s their job to cover the news.

I guess the Associated Press reporting “Official: Suspect in Custody in Boston Bombings” and Fox News reporting, “Suspect Nabbed in Boston Bombing” or CNN’s Jon King reporting that a suspect had been placed in custody two days before he actually was, does not fit into the category of “real journalists.” They seemed to fail the part about checking out information before posting it on the Internet.

We all make mistakes. Sometimes they are national mistakes (like those mentioned above) that millions see. Sometimes they are small mistakes only seen by a few subscribers and the corrections are placed in the bottom left-hand corner of page 2A.

While it’s tough for us little fellas to compete against blogs from news organizations because they have free advertising to promote their blogs, I do appreciate the Tribune picking up some of my columns and publishing them. Like the Tribune, I make money from advertising (a whole lot less than the Tribune I might add).

Finally, there are a couple “beacons” out there for the righties: The Flint Report  is a right-leaning blog (attached to the Northern Broadcasting Network) and “Rockin’ On The Right Side” is another one that I read often.

Follow me on Twitter @TheWesternWord

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