I have to admit, I generally like the Blogometer. I agree with those who say it tends to tilt slightly conservative, but it does a good job of identifying trends and tracking the squabbles that both energize and enervate the blogosphere. And it accurately observed that the Alito filibuster's grassroots energy is being transmitted to the NSA warrantless-surveillance issue, and more generally that that grassroots/netroots energy represents a larger movement.
But today's Blogometer messed up by turning a big story into a small one. (Search for "Greenwald" about halfway down the page.)
The big story is that the liberal blogosphere is starting to transform itself from a mere forum for discussion into a tool that actually helps put grassroots boots on the ground. But the Blogometer focused only on the tactics being discussed (talking points and the proposed use of talk radio to spread the Blospel to new audiences) instead of on the strategy (finding amplifiers for the till-now relatively obscure words of midsized bloggers), let alone the overall policy or trend (using the Internet to mobilize "the virtuous mob"). It even got the tactics backwards: its piece is captioned "BLOGS VS. THE MSM: From The Grassroots To The Netroots To The ... Waveroots?", when the real story should be: "BLOGS AND THE MSM: The Netroots Start Energizing the Grassroots."
The word "Waveroots" I sort of like, though, even if I have no idea what it means.
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