This past weekend, the New York Times Magazine published a piece by The New Republic’s Michael Crowley titled “Conservative Blogs are More Effective,” that compared the relative efficacy of conservative and liberal bloggers.

“Democrats say there’s a key difference between liberals and conservatives online,” wrote Crowley. “Liberals use the Web to air ideas and vent grievances with one another, often ripping into Democratic leaders. (Hillary Clinton, for instance, is routinely vilified on liberal Web sites for supporting the Iraq war.) Conservatives, by contrast, skillfully use the Web to provide maximum benefit for their issues and candidates.”

In the aftermath of the story, conservatives “skillfully used the Web” for something else — specifically, bashing Crowley for having the effrontery to accuse them of being either skillful or effective. (Had the hapless Crowley only asked us, we veterans of The Blog Report could have predicted as much; in these contentious times, it’s getting harder and harder to find a cyberdog who won’t try to bite off your hand at the wrist if you try to pet his head.)

Thus, Michelle Malkin’s viperous response to Crowley: “Based on a single ‘expert’ source — ‘liberal activist Matt Stoller’ — Crowley makes sweeping assertions about the content, nature, effectiveness, and media penetration of partisan blogs,” she noted. “Anyone who swallows the idea that conservative bloggers are an organized arm of the Republican machine who are easily mobilized at the command of Karl Rove does not read conservative blogs — and should not be paid by the NYTimes or anyone else to write about them. Yup, it’s that darned Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, again. Three syllables for you, Mr. Crowley: BWAH-HAH-HAH.”

In the meantime, Peakah’s Provocations added a few more syllables. “Much along the lines of...

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