Blog P.I.

Or, as the case may be, didn’t.

In midday, when the arrest of a suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey case was breaking across the news networks, I wondered to what extent, if any, the political blogosphere would pick up on it. While it’s not a political story (even considering John Ramsey’s unsuccessful run for the Michigan state House in 2004), political bloggers are frequently current events bloggers, and this is nothing if not current.

In the mid-afternoon, I detected no response at all. Late in the evening, as this Memeorandum round-up shows, the only bloggers on the case are conservative bloggers. There’s Wizbang, there’s La Shawn Barber, there’s Sister Toldjah and there’s Hot Air.

Turning to Technorati, it seems that nobody on the left is covering it for its own sake, apart from Jeralyn Merritt, who also happens to be a Denver-based criminal justice attorney. Shakespeare’s Sister and a couple of Daily Kos diarists mention it, but only for the fact that cable news is talking about the arrest rather than whatever happened today in Iraq (not that they identify a particular news story being overlooked). Well, there is dKos diarist Ghost of Frank Zappa, who in a very short post admits: “I for one always thought it was the parents. I owe them an apology I guess.”

So what explains the disporportionate interest in the story? I don’t really know the answer. Is this because conservatives tend to be “law and order” types? Possibly. Conservative bloggers such as Dan Riehl and Scared Monkeys have been avid chroniclers of the Natalee Holloway disappearance, but there are no lefty bloggers I’m aware of who have paid much attention to that case at all.

Another possibility: I’ve always considered conservative bloggers to be a bit more of hobbyists than their liberal counterparts. The leftosphere is primarily animated by their animus to President Bush, the Iraq war, and these days, Joe Lieberman. Their eyes are always on the prize, whereas conservatives are more likely to blog for the sake of blogging. The rightosphere is also without a president to unseat, a Congress to win back, and a war to end — hence the irritation of the Kossacks with having a trifle such as this all over the TV news.

That said, I’m still not sure that explains the whole thing. Are liberal bloggers more serious? Are conservative bloggers more cosmopolitan? If you’ve another theory, do share.