Blog P.I.

I have just been sent a YouTube video purporting to show my former boss, Hotline editor-in-chief Chuck Todd, on “The Price is Right”:

If you ask me, it only really looks like him for a split second — but if I’m wrong, congrats on winning the five grand. I hereby nominate this for the Friday “Separated at Birth” section of Last Call.

P.S. Speaking of Chuck, his assertion that the netroots could support a Rahm Emanuel challenge for House Speaker is roiling the lefty blogosphere today. Markos Moulitsas says the opposite:

I’m pretty confident in predicting that bloggers 1) wouldn’t launch a grassroots effort to promote a Rahm Speakership, and 2) would actively and energetically oppose it.

Jonathan Singer has taken a poll which confirms the sentiment:

And I concur: At best Rahm will have their grudging respect, should Democrats win by a comfortable margin. Many don’t trust his courting of Wall Street money managers, and they don’t like his criticism of Howard Dean’s “50 state strategy” — even though as DCCC chair he is institutionally obliged to focus only on key races.

In today’s Blogometer, Chuck has issued a statement:

Regarding the blowback my ‘Speaker Rahm’ speculation is receiving with the liberal blogs, I just didn’t realize how bad his rep was with some. Frankly, I should have been more aware of how the Rahm-Dean strategy feud damaged things. So, here’s a question for the left; if not Pelosi and if not Rahm, then who could you support as Speaker?

It’s a good question, though it should be added to the end of his column. Otherwise, he’s liable to get more responses like this one from DuckmanGR at MyDD (please excuse his language):

Chuck Todd is … a Beltway 500 tool. Let me further add, fuck Chuck Todd, may he soon rot on assignment covering the rapidly shrinking Greenland Ice Cap that reporters like him helped enable, and tell us how the shilling that he has been doing for the GOP and the DLC earned him this important post. … progressives need to stop listening to or relying on self serving low life scum like Todd and Halpern [sic] and Charlie Cook (oh I know, he’s so fucking smart, right?) and the rest of their revolting ilk. 18 seat gain is an abject failure by Rahm, that control will be entirely in spite of him, not thanks to him. What a crock, Crock Todd, Fucktard.

Well, now. If that isn’t a compelling argument, I don’t know what is.

In all seriousness, Chuck knows more about politics than almost anyone, even if he is, like everyone, wrong from time to time. I do think this one was an obvious mistake, but even for avid readers, the political blogosphere is a harder nut to crack than even political meatspace.

Who “runs” the netroots? Kos? The Townhouse group? Both are influential, but neither have the message control of the Democratic party, which obviously isn’t saying much. And who leads the Republicans? Is it non-Republican Glenn Reynolds? Comparatively low-traffic RedState?

Believe me, it’s not just the Beltway establishment that doesn’t know what to make of the bloggers; the bloggers don’t know what to make of themselves, either.