THE IMPORTANCE OF independent bloggers.

It’s lonely out here in independent blogger world, working for the greater glory not the greater paycheck.

That’s not to say bloggers who work for The Man are not independent thinkers and writers, but the pressures are there depending upon who The Man is:

An escalating series of insults and allegations exchanged between conservative blogger Erick Erickson and defenders of Virginia Senate candidate Jamie Radtke has taken an overt turn into Republican presidential politics, becoming the first publicly waged proxy battle between forces sympathetic to Texas Gov. Rick Perry and those inclined to align with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

It all began on Wednesday when Politico published an email that Erickson, the influential editor of RedState.com and a CNN contributor, sent to Radtke earlier this month. The email made clear that Erickson intended to soften his previously espoused support for Radtke, who is competing in a Republican primary against George Allen for Allen’s old Senate seat.

In the leaked email, Erickson explained to Radtke that “my bosses are huge Allen friends,” and thus he would have to be “delicate” when Radtke made the rounds at his RedState convention in mid-August in Charleston, S.C. — the venue where Perry officially announced his presidential candidacy.

I’m not buying into the Perry v. Palin angle on the story.

What I find interesting is that a highly successful and influential blogger like Erick Erickson felt the need to temper his opinions to accomodate his bosses’ political preferences.

I’ll never get the traffic or cash flow of RedState, and policitans are not exactly beating down my door to get my endorsement, but what you read is what I think.

Update: As pointed out in the comments, even independent bloggers can be subject to pressures, as in the case of Paul Mirengoff of Power Line, Big Law Firm Takes Down Big Conservative Blogger. The apparent retaliation against Mirengoff is not the same to me as the situation described in Erickson’s email where he acknowedged specific pressure on a specific political issue and changed his expressed opinion as a result.

Posted by William A. Jacobson