I used to enjoy reading the OC Blog back in the day, but once they were acquired by Red County I had a feeling they would eventually decline – and that day has come.
When did their fall begin? I think that when their former editor, Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham, refused to tell his readers for a month that his pal John Lewis, a GOP consultant, had endorsed a Democrat, Tom Daly, over a conservative Republican, Fullerton Councilman Shawn Nelson, it was, in hindsight, an act of blog suicide.
And then John and Ken, over at KFI Talk Radio, lit into Red County exposing them for what they are, “a blog for Republican Kool Aid drinkers.” Not long after that Jerbal was gone as Red County editor.
And now, in the latest Blognetnews.com rankings of political blogs in California, Red County has completely fallen off the map, as they are not anywhere in the top 20. Gone. Just like that.
I don’t pay all that much attention to these rankings, as sometimes they are a bit nuts. But our blog is always on that top 20 list. Always. And over the last few weeks we have crept back to the top, while our competitors in Orange County have fallen, one by one. And now Red County has completely slipped off the map.
Jerbal used to come over here quite often to rip us and say we are not credible. Well Jerbal, we’re still here. What happened to Red County?
To make matters worse for Jerbal, one of our bloggers, Tony Bushala, is starting a new Republican blog for Orange County – a blog for REAL Republicans, if there are any left. He is calling it the OC GOP Blog. If you are interested in writing for Tony’s new blog, email him by clicking here. I suspect it won’t take long for Tony’s new blog to supersede what is left of Red County,
I’d actually read OC Blog more often if it didn’t have such a bad design. Every time they relaunch it, it looks worse and worse.
Gustavo,
Great point! It is like those Newport Beach Republican Federated women who have had one too many plastic surgeries…and now are painful to look at!
Art, you mean Red Clownty?
What type of person would want to read and participate in a blog that’s against freedom of speech? The red-face blogs a bogus shill for lobbyist and political consultants.
Tony,
Exactly! It has all caught up with the clowns at Red Clownty. Now they are the proud owners of a dead blog…
BTW, did you notice that the Flash Report is also missing from BNN’s Top 20? It looks like this is a bad year for GOP hack blogs…
The Jerbie: just a casualty of talking out of his ass.
Orange Juice Blog is DA BOMB ! ! ! Thanks for letting me in on all the fun.
Well, I still read them because of the OC Blog News Roundup. Saves me the trouble of buying a paper.
Good riddance to the redfaced blog. Those who run it are political whores who have zero integrity.
What’s wrong with the design Gustavo? I like the way that they have it? Simple and not clogged with ads. I hope to see Orange Juice at #1 soon! Good Job!
Two comments about Red County and current rankings
1. We recently did a huge site migration, with more teething problems than were healthy. In particular, we kept losing the comments. That definitely hurt us. If this survey happened during the downtimes, *of course* Red County dropped in the rankings.
2. This is a “down” period for political blogs – we’re between elections. Reading too much into the readership numbers during these slow periods can be misleading. to wit;
“Readership of major liberal blogs declined in 2007 while conservative blog readership increased”
http://bloggasm.com/readership-of-major-liberal-blogs-declined-in-2007-while-conservative-blog-readership-increased
Not to sound like sour grapes, given that our blog is pretty low on the list, but BlogNetNews has a proprietary system for ranking blogs. As I understand it, this is not based on the one rank that matters — viewers — but on a variety of subjective factors.
tyler, I think a big part of the problem was the near-hysterical tone of your blog last fall – and the lame and unnecessary pimping for McCain. After a point you’re just preaching to the same collection of paranoia cases and bigots.
The move to some sort of national network was a mistake from a readership standpoint. Issues in OC will resonate. There are already lots of blog sites for news around the nation. Who cares what somebody in Sarasota says about anything?
Of course the layout keeps changing and so far hasn’t seemed too user friendly.
Anyway, good luck on being a voice of reason over there and not shilling for anybody. Veritas et lux.
Steven,
It is true that BNN’s rating system is a mystery – nevertheless it is bad news for Red Clownty that they are MIA from the latest top 20.
I think that the whole “red” business is unattractive to two thirds of Californians, which is also a problem for Red Clownty.
The old “OC Blog” leaned right but was less overt.
Steven Greenhut, here’s a suggestion; take down “Live blogging from the Political Conventions”, it’s one of the first things you see and it’s OLD NEWS.
You might also try a little diversity of opinion. A little bit of controversy can go a long way towards making a blog interesting.
“I think that when their former editor, Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham, refused to tell his readers for a month that his pal John Lewis, a GOP consultant, had endorsed a Democrat, Tom Daly, over a conservative Republican, Fullerton Councilman Shawn Nelson”
BTW, Art, I don’t think he EVER told them, did he? Never “got around to it.”
I stopped reading Red County a long time ago. If I wanted Republican Kool-Aid, I’d attend the Central Committee Circus. The county Republican Party lost its following because it has unethical chiefs and no leadership.