For reasons that aren't entirely clear to me, a small line in a Plank item I wrote last week is getting a moderate amount of attention this week. In response to conservatives who claim that TNR never criticizes anybody to its left, I was pointing out the incredibly hostile disposition lefty blogs have toward this magazine. The following clause, alas, has drawn a great deal of liberal ire:

Indeed, the big liberal blogs have a formal boycott against linking to TNR.

Some liberal blogs say this is "hogwash." Oddly, the biggest liberal blog of all, Daily Kos, which also happens to be rabidly anti-TNR, has atypically declined to seize on this comment as proof of our wankerishness. Perhaps this is because its proprietor has told at least two people I know that he has a policy of boycotting TNR. Also failing to pile on is Brad DeLong, who has announced his own boycott policy. It sure seems to me that plenty of other left blogs are keenly aware of TNR, discuss the magazine regularly, but never link to it. I suppose it's possible, however, that they just haven't gotten around to it. In any case, I was imprecise with my language, and some readers have gotten the wrong impression. Let me clear it up. I wasn't saying that every liberal blog refuses to link to TNR. Many do, especially those whose authors either come out of journalism or have been hired by magazines. Nor was I suggesting that those blogs that do boycott TNR have done so collaboratively. --Jonathan Chait