Best Blogs

Somehow, this list strikes me as...I dunno....a tad early?

May be just me. Might be better to link to the blurbs explaining the placements, rather than a raw list, too, KT.

I never thought Kos was a top blog. It's more for organizing than anything else. What's missing from your list is Steve Benen and Kevin Drum. Now *Huffington Post* is overrated. Occasionally there's something good, but you have to sift through a lot of chaff to get to it.

Seems like an od list to me, and wrong on Kos - which remains very substantive on a wide range of topics.
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But my number one blog for reasoned and readable analysis is Political Animal. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
I agree with Rachel that PA Steve Benen is a first read every morning, and through the day.
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I like Swampland, less for the quality of the posts than for the quality of commenters who happily and substantively take apart poorly reasoned or simply execrable posts (sorry AS and MS).

Agree with JJ, I don't bother with Huff Post.

JJ & wvng - As much as I did enjoy Kevin Drum (despite his lapses into 'moderate for moderation's sake', Benen and Hilzoy really have taken things up a notch there.

Oh, and where was atrios on the list? No one on the plant is better at getting to the core of any issue in the smallest possible number of words. And digby, fercrissakes, who may be the best writer.
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It all depends on what you look for in a blog, doesn't it. Which makes such lists rather silly. I mean, crazy people need their Red State, and clearly there are lots of crazy people around.

I don't know how it will stand up between campaigns (if there is such a thing as "between campaigns"), but Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com has worked miracles with assessment and understanding of pubic opinion polling. He offered rational (and comprehensible) explanations of wide swings in poll results, and he made a final call within about 0.1% in an election where the winning margin was 9,000,000 votes.

kryptik - Kevin is still blogging and doing what he does, now at Mother's place. Like this piece: What Obama Did.

A list without Digby is laughable.
On the other hand this is the same group that loved Powerline so that helps with perspective.

Matt Yglasias belongs up there too.

Huff Post: overrated and too much hype.
Kos: I like the Abbreviated Pundit Round Up: very punchy.
Digby: well, I guess, there is too much honesty about Washington's dishonesty. I am surprised it is not here.

wvng - I know Kevin's still blogging. But...since Steve and Hilzoy took over at WM, I've mostly stopped peeking in on Kevin's place.

Nate did an epic takedown of George Will's global cooling column: George F. Will Takes on Science, Loses Credibility.
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Which leads to the core issue. I read about 10 blogs every day (obviously). Political Animal, KOS, AmericaBlog, Balloon Juice, Sullivan, Yglesias, atrios, digby, Think Progress, and Swampland. Oh, and Clemons and the "other Klein", so make that 12. Each of those blogs has its own strengths and weaknesses and excesses, but they share a mixture of thoughtful analysis (in Swampland's case in the comments) and privileging correct information over incorrect information. Reading these blogs has made me a much sharper consumer of news than I ever was without them.

Wow...the new media arm (Swampland) of an old media dinosaur (Time) telling me what the best blogs are! I'm amazed you didn't have Politio on there (cause it's the best! Note heavy sarcasm.).

It's kinda like the time when I was in high school where my dad tried to "educate" me about what music was most popular with 17-year olds of my day. I was listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam and he was trying to tell me that kids these days really like those Backstreet Boys. Love you, Dad, but the musical world passed you by in 1970.

Sorry...meant "Politico"

wvng: looks just like my list plus I go to TPM. I also look in on The Belgravia Despatch (GD). He does not post regularly but has some very useful stuff on international issues.

bitter. oops, make that 13. TPM is my homepage.

Markos Moulitsas — alias "Kos" — created Daily Kos in 2002, a time he describes as "dark days when an oppressive and war-crazed administration suppressed all dissent as unpatriotic and treasonous." Be careful what you wish for. With the Bush years now just a memory, Kos's blog has lost its mission, and its increasingly rudderless posts read like talking points from the Democratic National Committee.

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http://www.dailykos.com/
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topics on first page right now
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Four candidates for governer of VA roasting each other with video
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Brief post about Pres Obama signing the ARRA today
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Maine's marriage equality bill
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HealthCare post about various topic for discussion on healthcare reform.
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And my favorite, the abbreviated pundit roundup which cuts down on me having to scour the net looking at all the op eds.
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Oh and Kagro X who wrote the post about why the Dems needed 60 votes to pass the stimulus bill that Time Magazine never found the time to get around to explaining also has a post up with a bunch of fear mongering quotes from Republicans over Bill Clinton's budget back in 1993. Interestingly it all sounds familiar.
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I have my problem with dailykos, especially with how people get on the recommended list and the flame wars that get started there but the left handed side of the page is still as relevant as it ever was and to say it isn't is just a denial of fact. I definitely learn more there than I ever have at Sullivan's spot because half of the time Sully just reprints conservative talking points without ever checking them out. Just yesterday he had as quote of the day a statement from a guy with AEI that President Obama was different because no other Dem president ever spoke about holding teachers accountable. It took me less than 5 minutes to find a quote from Bill Clinton saying the same things about getting rid of teachers if they don't live up to expectations almost verbatim. And at least at cost you can actually voice your opposition and submit relevant links to support your dissent whereas Sully never opens comments.

I really like Calculated Risk. Very accessible when it comes to explaining econ. John Cole is the Don Rickles of blogging at Balloon Juice and the regular readers often post with equal dark humor. I read BJ like i used to read the Sunday funny pages. Cathartic.

wvng
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You should probably start checking out Greg Sargent's new blog plumline. He has some pretty good stuff there.

Case in point, Sargent just posted about a letter Dem Senators sent to the DOJ asking about the Yoo memos and if they will be released.
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http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/letter-from-senators-durbin-and-whitehouse-demanding-torture-report/

Lileks makes the list? At least that will make for a fun Tbogg post.

Oh and one more thing, over at WaPo two lawyers one from Reagan's WH and one from Bush41's WH wrote an op ed saying there shouldn't be a truth commission to investigate Bush or any other kind of investigation over "policy choices". The last time I checked there were about 200 comments and about 90 percent were from people who want and investigation and were pissed about the article. If you want to lend your voice to the argument here is the link.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021601100.html

sgw, don't forget the yeoman's work DKOS continues to do on flu. And Darksyde on science. And the very idea that KOS would take "talking points from the Democratic National Committee" is simply insane. They are far more likely to rip the DNC for doing something stoopid - when they do.
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sgw has a dandy new site too. Goes down smooth. http://smoothlikeremy.blogspot.com/