CANDIDATES' KIDS AND WHY YOU SHOULD READ ME RATHER THAN ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

The best blog piece I've read in the past week is Sanity 102's remembrance of 9/11. You can find it at: http://outsideofthebox.townhall.com/

In the week of September 17 (today) through September 23, I'm going to write about a variety of political issues and personalities.

One of the my subjects (see the previous column) will be Track Palin, Sarah's 18-year-old son who has enlisted in the U.S. Army. Adam Brickely, the brilliant young political analyst and operative, has written (on http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/) that he doesn't believe it's proper to discuss elected official's children. I understand his point, and in fact I believe that Gov. Palin -- who refuses to comment on (publicize) Track's decision -- probably agreed with Adam.

However, since this is my year to be disagreeable, I'm going to take a different approach. One blogger (Hartford, CT independent journalists) has asked why Barbara and Jenna Bush aren't in the military, if the WOT is as critical as their dad says. Some bloggers and old media journalists have asked similar questions about Mitt Romney's five boys, especially given their father's constant emphasis on the centrality of the WOT.

I believe those questions are quite appropriate. I don't think it's going to happen, but I'd recommend that George Bush and Mitt Romney suggest that their children follow Track Palin's lead. If the future of our civilization rests largely on the shoulders of American fighting men and women, then elected officials' children shouldn't be "sitting out" the war.

George Bush's daughters played significant roles in one of their father's campaign: 2004. Romney's five boys have campaigned hard for him several times, and with their "FiveBrothers" site are big factors in his presidential race.

Frankly, the number of children of top federal and state officials in the military is pitifully low. There are 535 members of Congress and 50 Governors, and the number of their offspring current in the military is about five. (It might be six -- I'm still checking.) Whatever the exact number, it's disgracefully low.

The chances of one of Ted Kennedy's offspring or relatives joining the military is about the equivalent of their setting up a memorial at Chappaquidick. The one liberal with a child in the military is Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia. There are no others, and the chances of there being another one are close to zero.

Another subject I'll discuss is CNN's "Howard Kurtz Show" that appears on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. There's no evidence that the show -- supposedly designed to examine media reporting and analysis -- is anything other than an exercise in left-wing manipulation of viewers.

Today's show featured a discussion of liberal and media criticism of Gen. David Petraeus. The guests included one (moderate) conservative: David Frum of National Review Online. It also had one center-left person, Ann Compton, of ABC News. It also had two extreme liberals, Jamie MacIntyre of CNN and the thoroughly obnoxious Arianna Huffington of "The Huffington Post."

Kurtz -- himself a liberal who never does anything to offend the Beltway-View-of-Life -- generally has one conservative on to "balance" the usual Huffington-type liberals. In fact, the conservative guest (sometimes it's Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall, sometimes Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle) functions as a fig-leaf to cover programs that are relentlessly liberal in their outlook.

This week I'll focus on Arianna Huffington, who blog Technorati ranks as the 5th-most-popular in the blogosphere. My own blog is far superior to Huffington's frankly, but I draw perhaps as one-hundredth of one percent of the visitors she generates.

My blog is center-right but often criticizes officials and commentators who are themselves conservative. I regularly point out where conservatives are taking positions that might pay short-term political dividends but cause major long-term problems. Ms. Huffington is far-left and never criticizes liberals -- except, occasionally, for not being liberal enough.

In Arianna's blog, you're never going to read a discouraging word about the "Kurtz" show. On my blog, you're going to read exactly that. On "The Huffington Post," the only material you're going to read about Rudy Giuliani will consist of personal attacks. On this blog, you'll read about Rudy's 50-state-strategy and what it means for the future of the Republican Party.

The "Huffington Post" attracts millions of visitors. Unless they're going there only to get their "left-wing fix," they'd be much better off visiting me (and other quality blogs).

Stephen R. Maloney