Extremist flames

A reader writes:

Do you guys find it strange that very few opinion polls are being presented in the news as to how the general public thinks the Lott controversy should be handled? It makes me wonder how much of this is being fanned by extremists instead of actual opinion. My gut reaction is that most people find the comments stupid, irresponsible, and wrong, but really don’t think they amount to needing as strong a rememdy as the extremists and partisans think should be applied.

I dunno, just a thought.

Matt Glassman

Department of Political Science

Yale University

The blogosphere has really been driving major media coverage of the matter. Bloggers tend to be reactionary (and, true, sometimes written by extremists; to a larger extent than the general public, anyway), and that’s what we’re seeing in this case: Insta-reaction.