Podhoretz credits bloggers for Swiftie assist?

John Podhoretz of the NYPost appears to credit blogs for keeping the Swiftboat arguments alive. Is that accurate?

The last two years in particular have seen the explosion of a new medium ‘ the personal Internet newspaper, or blog ‘ that has already and will forever change the way people get their information.

This is a thrilling development ‘ unless you are a mainstream-media Big Fish.

The success of the Swift-boat vets’ ads is the tale of the triumph of the nation’s alternative media. The mainstreamers didn’t want to touch the story with a 10-foot pole, and they didn’t. But the alternative media did. Amateur reporters and fact-gatherers offered independent substantiation for some of the charges. It turned out the criticisms of the Swifties weren’t quite so easily dismissed.

Nearly two years ago, Podhoretz was one of the first print columnists to credit bloggers with toppling Trent Lott.

Speaking of media coverage of blogs, here is Donna Howell’s new blog-centric overview of overview of online politics in Investor’s Business Daily.

(Thank you Jeff for the insta-copy-editing… faster even than my Mom!)

Update: WSJ publishes Glenn Reynold’s commentary onthe blogosphere’s roll in disputing Kerry’s memories of fighting in Cambodia: “the new media were enough to neutralize the media advantage that Kerry’s strategy was built around. And that’s quite a feat: Unlike the blogosphere’s role in toppling Trent Lott, the Cambodia revelations happened not in the face of big media laziness, but in the face of active big-media opposition.”