I got Glenn Reynolds to praise Democrats

So, I try to check out both sides of the blogosphere whenever possible. It's far too easy to get caught up in an echo chamber of your own ideology, and if your beliefs are too weak to stand up to challenging, they probably aren't worth having. In the course of this the other day, I learned how disarming facts can be.

Instapundit, the largest site on the right, and less a blog than an aggregator of other blogs, is a place I'll visit a few times a week. The other day I checked in and read this post about tourists returning to New Orleans. That's a pretty nonpartisan issue: I don't know how anyone would not support tourist dollars flowing into the ravaged area (although I have written about how crazy it is to open the Superdome to football again. I mean, they didn't have soccer games at Andersonville prison). But there was something missing from his post. I remembered that back in November, the DNC announced that they would hold their spring meeting in New Orleans. I wrote about it at the time, and I thought it was significant that one of the first organizations to hold an event in New Orleans was the Democratic Party.

So I wrote Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit himself. I wrote "Regarding your post, you are aware that the DNC is holding its annual meeting in New Orleans this spring. I know Howard Dean is the devil and all, but surely this is a positive development to inject cash into the region, no?" Not snide, not mean, just building on his post with a fact. I expected no response.

Well, Glenn wrote an addendum to his post:

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader David Dayen points out that the Democrats are holding their spring meeting in New Orleans. Hardly an act of disinterested generosity, but praiseworthy nonetheless.

OK, it's not an unqualified note of praise, but from the Right's biggest blogger, that's high praise indeed for a Democrat. It's clear to me from his post that he didn't know that this was happening, despite the fact that it was a pretty big story on the Left a couple of months ago. I don't think either side of the political spectrum talks to each other enough, and there's a way to do it in a factual manner that earns respect. Out of one email, thousands of Insta-heads ended up reading words of approval for the Democrats, which is pretty remarkable if you ask me.

Sure, there are the wingiest of wingers that are beyond this kind of approach. But if you don't go in throwing bombs, if you are armed with only facts, it's hard for anyone to ignore. I'd feel the same way if the situation were reversed.

UPDATE: I was going to do the same thing with Michelle Malkin today regarding the recess appointment of Julie Myers (who she's excoriated in the past), but someone must have beat me to it, because she has a post up.