So why don't I just admit it?

I set up a poll the other day asking readers to help me understand why my blog qualified to be nominated in the "Best Conservative Blog" category on the Weblog Awards. (And feel free to vote for me again!) As I write this, 718 people have answered my poll, and the big winner seems to be "Because you really are a big right-winger, so why don't you just admit it?" with 29.8% of the vote. So, what, am I supposed to "admit it" now?



The way I see it "Because you really are a big right-winger, so why don't you just admit it?" is like "moral values" coming in first on that exit poll in the last election. It's first, because another, better option has been broken down into two ideas. In the exit poll, "moral values" did not place first if you combined Iraq and war on terrorism percentages into a single "national security" item. By the same token, I think it makes some sense to make one item out of "Because you live in Madison, Wisconsin and are so far from the local norm, which is a conservative distinction worthy of note" and "Because you've devised a fascinating, individualized way of being conservative." This "individualistically conservative" option is polling at 40.6 percent.



What I'll admit is that I prefer that interpretation of the poll. I'll also admit that the option I believed to be the most accurate explanation when I wrote the poll is the one that is coming in last: "Because they were scattering blogs they wanted to nominate into various categories and that's just where you ended up." And I can see a theory for putting that into a single category with "Because the vast right-wing conspiracy has a plot to win you over through positive reinforcement" under the theory that it's not about me at all but something the pollmaker was up to. That option is polling at 29.7%, practically the same as "big right-winger."



UPDATE: An emailer has a better answer:

I think you're missing an important feature of internet polls: The

funny answers win, not the correct ones. :)



For instance, the last place option, the one you think is correct, is

the only answer that was written seriously, instead of amusingly. I

think it's the correct option too. Yet, I voted for "Because the vast

right-wing conspiracy has a plot to win you over through positive

reinforcement," because the concept amused me...



Don't worry, I read your blog precisely because I see you as NOT being

a right-winger, but instead a common-sense moderate.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another theory:

[T]he real reason for the best conservative blog nomination is a vast LEFT-wing conspiracy to get you labeled as a right-wing blog so that leftists won't read it... :)

The shunning instinct on the left is powerful, I've noticed.