It’s come to my attention that I’ve been nominated again for a “Koufax Award,” once again in the category of “Most Humorous Blog.”

Don’t vote for me.

No, seriously. I know that the majority of you, dear readers, aren’t really big readers of other blogs. Nor am I. But I’ve won this award before, and I urge you to look into the other nominees - you might pick up another daily read. Some of those other humorous political blogs are snazzier and harder-working than mine, and I’d love to see one of the more deserving ones win. Norbizness comes to mind - a terrific, amusing, frequently-updated blog. In fact, yes, my pick is Norbizness.

It’s entirely possible I’ll be nominated for “Most Humorous Post,” and I’d imagine that’d be for the “Concession Speech.” Wouldn’t mind winning that one, actually, but my self-esteem doesn’t hang on it.

But all this has made me think about the “political blogosphere.” I have to confess I feel like a bit of an outsider among these outsiders, because of all the Things I Don’t Do:

- I don’t offer an extensive list of links, also known as a “blogroll.” They’re a nifty way to get others to link back to you, thus increasing your readership. I just don’t have the stamina. A quick survey of these rolls show that many bloggers have several hundred other sites that they “read daily,” which shows either dazzling reading skills or dazzling disingenuousness. I don’t even read my own site daily, not even as I write it. Right now, for instance, I’m off playing tennis.

- I don’t use the lingo. Left wing bloggers are now calling themselves “the reality-based community,” which is pretty clever. Right wing bloggers are calling them “idiotarians,” which is slightly less so. As in George Bush’s world, everyone in the blogosphere has nicknames - the politicians, the punditry, even the bloggers themselves. There are code words, buzzwords, creative misspellings, a whole vocabulary of web-based punditry. I don’t dislike it - it’s a matter of characters rather than character; the lingo is just not very useful to someone who spends a lot of time writing in various personas.

- I don’t “amen.” Often a poli-blogger will post something just to let you know that someone else said something interesting about some third person’s opinion about a story in the news. These entries usually take a form like, “Framis makes some good points about Kreego’s take on the whole Whooflepiff thing. Check it out.” There are some who’d say that my failure to do this is ungenerous. But I actually said it first.

- I don’t post that often. Good bloggers post every day. Very good bloggers post several times a day. Me… no. I post when I have something funny or interesting to say. Which is, sadly, only an occasional circumstance.

All this leads to something I’ve been realizing lately: I’m not a blogger.

See, I was a blogger, back in the old days, back when I started this site over three years ago, back when Democrats roamed the earth and you could buy “low-fat” food instead of “low carb” and you could get a big lunch and a full tank of gasoline for a nickel and etc. But the blog is a bit like the television program: It started as a medium and became a format. I’m too lazy to get with the times - I have enough formats that I have to write to in my daily life. Yes, friends, I’ve managed to reach fuddyduddyhood whilst still in my 30’s, an amazing feat when you think about it. I’m shooting for “curmudgeondom” by the time I’m 40, and then I’ll be off to an early geezerment.

So I guess I’m more like a columnist. One who doesn’t get paid and writes for a “paper” with a daily circulation of about a thousand, yes, but a columnist nonetheless.

All that said, I like blogs. Especially the political ones. They tend to be shrill, clubby, smug, irresponsible, and unthinkingly biased, yes. But I love ‘em. Stories break on blogs. Stories are kept alive on blogs. Blogs aren’t beholden to giant media conglomerates. Blogs are actually in an odd way all that they’re cracked up to be - independent, dogged, and good for America. One of the last bastions of true journalism, if not democracy itself, might well be the noble blog.

This just isn’t one of ‘em.

So please, hie thee hence over to Wampum, and follow the links to see what people have nominated. Vote for your favorites. I guarantee that you’ll find at least a couple of treasures worth bookmarking.

But then make sure you come back here and continue to grouse in our personal Komedy Kloister. A guy can’t reach old-foopitude alone. Not these days.