Political blogging

I have to admit that I'm addicted to political blogs. Not just the ones in my blogroll, and their ilk, but blogs of all political stripes. I truly thought I'd learn a great deal about opposing viewpoints. Instead, I've come to recognize pitfalls of political blogging:

• It gets very repetitive. With the exception of posts discussing breaking news, I'd often be hard-pressed to tell whether what I'm reading is current, a month old, or a year old, but for entry dates.
• It's hard to remain civil. Everything is provocative to someone. Don't be provocative unless you're ready for escalation (assuming that anyone is reading what you write).
• Because political discourse is so emotionally charged, it's hard to avoid becoming entrenched in positions that might be unreasonable after all.
• It's hard to say anything original. The sad fact is that too many people spend too time mulling over these issues. Rare is the insight that hasn't been gained independently by many others.

Then again, this isn't all that different from political discourse in any other medium.