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First we had this, from Drudge:

Left-leaning new media has hit turbulence at the marketplace, newly released stats show.

A book hyped by major media as documenting a progressive revolution of "blogs" and political power, DAILY KOS ‘CRASHING THE GATE,’ has sold only 3,630 copies since its release last month, according to NIELSEN’s BOOKSCAN.

[NIELSEN claims only 2,062 copies of DAILY KOS have been purchased at the retail level; the rest coming through 'discount' outlets. The NIELSEN figures do include online sales from AMAZON.COM, and others.] 

Then wingnuttia chimed in, because their idea of reliable is Drudge and facts need never get in the way of their spread of propaganda.

Moses Whine:

Although it underscores what we already knew – that Glenn Reynolds (whose book is selling much better) has remarkable respect in the blogosphere for his integrity and intelligence – I must say I am surprised at the relatively pathetic sales figures for Markos Zuniga’s book "Crashing the Gates."

The Power Tools:

The Drudge Report notes that left-wing media aren’t faring too well at the moment. Crashing the Gate, by Markos Moulitsos of the Daily Kos, has sold an astonishingly low 3,630 copies, according to Nielsen’s Bookscan.

Right Wing News :

[I]t’s really nice to see Kos’s book nosedive into the pavement.

The Political Mind Field:

Bush’s approval numbers are down, shouldn’t that mean that the Liberals are in the Hot seat?  Nah, it just means no one wants to read or listen to a bunch of whining liberals who want to offer nothing but criticism.  No real Ideas.

The Question Fairy:

Note to the Left: know your audience, and stop ridiculing them. Learn this simple lesson, or suffer in ratings hell for all eternity…

Now let’s take a little visit to the reality-based community and have the truth of the matter, which any idiot could’ve figured out with very little work if they cared about anything more than spreading manure:

As of this morning, for Reynolds’ An Army of Davids (February 2006), Bookscan reports 1716 retail sales and 2609 “discount” sales, for a total of 4325.

As of this morning, for Armstrong and Kos’s Crashing the Gate (March 2006), Bookscan reports 2598 retail sales and 1804 “discount” sales, for a total of 4402.

In other words, despite the fact that it’s been available for four fewer weeks, Kos and Armstrong’s book has now clocked Bookscan sales in excess of Reynolds’. Notably, several hundred more full-price sales. This is leaving aside the fact that Kos and Armstrong’s book is currently at #40 on Amazon, whereas Reynolds’ is at #801.

This particular Drudge lie is very, very important to the right, they will cling to it tenaciously like their last piece of Charmin in the wake of a yellow alert,.  And I can tell you exactly why it happened:  the rise of Glenn Greenwald’s book to the #1 spot on Amazon in one day, driven by the left wing blogs, scared the holy living bedwetting piss out of them.  Not that it takes  a whole lot.  But they rely on the wingnut welfare system for their bread and butter and the success of Greenwald’s book sent a dagger right through its heart of the entire system.

People went to Amazon and they bought Greenwald’s book, they paid retail price and they will soon get it and read it.  Want to buy some conservative books?  Have a look right here.   I’ve written about this many times before, but these books are subsidized by right-wing think tanks (as are the *authors* on Powerline and The Corner).  They can just churn out garbage and it will be published; neither talent, accuracy nor public demand need to be a factor.  You can have their shit for free or damn near free.  It makes excellent cat box liner (though I wouldn’t have them in the house; I wouldn’t disrespect my dogs by picking up their shit with what Michelle Malkin has to say).

So take a stroll through right-wing blogostan and read the horror with which they recoil from what is happening to their fragile, corrupt little corner of the world.  Then go over to Amazon and check out the top 25 selling books.  Fuckit, take a look at the top 50. Both Crashing the Gate and Glenn’s book are there.   See anything missing?

I’ll quote from a piece written in the Opinion Journal a while back of the importance that Amazon plays in the right-wing book publishing world when it comes to actual sales, as opposed to just free cat box liner:

Amazon itself is another boon to conservatives, since the Internet giant betrays no ideological bias in selling books…."The rise of Amazon and the chain stores has been tremendously liberating for conservatives, because these stores are very much product-oriented businesses," observes David Horowitz. "The independent bookstores are all controlled by leftists, and they’re totalitarians–they will not display conservative books, or if they do, they’ll hide them in the back." Says Marji Ross: "We have experienced our books being buried or kept in the back room when a store manager or owner opposed their message." She’s a big fan of Amazon and the chains. 

Says Glenn Greenwald:

According to a source I cannot reveal but whose credibility is sky-high with me, these are the Bookscan figures for Hugh Hewitt’s Painting the Map Red:

1712 – retail
931 – discount
2643 – total

How come Roger Simon, Powerline and Drudge aren’t talking about what grotesque flops the books are by Reynolds and Hewitt? At least according to the Bookscan data they were venerating yesterday, those books make Crashing the Gate look like The DaVinci Code.

The success of both Crashing the Gate and Glenn Greenwald’s book?  The right are quite literally gagging on it. 

Bon a-fuckin’-petite, you warmongering, bedwetting bastards.