The power of the right-wing echosphere

How powerful -- how politically relevant/influential -- is the right-wing blogosphere? According to an upcoming article by Michael Crowley in Sunday's New York Times (see here for a preview), more powerful than its counterpart on the left.

But Atrios responds here, and he does so quite explicitly: "In a sense conservative blogs are more effective because both the massive right wing media and the mainstream media... are willing to pick up and retransmit their bullshit... But the liberal blogosphere is a much greater value added for our side because we have such a shitty media infrastructure. If all the wingnut blogs disappeared tomorrow it really wouldn't have any impact on the national discourse. Sure they're there and the Right is better at using them but they don't really *need* them. They have plenty of other ways to launder their horseshit."

Indeed.