The debate over blog wonkery reminded me of a joke my dad told me, probably back in the good old days of the Nixon administration.
Q: Whats the difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to research?
A: Democrats believe in research. They go out and commission the best experts they can find to advise them, then read the results. But when the results dont agree with their plans, they just file the report. And then they go do what they were going to do anyway.
Republicans dont believe in research. They skip straight to the last step.