Our friend and former guest on Pundit Review Radio, Danny Glover, has a series of articles and interviews in the current edition of the highly influencial inside the Beltway publication National Journal this week. Smartly, the magazine has allowed Danny to publish these stories on his blog which he manages for the magazine, Beltway Blogroll.

The Rise of The Blogs

Blogs have had a noticeable impact on American society since at least 2001. The September 11 attacks that year motivated many people to start online diaries and many more to start reading them. The attacks and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan also sparked the first “warblogs,” a trend later fueled by the war in Iraq.

But only recently have blogs become a force within policy-making circles. First, the blogs rose to prominence in the media and then in the political arena.

Members Who Blog

Politicians are rarely on the cutting edge of technology, and that is as true with blogs as it has been with Web sites, e-mail newsletters, and other recent online innovations. Three years after blogs helped force Mississippi Republican Trent Lott out of the Senate majority leader’s office, fewer than 1 percent of his colleagues in Congress have created blogs.

But last year may have been a turning point.

To round things out, Beltway Blogroll has interviewed some of the most influencial members of the blogosphere, including Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit), Henry Copeland of Blogads, Arianna Huffington and Andy Roth of the Club for Growth.

What a great piece of work on the impact, successes and failures of the new media.

For more insight on the role and impact of blogs on Washington politics, you can listen to Danny’s interview on Pundit Review here.