Mickey Kaus says it better than I could have:

The Gray Princess: Once again the Internet empowers the little guy with a blog to take on entrenched citadels of previously unchecked power! In this case, the little guy is the General Motors Corporation. I’m not saying GM has effectively used its web site to make the NYT letters editors look like self-protective twits of the sort you might expect would wind up editing the New York Times letters section. But I’m not saying they haven’t! … Does NYT Editorial Page Editor Gail Collins really object to the use of the word “rubbish”? She never seemed like the delicate type. Does Thomas Friedman (to whose column GM was objecting) need that kind of insulation? Who checks his mattresses for peas? … P.S.: It’s not as if GM’s letter was so devastating, or raised annoying factual claims that demanded a response.

If Kaus won’t say that the NYT letters editors look like twits, I will.

But the significance of this story as it relates to blogging is striking. Blogging — and taking on the traditional media — isn’t just for the lone pajama-clad blogger anymore. Even a big corporation like GM can join the online conversation and have an impact. Anyone want to bet me that with attention from Kaus, Instapundit, Jeff Jarvis and at least 40 others that more people will now read GM’s letter to the Times via GM’s FYI blog than will ever read it in the Times itself?

HT: Glenn

Jim: Okay, permit me to be a bit cranky. I find the New York Times to be so predictably… Timesian, that at this point, complaining about it is just preaching to the converted.

It’s produced by a staff that’s mostly living-in-Manhattan liberals for an audience that is mostly either-living-in-Manhattan liberals or wishing-they-were-living-in-Manhattan liberals.

I think it’s easy for those complaining about media bias to overstate how much power a biased media organization has. How many genuine undecided, persuadable moderates or swing voters are left out there? And do they look for guidance on issues from the NY Times op-ed page? My thinking is, if you’re reading Tom Friedman or paying for TimesSelect, your mind is already made up.

No, it’s not fair that GM gets slammed because Friedman’s in a snit, but that’s what he’s there for — to seem normal for 400 words and then to suddenly leap to Crazyland in the sixth paragraph. As in:

Where are the presidential aspirants on this issue? I have yet to hear John McCain, Mitt Romney, George Allen, Al Gore or Hillary Clinton support at least a $3.50 floor price for gasoline, so that it will never fall below that level and the alternatives can really flower and spread…

Gee, Tommy, I can’t imagine why!