Well, Jonah may not recognize one when he sees it, but Stanley Kurtz kinda does…

Here, in the service of discussing the Andrew Sullivan-New York Times conflict, Kurtz gives a nod to the blog:

Not many folks could get themselves booted out of the pages of The New Republic and the New York Times and still prosper as a pundit, but Andrew Sullivan is no ordinary fellow. Howard Kurtz may call him, ‘perhaps the country’s most prominent gay journalist.’ I’d say he’s perhaps the country’s most influential journalist, period. As someone generally more conservative than Sullivan on social issues, I’m happy to acknowledge Sullivan’s success as a tribute to the libertarian values he so eloquently embodies and defends. What Andrew stands for is the power that even a single thoughtful and courageous individual can have. We’re not talking about Robinson Crusoe fantasies here. Sullivan only got where he is today by working his way up through the mainstream media. Yet given that, Sullivan shows how extraordinarily much can be accomplished by someone willing to carve out a position of his own. After fearlessly biting the hands that feed him, Sullivan may now be more reliant on his blog than ever. Yet Sullivan all by himself, at this point, may rival The New Republic in influence. Certainly, TNR’s got no individual author to compare. In terms of sheer numbers, Sullivan’s probably got more eyeballs. And of course, what’s happened to Sullivan is a vindication of blogging, a technology that allows even a single individual to stand on his own, unbeholden to the powers that (used to?) be.

Hear that? Blogging’s been “vindicated,” (he wrote, blogging).

Break out the salted nuts and beers, boys and girls. We’re officially legit…