Back in March Blogscholar drew attention to a blogging spat between Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan and Martin Kramer, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. What made it interesting for us is the debate was conducted online and involved critiques and responses that appeared and disappeared from the web at the whim of the combatants. At the core of the debate is Cole's views on the Middle East (sometimes critical of Israeli and US actions) and the responding critique from US conservatives.

The story has taken a dramatic turn in recent weeks with the apparent rejection by Yale University of Cole for a faculty post in Middle Eastern history. Conservatives relentlessly lobbied the University to reject the appointment on the grounds that Cole's published blogs on Informed Comment blame the United States and Israel inapproriately.  Again what is interesting for Blogscholar is that the critics are not pointing to Cole's views in academic or commercial publications but to his blogging posts, and in so doing instilling them with an embedded credibility.