Ah. I see where I got confused. I thought you were saying that Geoff was throwing bouquets at his readers by championing Underwood and that you were doing the real deal. Ie: I read "In fact, I’d say that as a critic I’m the real deal and Geoff isn’t in that I challenge my readers..." as saying "therefore voting Miranda Lambert our number one" was somehow more challenging. As in, I know that you were a critic who supported Lambert and didn't support Underwood (at least didn't champion her in the same way) and I was looking at the way that became communicated to the audience. Vis-a-vis, I assumed that when you said "I challenge my readers" you meant by championing Miranda.

What I think I really had difficulty parsing was the audiences you're assuming for yourself and Geoff. Are you assuming that the readers you're challenging are the same readers that he is throwing bouquets at? (Ie: Music critics?) Because while he is lauding you for challenging yourself [with Miranda], he's also making an argument about the relationship between a music critic and his audience. He's saying that you *could've* pandered to your audience and voted Underwood #1, but you like to be challenged, and you're smarter than you're audience, and so you voted Miranda (which, obviously, automatically also challenges your audience).

Am I reading too much into this?