I don’t begrudge a reporter truncating quotes on deadline, but if you were to read the NYT’s profile of Glenn Greenwald today, you might think I’m a bit of a douchey critic. So just because I can, here’s the actual full email quote I gave to the NYT and forwarded on to Glenn just now:
I count Glenn as an honest blogger whose passions in real time can sometimes lead to misreadings of others. But we’re all vulnerable to that in the blogosphere, and in our various spats, I’ve always enjoyed the give-and-take, rather than resenting some of the occasionally unfair barbs. They come with the territory. But once you get into a debate with him, it can be hard to get the last word. A friend described debating him as like engaging with a rhetorical trampoline. But I actually enjoy rhetorical trampolining, as long as no one gets hurt too much. I do not take anything he writes about my work personally.
His passion is a great antidote to the insidery access-driven village of Washington journalism, but at times, I think he has little grip on what it actually means to govern a country or run a war. He’s a purist in a way that, in my view, constrains the sophistication of his work.
Yes, we’re friends. We’ve hung out a bit, and are bonded by a couple of things. He relies on readers for much of his income (and I rely on readers for all of mine) – and has made online debate much sharper in many ways. I’ve benefited from his criticism, even as I remain to his “right.” And he is forced to live abroad with his partner David because the US refuses to acknowledge the validity and dignity of bi-national gay couples. I was in that exact position for a long time with my American husband – and our shared experience matters a lot to me. Our husbands have also bonded over the same issue.
And I genuinely like him as a human being.
you can use any all or none of that
The Dish 