The Boston Globe’s “media columnist,” Alex Beam, weighs in against blogs today, as predicted. He’s snide, he lacks substance, and he’s gullible! He cites Bjorn Staerk’s April Fool blog – about converting to the far left – as if it were legit. One thing about those newspaper guys. They sure do have a good nose for b.s. Hey, Beam, you got an editor? Beam also informed all the bloggers in advance that he was writing a hatchet piece. James Lileks got the following missive: “James, weren’t you once a talented humor writer? Why are you churning out this web dreck?” I got an even blunter email, which I won’t reproduce since it was a private correspondence. Of course, it’s all flattering, really. He clearly reads bloggers. How many bloggers or their readers have ever read him?
KAUS ON KRUGMAN: Mickey relents and sees what others are seeing: that Paul Krugman once “had a beautiful mind.” Now he rants on about “powerful forces” controlling politics, the Heritage Foundation running the country, Coors beer and Richard Mellon Scaife conspiring to rob old people of their livelihoods, and the complete health of our social security system. The grassy knoll beckons, Paul.
WHAT’S LEFT? My take on what’s happened to the American left. Yes, I know that giving any attention to Michael Moore seems foolish. I would ignore him – but he’s at the top of the best-seller lists. He represents something – a small but dedicated constituency of the embittered and the unthinking that increasingly dictates what remains of a left-wing agenda. In contrast, I’m in awe of Michael Walzer as a thinker with integrity and a decent commitment to left-wing politics. Which makes his gloom about the crisis on the left that much more convincing to me.
The Dish 