Re: Transition

1

You know, I wonder about this as a career move.

I wish him well, and will continue to read him, of course. But he appears to be pretty widely regarded as the best young political writer among the Dem blogosphere. I'd bet that the Dem blogosphere tracks pretty well with traditional readers of TNR, many of whom are fairly disenchanted with the magazine (myself very much included). I just sort of assumed he'd either work at Tapped for a few years, and then take editorship at TNR and refurbish it, or take editorship at Tapped and overtake TNR as the best known centrist Dem magazine.

I'm not sure how effectively he can do either if he becomes, through no fault of his own, known as an adjunct of the present TNR group.

But I still hope he gets editorship at TNR and then saves the magazine.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:12 PM
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He's joining TPM, not TNR. Or have I misunderstood you?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:16 PM
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He's also not leaving TAP or Tapped.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:18 PM
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Easy mistake to make, but what really confused me was when SCMT said yesterday that CO did better Mexican food than TX.


Posted by: Kriston | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:19 PM
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I do think there is something to be said for the Mexican food in New Mexico. But Guero's in Austin does indeed rock.


Posted by: benton | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:22 PM
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Have you ever tried Hatch chiles from New Mexico? Grown around a town called Hatch—I forget what the deal is, but the soil there makes the chiles extra smokey. They host a big Hatch chile festival every year there (and in Austin).


Posted by: Kriston | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:26 PM
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You misunderstood me because I was stupidly oblique. I'd say there are, at a minimum, two different camps of Dem commentariat in blog-land, best represented by Atrios and the DLC crowd. MY, Drum, Klein, and others seem to fall somewhere in the middle. I'm most intrested in that middle group. I'd argue that the names we're hearing about for TPM Cafe (Kilgore, Whitman, J. Marshall, ... is K. Baer going to be a part?) are pretty clearly a part of the DLC crowd.

One of the things that I most appreciate about MY (clearly not his roomate's tastes in food) is that he is smart, interested, centrist, pretty honest in owning up to mistakes, and not a part of the DLC crowd or the Atrios crowd.

I don't think the move says anything negative about him. It may well be the smart move. I don't know the DC ecosystem. I just wonder if he will get classified as the next Bienart, and be wrongly considered "tainted" when the worm turns and people start undoing Bienart, et. al.'s, work.

(Ben, please clean).


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:34 PM
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BW: "Bienart's, et al., work"? I think that's the way it would go if you weren't able to rephrase.


Posted by: Kriston | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:40 PM
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"The work of Beinart, et al.". Whatever! I'm not at the beck and call of Tim, et al.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:41 PM
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I think the phrase you seek, Ben W, is "he's not the boss of me."


Posted by: baa | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:44 PM
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I think it's pretty clear that no one is the boss of Ben. Not even The Shrew, if he's going to the opera in ratty t-shirts. And, Kriston, I initially had it your way, but ... dunno, guessed against myself, and was unwilling to actually look for an answer. It's nice to know my initial supposition was un-crazy.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:47 PM
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I meant what I said and I said what I meant, Ben A.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:47 PM
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Note the absence of a period after "et," SCMT--it's not an abbreviation.

Also, because I spent a good portion of this morning (OK, 15 minutes) cleaning out this misunderstanding from a series of documents written by Doctors and PhDs (not because I've seen anyone misuse thiese here, but I want to rant about a grammar thing and this seems like the appropriate joint to do it:

i.e. = "that is." Use when you're explaining something, and providing all instances of what you're explaining.

e.g. = "for example." Use when you are listing excamples of what you're talking about, but not all examples.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:50 PM
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>>MY, Drum (Kilgore, Whitman, J. Marshall, ... is K. Baer going to be a part?)

Why not just call it

"Wrong about the War", or something like that?

My problem with the so-called "centrists" is that they act like compromise with the Rethugs is possible. And it's not because they DO NOT baragin in good faith. You cannot make a deal with the devil and not get burned.

Whitman, Kilgore, Baer, Drum - they all suck.

I Like Josh, but he always gives these losers a platform and thus, credibility.

MY deserves better.


Posted by: snarky | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 12:54 PM
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I'm somewhat surprised about the vehemence against the move showed both here (14) and in the original thread. As I said there, I'd be more worried about his posts becoming too professional so that his work both there and Tapped will look the same and it will just be random where he's actually posting. But SCTM's 1 & 7 make an interesting case against the move without just yelling "DLC bad!"


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 1:13 PM
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Apparently, his name is now SomeCallTimMe


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 1:14 PM
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No worries...quirk will remain. Hidden beneath a firewall, I've already written some TPMCafe posts. One is about why David Brooks is wrong about something, one is about the politics of recreational fishing, one's on Jurgen Habermas and I promise to post something about how to kill zombies when I get back from the beach.

On the more substantive point, there's a bit of a problem in that most of the TPMC contributors with blogging experience are to the right of those contributors who haven't blogged before. That's giving a lot of people something of a misimpression of the orientation of the overall product. People just have more ex ante familiarity with the work of the "DLC crowd" element of the project. When it actually comes out, you'll see that while the overall endeavor ought to have some non-trivial ideological diversity and generally be positioned about where TPM is now -- right of Kos/Atrios but not by a huge amount.


Posted by: Matthew Yglesias | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 2:35 PM
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I haven't had the Hatch. But would like to. Last time I was in Albuquerke I ended up eating steak. I don't know how that happened. One thing I really like about New Mexico is the seriousness with which they take their tequila.

As for the blogosphere Whitman organized for the United Farm Workers so I can't snark to hard on his Mossosity? Or is it Moosaliciousness? Kilgore comes across as a decent human being who seems to think holding the Democratic coalition together is a worthwhile endeavour. For some reason I find Ken Baer to be uncongenial. But its nothing personal.

And as for copy editing. My blog commenting has been overrun with snark about my place of employment (the sharktank) lately, but man the copyediting people here do rock. And have set me straight on i.e. and e.g.

Does anyone know anything about where to get a good meal in Reno?


Posted by: benton | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 2:44 PM
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Oops, cross posted with the Yglesias himself. Zombie killing is a useful skill in the shark tank so I look forward to that.

Also, I think the blog should address the all important good places to eat in Reno question.


Posted by: benton | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 2:49 PM
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benton, go search.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 2:53 PM
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Dammit Matt, change your top post to credit me. Me me me. This Joe Smith person asked no such question, and my gentle prodding on the topic has not yet gotten the results I was looking for.

Until such a change is made, I will consider it as supporting evidence for 2 from this thread. Though I haven't been banned, maybe that's something


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 3:16 PM
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Hey, whassa shark tank?


Posted by: Kriston | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 3:19 PM
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Washerdreyer is banned!


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 3:19 PM
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Kriston That would be telling. But at least then I could stop having to pretend liking Mickey Kaus lest Ogged reveal my real identity to the world.

Thanks for the link Ogged. Just the sort of thing I was hoping for. And Mickey rocks!


Posted by: benton | Link to this comment | 05-27-05 5:01 PM
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