My goodness, the meister of American Politik has opened up his own blogshop under the auspices of U.S. News and World Report. Color me impressed.
Raises a question. Will the ranks of the independent blog operators survive as more than a footnote once blogging becomes the norm for the big-league commentators? I think so, primarily because blogs expose the talents of those who would ordinarily never have a platform beyond their immediate circle? Look at Ed Morrissey. The guy is a superb writer/commentator/aggregator of info. He has a large readership. Where was he ten years ago? Frustrated, probably.
In any case, Barone is in the game and looking good with both short posts and the longer essay style stuff. I particularly liked this one:
There are two postings in www.powerlineblog.com on Ted Kennedy's changing responses to recess appointments today and during years when we had Democratic administrations.
Surprise: he is against them now and was for them then. You could probably easily find similar inconsistent statements by Republicans. All of which only illustrates my First Rule of Life: All process arguments are insincere, including this one. My Second Rule of Life, if you're interested is: Never eat in a Chinese restaurant next door to an animal shelter. I am still working on my Third Rule. Suggestions welcome.
Third rule is, "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line."
Based on his initial posts, he's raised the average IQ of the blogosphere by about five points in two days. I always enjoy Barone's commenetary on Fox, especially on election nights, and his column is the only reason my comp copy of USN&WP does not go directly into the trash pile. The inaugural post, in which he ties together Joe Biden, the Framers of the Constitution, and the Glorious Revolution, is vintage Barone in Egghead Mode, and I greatly admire his gifts and his erudition. It's all I can do to keep the Neal Stephenson version of 1688 straight.
ReplyDeleteLove Neal Stephenson. Wrote about for Karnick. Karnick wrote about him for Kristol!
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