Guest blogging for Kevin Drum
Leaguefest Las Vegas was a blast. Other than my wife coming down with a stomach bug; the headache I got Friday night that came on like a pre-hangover hangover; and the flu (or bad cold) that hit me Saturday evening and laid me up all of Memorial Day. I was too sick to play video games yesterday, which says quite a lot. I’m still sick today, but I can sit up, so that’s improvement at least.
This is also why my first post at Kevin Drum’s digs didn’t go up yesterday. It went up today, here, and brings up a theme I’ve discussed some in the past: the value of negativity in politics. We all hate how ugly politics can be, but negative campaigns help underscore just how human and fallible our political leaders actually are. Given how much power we entrust to our political leaders, we should remind ourselves often of this.
Anyways, I’ll be guest blogging at Mother Jones the rest of the week, so stay tuned.
wow…very cool, that is like the big time of blogging (well without the money and fame part). Good post also.Report
Yeah, I forgot about the whole money and fame part. Damn it. I knew I was missing something…Report
Awesome. Thank you for continually dragging us upstairs!Report
Ah well, it’s a team effort!Report
Sorry to hear you’re under the weather. Here’s hoping Mother Jones is good medicine!Report
I hope so. This is seriously lame.Report
I am trying, through sheer force of will, to deny the signs that I may have come down with the same thing.
And your guest hosting gig is deeply awesome.Report
Hmm, Legionnaire’s Disease started at a Legionnaires’ convention. Are we too early to call this League’s Disease?Report
I want you to know that I toyed with that very joke, and abandoned it. But I’m glad to see someone else picked up the ball.Report
Sleep! The trick is sleeping before it hits you really hard, because afterward you’re dealing with a fever and not being able to breathe which makes sleep difficult…Report
I do the same thing when I get sick, but I would expect more from a “doctor”. Hmm…Report
Great news. Congrats.
And solid post. I’m all for a little negativity in politics. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.Report
Love those ads. Seriously, how boring and stupid would politics be without negative campaign ads?Report
Erik:
I read your article and was hoping for something more intelligent than an anti-republican rant but given that your article was in Mother Jones it was about what I expected.Report
The real question is, how much does Kain hate the troops, right Scott?Report
Leland: Bernstein, am I a stuffed shirt? Am I a horse-faced hypocrite? Am I a New England school marm?
Bernstein: Yes. If you thought I’d answer you any differently than what Mr. Kain tells you…
— sorry, wrong Citizen Kain quoteReport
I agree with you Scott. From now on, Erik should argue only for your points of view.Report
Snarky:
Did you even read the article? Let’s try this gem of prose from Erik, “Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so,” Gore Vidal once said. And surveying the Republican field this past primary season was evidence enough that Vidal was on to something.” I guess in Erik’s world view this quote only applies to Repubs and not to Dems like Barry and his sidekick crazy uncle Joe. Not to mention that Erik has clearly forgotten any of the nastiness between Hillary and Barry before they were in love.Report
Yes, I accuse Erik of writing that post ON PURPOSE!!!!Report
I’d love it if you would write a post extolling the quality of the Republican presidential field, this year. I bet you could get someone to put it on the front page. And I bet there would be some lively conversation around the topic.
Scott- It seems that 80% of your posts are of the tenor “how dare you have that (liberal) point of view.” But I never see you engage with some respect or appreciation for those you’re arguing with. Only the conservative fainting couch.
I would love it if you actually did engage with the ideas of others. But simply declaring that the ideas of others are beyond the pale does not really lead to interesting or enlightening discussion.Report
My only problem with Scott is that he won’t submit his own guest posts for critique. He’s a one-way show.Report
No it’s true. I’ve never said anything mean about Obama ever. Not once.Report
Erik:
Really, your best defense of what you wrote is a denial of something I never argued?Report
To be genuinely fair and balanced, Erik should have written that if the Democratic nomination had been contested, that campaign would have been every bit as ugly, and invented things that Obama, Clinton, and Biden might have called each other.Report
Oh yeah. Hey Scott, was there a Democratic primary this time around that I should have mentioned?Report
Well, in South Carolina… 😉Report
Let’s not forget West Virginia.Report