Gawker
Salon's lefty gadfly Glenn Greenwald has gotten all riled up about newish politics site Politico. They publish political gossip, and—horror of horrors!—Politico is somehow just as mean and gossipy and wrong-headed as Matt Drudge, and that is a very, very, very bad thing, and must be stopped. Oh, and also, Drudge and Politico are in some sort of vast right-wing conspiracy cahoots: "It is really amazing, and quite significant, just how frequently Drudge and The Politico end up being linked in so many ways," he sniffs. Also: "Maybe the Politico is designed to be a gossip rag — like Drudge or right-wing blogs — not an actual news organization." You know what, Glenn? How about you get off that high horse you've placed yourself on so delicately, and come down and mingle with the rest of us? The air's refreshing down here. As for Politico, we're thrilled to be able at last to jump up and down and yell, "One of us! One of us!" Yay!
The Politico: Gossip Rag Masquerading As News Organization? [Salon]
Comments
There's also the whole business of how links to the Politico are distributed to Drudge before Politico stories go live. But that's perfectly normal, right?
YOU MAY NOT DIS GLENN GREENWALD! That is simply crossing the line.
His coverage of FISA, of the wiretapping scandal, of the attorney firings and of the Plame case have been first rate. He and Josh Marshall are leading the vanguard in internet reporting. Your "critique" is just as shallow and vapid as the material he's doing such a great job critiquing.
Sorry, but this goes beyond "snark." Greenwald is doing important work, and there's more at stake here than some bullshit New York cattiness. He is as far from being "on a high horse" as is possible; his self-effacing and reasonable critiques have added immeasurably to the internet's political discourse.
If you don't know what you're talking about, then shut up.
Well said, smartyr.
Politico is NOT trying to be "one of you," Gawker. (Note the difference in tone and substance between Politico and, say, Wonkette, which is in fact "one of you.") The only things you and Politico have in common is that you're both online and have written idiotic things over the last 24 hours.
For the reasons well stated by smartyr, Greenwald is quite justified in calling out John Harris, Mike Allen and Ben Smith for their crappily sourced and written articles. The fact that he does so in such an articulate and persuasive fashion only adds to the inanity of this post.
Stick to Radar.
I think it's actually fine to dis anyone you want, but in this one you kind of dis yourself. This post is a little long on snark and a little short on... well... anything.
Did I accidentally click on another Mold Star Motel post?
Dollars to donuts "smarter" has an IP address originating in Brazil.
Lot's of people have opinions; only Greenwald's, ahem, special fans seem to think his constitute "important work".
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