July 27, 2004 by s.z.

Please Come to Boston/She Said No So, everybody's in Boston.  We know we're a day late and a dollar short with this, but the Wall Street Journal Online ran a nice little feature about some of the bloggers accredited to cover the convention.  They sent questionnaires to 30 of them, and printed the responses.  We were pleased as punch to see our friends (meaning that we like them, and they may know we exist) the Pandagon Twins and Tom Burka included on the digital pages of the WSJ.  Here are their profiles: Tom Burka, 44, public-service lawyer, New York. Opinions You Should Have. Describe your blog. Political satire. How do you plan to cover the convention? What kind of content can readers expect? Satiric commentary (written and spoken -- I'll be posting some audio) on the convention, and news parody. Why should people read your coverage? To read headlines like "Democrats Outraged By Outrage At Outrage" and "Mideast Roadmap Hard To Read, Impossible To Fold." What's the biggest gap in convention coverage by mainstream media in prior election years? I intend to find out. Moment/speaker/event you're most looking forward to covering. Filing my first blog entry from the floor of Democratic National Convention as an accredited member of the media. Whom did you support in the Democratic primary? N/A. Ezra Klein, 20, junior at University of California-Los Angeles and Jesse Taylor, 21, professional blogger, Columbus, Ohio. Pandagon.net. Describe your blog. Half the age, twice the smart. How do you plan to cover the convention? What kind of content can readers expect? We're going to report on an event produced for general media consumption with the eyes of partisan activists. ... Plus, we're funny and young, two things Wolf Blitzer is not; that's reason enough to come to the site. Why should people read your coverage? The funny and young things. Also the smart. Can't forget the smart. What's the biggest gap in convention coverage by mainstream media in prior election years? The convention hall will be packed with people who really care about this election and this country. The networks should be striving to imbue their coverage with that spirit, not grudgingly training the camera's unblinking eye on whomever occupies the podium ... Moment/speaker/event you're most looking forward to covering. Clinton? Edwards? Obama? There's going to be a wealth of talented orators, but I have to admit being more interested in speaking to the delegates directly after these speakers. Whom did you support in the Democratic primary? First unnamed Democrat, then Gary Hart, then Howard Dean, then Wesley Clark, and now John Kerry. We had a hell of a field this year. Of course, we're not jealous that we weren't chosen for accreditation.  First, because we never applied, and secondly, because, to tell the truth, we have a short attention span and just aren't that interested in politics, so we would probably have ended up throwing spitballs at Tim Russert during the speeches and getting all the other bloggers kicked out because of our actions.  So, the DNC knew what they were doing when they didn't select us. Of course, we would have gone if they had paid us enough, but they didn't even make us an offer.  It's their loss.  But because we were feeling a little left out, we went ahead and completed the WSJ questionnaire. S.Z., age something-something; astronaut/supermodel; the farmland that lies between LA and NYC.  World O'Crap.  Describe your blog. Snark, mild ridicule, and good-natured ribbing, plus cutting-edge Townhall and Family Circus deconstruction. How do you plan to cover the convention? By plagiarizing the other bloggers.  What kind of content can readers expect?  If I was blogging the convention, I would stalk Ann Coulter and Jonah Goldberg, and report on any nose picking or child-eating on their part.   I would also make it a point to reveal Atrios's true identity unless he met my blackmail demands.  But since I'm not at the convention, readers can expect the usual wingnut coverage, plus maybe a Regrettable Food Experiment, just for Ted. Why should people read your coverage?  They probably shouldn't. I know I don't plan to. What's the biggest gap in convention coverage by mainstream media in prior election years? There were conventions in previous election years?  I did not know that! Moment/speaker/event you're most looking forward to covering. The post-convention T-shirt and rhetoric markdown sale. Whom did you support in the Democratic primary?  Hillary Clinton -- Dick Morris promised me that she was running, so I voted for her.  But now that I know that she's just planning on killing Kerry, assuming his form, and ruling in his stead, I  support her even more. 4:44:33 AM

Again?  But That Trick Never Works! In other "blogging the convention" news, Andrew Sullivan was very impressed with the Dem's "Tightly scripted, elegantly choreographed, seamlessly on the centrist message of war, unity, maturity and judgment."  It was so well done, it made him think he was at the Republican convention!  Oh, and it's Pledge Week at The Daily Dish.  Again. As Andrew says: The good news is that our traffic keeps going up. The bad news is that our bandwidth costs have also risen, and although I was hoping to go a full year without asking for more support, the site needs some extra cash to keep going at least until the election. Yeah, Andrew needs the cash for "bandwidth costs." This year alone, I've written 300,000 words for the site, provided hundreds of links, comments, provocations, and written morning, noon and deep into the night to keep the site up to date. I don't expect to get paid at the same rates as I do for other work, but I do need to keep the site financed without dipping into my own pockets, and a small stipend for the work involved strikes me as a fair bargain. See, unlike other bloggers Andrew "needs" to keep the site financed without dipping into his own pockets because Andrew "needs" beach houses and other nice things.  Anyway, I'll leave to others to figure out how much of the funds he raised last December (I don't know what the take for that one was, but he claimed to have made $79,020 during the Dec. 2002 drive week) was used for bandwidth and how much was his "small stipend," but I suspect the bandwidth costs have risen about as much as his traffic has.  (Not that I'm saying that his traffic is down, just that, per the Sitemeter traffic stats provided by Truth Laid Bear, Wonkette gets almost as many hits as The Daily Dish does, and yet she isn't complaining about her bandwidth costs, as far as I know.)   Interestlingly, the commenters Michelle Malkin's blog think that Andrew is holding the pledge drive now because he just endorsed John Kerry as the conservative choice for President, and expects the Democrats to reward him by filling his tip jar.  (IMHO, if he really does, he's going to be sadly disappointed.)  One commenter asked (and Michelle posted it as an update to her entry), "Is Sullivan pulling a slow-motion David Brock move?"  (Again, IMHO, no.  But we'll see, I guess.) 3:46:20 AM

Crappy Writing: Why Ann Coulter Can't Hold a Job Poor Ann Coulter.  Fired by USA Today and replaced by "girly-boy" Jonah Goldberg.  You know, the guy who fired her from NRO Online.  USA Today says that Ann wasn't censored, but merely let go due to a "difference of opinion over editing -- words, voice, that sort of thing." Of course, that's pretty much the same thing that NRO Online said when they dumped her -- that they would fight to the death her right to say that we should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity, but Ann was canned because she wouldn't accept any editorial changes to her badly written piece.  And really, when you get right down to it, my only objection to Ann's work are her words, her voice, everything she writes.  That sort of thing. If you read what Ann claims are the comments from the USA Today editor on her piece, it does seem that said editor was a little obtuse, but I do have to agree with some of his or her remarks, such as "EYE-ROLLING? AT WHAT?" "WHAT DEMOCRATS SUE THE POLICE?" and especially "NOT FUNNY."  As Ann's best friend Drudge says, "Developing ..."  Meaning, expect lots more shrillness from Ann before this is allowed to be over. 2:39:45 AM