Comments on: Election

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 19:32:35 +0000

I’m sorry John; I wanted to vote for you, I really did. But I had to go with Timothy Burke; I love how high you’re willing to climb and how deep you’re willing to dive, but none of us can touch Tim’s complete control off the springboard, I think. The man is phenomenal. Not that it matters much; from what I can tell, Wolcott’s fans (I’m not one of them) are out en masse and are going to put him way over the top.

By: Alex R

Alex R — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 15:33:20 +0000

giles—a hint: they’re called the “Koufax awards” for a reason…

By: turd sandwich

turd sandwich — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 14:51:30 +0000

i had noticed a blogger voting for themselves in this round of koufax and thought it rather immodest. when i called them on it (all in good fun, mind you) they argued it was well within the rules to do so. and while true, it seemed like a weak defense to me. so am i (we) excessively humble or are they (un)exceptionally self aggrandizing?

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 09:26:46 +0000

How many Holbovian Lengths comprise a Sagan?

By: jholbo

jholbo — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 06:16:02 +0000

All the nominees are lefties because it’s an award for lefty blogs. As to Wolcott, my prediction that he is going to win was just that – a prediction – not a judgment that he ought to win. He is very funny and writes polished little attack snarks. I can perfectly well see voting him ‘best writer’ on that basis, although I don’t plan to.

By: The Navigator

The Navigator — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:01:46 +0000

jholbo: No, no, those aren’t typos – if you read enough posts, you’ll see that Matt repeats the same misspelling, thus demonstrating that he actually has the wrong idea about how to spell. This is endearing and quite amusing, because he’s obviously extremely intelligent and (otherwise) very well-educated. soullite: If there’s a category for Comment of the Year, then I nominate “I don’t think he’s a particularly good writer, he just writes things that are well written.” Ha! YES! You’ve nailed it! Writing things that are well-written has long been the distinguishing feature of the not-particularly good writer, and Matt has never stopped failing to not be one of those. Or something.

By: The Navigator

The Navigator — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:00:45 +0000

By: The Navigator

The Navigator — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 04:59:58 +0000

By: Giles

Giles — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 04:02:04 +0000

How come all these nominations are left wing?

By: Joe M.

Joe M. — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 02:58:29 +0000

By the way, given that James Wolcott admits -- apparently in all seriousness -- that he actually "roots" for hurricanes to be destructive, it was interesting to see that not only did Wolcott not "root" for the tsunami (not enough Americans killed, perhaps?), but even managed to sneer at President Bush for his press statement on the tsunami.

By: Joe M.

Joe M. — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 02:30:36 +0000

Wolcott? What, is the award based on snarkiness and all-around hatefulness?

By: Adam Kotsko

Adam Kotsko — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 18:49:29 +0000

Vote Young Hegelian! (Nothing personal, John.)

By: Soullite

Soullite — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 18:39:19 +0000

I find Yglesias plenty funny. He takes opportunities where they come, and doesn’t go out of his way for it. But he’s usually funny when he attempts it. I don’t think he’s a particularly good writer, he just writes things that are well written. Political blogs are essential run-on oped pieces. He needs to be persuasive or make people feel better about their beliefs. He’s too condescending, classist and lacks the requisite empathy to be very persuasive. At the same time, he’s too wonkish and lacks the moral absolutism required to make people feel better about what they believe. If he were trying to write summaries of think-tank reports, then he’d be a great writer. He’s a fine journalist. He is not a terribly talented opinion writer.

By: Jacob T. Levy

Jacob T. Levy — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 17:15:55 +0000

Unless you really like Modok jokes. Which some of us do. Yglesias has entirely wrongheaded attitudes toward comics.

By: jholbo

jholbo — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 16:48:27 +0000

But thank you for your support, Pedro. Vote Holbo (& co.)!