Columnist Jeff Greenfield chatted with Don Imus this morning. At one point, Mr. Greenfield mentioned the blogging phenomenon - he said that he now has to get up an hour earlier to see what is being written, and cited the InstaPundit and Kausfiles as two conservative sources for political commentary at a higher level than is generally available in the mainstream media.
OK, that "conservative" label is a bit awkward for die-hard Kerryite Mickey Kaus, but I expect the kind words are welcome.
Mr. Greenfield also mentioned Wonkette for political gossip, and cited the first thing everyone mentions when they mention the Wonkette. Groan.
Look, I understand that she needs a paycheck, that Howard Stern is a ratings monster, that sex sells, and that "Sex and the City" has extended the boundaries of hip and humorous.
I also understand that folks like Jeff Greenfield may stop by for the jokes, but they stay for the content, which I have no doubt is first rate.
That said, I am old enough to remember when comedians would substitute the "F" word for a punchline - I was not a fan of shock humor then, nor have I warmed to it over the years (Yes, I made an exception for the baked beans scene in "Blazing Saddles"). And I am especially irked by my sense that Wonkette is only considered to be funny because she is a woman - would Jeff Greenfield be yukking it up if those a** f****** jokes were coming from a guy's site? Doubtful.
Grrr. If this is the sort of attention-seeking behavior that leads to success for female journalists, then I have a vested interest in what seems even to me to be a tired feminist argument. Since I have some smart-as-a-whip nieces and daughters who are talented researchers and writers, I would prefer that they not be evaluated on their willingness to engage in raunchy rhetoric. They would do fine under the old rules, thank you: tall, attractive, winning smiles... the usual. Sort of the Ann Althouse / Megan McArdle / Michelle Malkin route.
I have to agree with you TM. Wonkette is lame. I stopped by when it first got going, was truely impressed with the high school girl's bathroom humor, and never returned. Now I see she's a media darling with appearances on the cable talk and panel shows. If Drudge tried the garbage mouth approach, nobody would read him--we already have one too many Howard Stern.
Posted by: Forbes | November 04, 2004 at 02:26 PM
Wonkette will be big for about as long as Bill Maher was. It's people like Megan who will go down in the annals of blog history. That's annals, dammit. Annals.
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek | November 04, 2004 at 05:26 PM
Heh.
BTW, don't know that Insta is conservative, either. Small "l" libertarian or classic liberal would be closer to the mark.
Posted by: Karl | November 04, 2004 at 11:14 PM
i personally think wonkette's great, but her old blog theanticmuse.com is much better. still funny, more thoughtful content the posts were all very long, unlike wonkette), and yes, there were far less jokes about bums3x.
Posted by: sym | November 05, 2004 at 01:12 AM
incidentally, tom, you haven't been nearly as insufferable as you predicted, and i'm finding just about any right-wing opining pretty insufferable at the moment. but will it last? ;)
Posted by: sym | November 05, 2004 at 01:24 AM
You're spot on, but I actually think it's good to have the MSM give waaaay too much credence to the crap spewed at wonkette or the drivel put forth from Kos......after all, look at what these "rising stars" managed to influence?
Posted by: Ricky | November 06, 2004 at 12:31 PM