The DNC shows they still have a seat on the Clue Train by accrediting Jeralyn Merritt of Talkleft for the Democratic National Convention. It's On To Denver for Ms. Merritt!
More TalkLeft boosting from Jim Geraghty.
STILL MORE: I see from the list that Obsidian Wings will be represented; congrats to hilzoy.
Way to go, Jeralyn!
Posted by: JM Hanes | May 29, 2008 at 10:48 PM
Congrats to Jeralyn, and maybe we can get an accurate take on what goes on at the convention when the time comes (unlike the carp from EMPTYwheel).
Posted by: centralcal | May 29, 2008 at 11:09 PM
Tom, thanks so much for the shout-out. I'm very flattered. And JOM readers, I hope you will check in with TL and Obsidian Wings and the other Democratic blogs during the convention.
Posted by: Jeralyn | May 29, 2008 at 11:11 PM
Tom,
Have you put in for your credentials for the GOP bash yet?
We need your hard-hitting reporting and light-hearted take on the convention.
And congrats to you, Jeralyn! I suspect your coverage will be more interesting than, say, the NYT's. And far more coherent than NBC's.
You know we're all pulling for your candidate to make a stand on the convention floor, don't you?
Posted by: Walter | May 30, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Ha, the quoted bit on NRO is Our Pal p. lukasiak.
Yes, I think Jeralyn is more honest than most lefty bloggers.
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Posted by: kim | May 30, 2008 at 01:19 AM
Well, really, my only exposure to her is over Libby, and I know she objected to several Fitzjinks.
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Posted by: kim | May 30, 2008 at 01:22 AM
Well, thanks for the invite, J, but I was banned there after I pointed out the elephant in the room, from eRiposte's own research, that the French had discovered an active black market in yellowcake in Africa, in 1999. I generally stop reading places that ban me.
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Posted by: kim | May 30, 2008 at 01:25 AM
Absolutely pitiful that of the entire sinestrosphere, filled to the brim with criminal defense attorneys, only Jeralyn, to my knowledge, was able to overcome the rapture over Fitzgerald enough to criticize some of his most egregious tactics.
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Posted by: kim | May 30, 2008 at 01:28 AM
And there were several leftists among the dozen law professors chiming in that the question of Fitz's appointment was a legitimate appeal issue. That was not direct criticism of the Terror that was Fitz.
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Posted by: kim | May 30, 2008 at 01:30 AM
At the beginning of the campaign season, when I loved Obama, Talkleft irritated the carp out of me.
Over time, though, Jeralyn has made me see Hillary much more sympathetically.
I support McCain, but for the first time in my adult life, I don't hate Hillary.
Good job and good luck, Talk Left.
Posted by: MayBee | May 30, 2008 at 01:37 AM
Good Morning, and congratulations Jeralyn who seems to rival our own TM in graciousness.
Meanwhile... another day, another pastor problem. It's just a diversion tho, keep walking...
Posted by: Jane | May 30, 2008 at 06:14 AM
fwiw, Jeff Goldstein from ProteinWisdom lives in the Denver-ish area and plans on attending the DNC convention and blogging from there ...
... or taking the donations he's received and buying Rockies season tickets instead ... he's tricky that way.
~ smiley face ~
Posted by: BumperStickerist | May 30, 2008 at 08:09 AM
MayBee, well said. I feel the same way when I read TalkLeft and I never thought I would. Jeralyn is indeed a gracious host.
Posted by: Porchlight | May 30, 2008 at 10:33 AM
It would be sour grapes for me to complain about the (much deserved) increasing popularity of TalkLeft. It would be completely selfish of me to wish for the time when one could hang there in relative privacy with the altogether lovely Jeralyn.
So I won't (publicly).
I will simply wish her my most heart-felt congratulations on the credentialing. Yes, on the popularity of TalkLeft too.
You deserve it.
(I mean you, Jeralyn. BTD is...well...he's no Jeralyn ::grin::)
Posted by: hit and run | May 30, 2008 at 11:26 AM
TM,
Um, no.
I have to call bullshit on the beloved Ms. Jeralyn.
There is no room for dissent, humor, or provocation at TalkLeft.
It seems the cognitive dissonance that it produces is too much for her and her devotees, as it produces not just censure, but erasure.
TalkLeft=The Portal to the Memory Hole.
It's lucky for her than she hasn't been disappeared yet.
But not to worry.
When Barack Hussein Obama and The Believers take control, she too will find herself in the reeducation camps.
Just sayin'.
Posted by: MeTooThen | May 30, 2008 at 11:42 AM
MeTooThen- the thing about Jeralyn is that she isn't pretending to be anything other than a Hillary supporter. She also doesn't pretend to tolerate dissent. She's upfront about what she expects, and I say bravo to that.
Posted by: MayBee | May 30, 2008 at 11:50 AM
She also doesn't pretend to tolerate dissent.She's upfront about what she expects, and I say bravo to that.
A few of the more notable figures in the 20th century were funny that way too.
Not sure it warrants a 'bravo' though.
Posted by: Barney Frank | May 30, 2008 at 11:58 AM
MayBee,
Um, no.
It is one thing to be a partisan, or hyperpartisan, as it were.
And yes, if what one expects is total obedience in the name of freedom, well that's another thing.
But it is something altogether different when dissent, or provocation, or even absurdity is dealt with through erasure.
Think about that for a moment.
What we hear now from this and the world's Left is the never-ending mantra (or drone) about diversity, tolerance, and respect.
It is a lie.
What is demanded is ideological conformity; total subservience.
Nothing else will be tolerated, or even recognized.
It is creepy in the highest to erase not only a provocative post, but all those in response to it, as well.
TalkLeft is nothing short than rank, bankrupt, hypocrisy at its worst.
Bravo to that.
Whatever.
It's fascist.
Just sayin', again.
Posted by: MeTooThen | May 30, 2008 at 11:59 AM
A few of the more notable figures in the 20th century were funny that way too.
Except that she's just writing a blog. She isn't running a government or a political party.
Glenn Reynolds doesn't allow comments at all. Is he a facist?
Posted by: MayBee | May 30, 2008 at 12:06 PM
MeTooThen,
In the past hundred years, the cycle has been progressive, fascist, Stalinist, progressive - or Wilson, Mussolini, Stalin, Clinton/Obama (although Clinton/Obama will never achieve actual power, just a useful placeholder). I would place the subject in the Stalinist category, rather than making her a simple fascist. She's attracted to thuggery, without doubt, but her use of the oubliette is an achievement which neither Wilson nor Mussolini mastered. They were both rather "jackboot on the throat" types.
I know I'm being rather picky but she should receive appropriate credit.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | May 30, 2008 at 12:12 PM
MayBee,
Um, no.
Again.
It isn't the allowing of comments what is at issue here.
It's the erasure of comments and all evidence that was their existence that is totalitarian.
And yes, it's a blog.
And yes, I can get my own damn one.
I get that.
But to simultaneously preach (or drone) about diversity, tolerance, and respect, and at the same time revise history because of uncomfortable facts or truths, is rank hypocrisy.
And again, to do so for the purpose of ideologic purity and uniform obedience to "The Cause" is totalitarian/fascistic.
Lastly, I understand well the notion of "trollng." And yes, "Ban the Trolls." I get that, too.
To erase what you don't want to know, or want others to know, is something altogether different.
N'est-ce pas?
Posted by: MeTooThen | May 30, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Send new keyboard, Rick.
MayBee, Instapundit isn't a forum. So, it can't be a fascistic one.
Posted by: Jim | May 30, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Running a blog is hard, and I'm not going to criticize folks for doing it different ways (since I have no intention of trying it myself). However, I'd point out the difference in handling content-based dissent (as opposed to venting bile and disruption), and suggest folks--like Scary Larry who ban perfectly respectable commentary when it runs counter to their position--stifle the very conversation they're ostensibly supporting. And I don't care for that. Jeralyn's done some similar stuff, but relatively rarely, and they've put up with me on the rare occasions I've felt like playing pinata.
On the occasions where the comments contain personality-based arguments (and who manages to exclude them entirely?), then the judgment calls are far more subjective . . . and second-guessing them even moreso. I prefer the approach of our estimable host (who has far more forebearance than I ever would) . . . but that just makes this a classier joint. And in that spirit: Talkleft, congrats!
Posted by: Cecil Turner | May 30, 2008 at 12:27 PM
To erase what you don't want to know, or want others to know, is something altogether different.
She is erasing things she does not want appearing on her advocacy blog. She is at least upfront that she does that.
Is it fair? no. Does she say it's fair? no.
She isn't nasty, and she isn't secretive. She isn't pretending to be something she isn't.
Unlike, say, Firedoglake and Kos.
Posted by: MayBee | May 30, 2008 at 12:29 PM
MayBee,
Then isn't the argument more properly based upon her use of private property? If she has a large "Posted - violators will be extinguished" sign up then there is no cause for complaint. If she's advertising as a "Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom" garden spot and then doing aggressive "weeding" she would fit the Maoist template more accurately than the Stalinist template.
So, is she just another running dog capitalist pig, jealously protecting her "private" property, or a warm, loving, generous Maoist/Stalinist protecting her admirers from the ugly necessity of thought?
Posted by: Rick Ballard | May 30, 2008 at 12:37 PM
Rick Ballard,
What you said.
The greatest, or worst irony is the Nom de Blog Big Tent Democrat.
Right.
Just ask Joe Lieberman.
What is especially delicious about this is that Joe Lieberman, I man I voted for to be VPOTUS has a very slim chance of being just that, on a Republican ticket.
Like I said, whatever.
Posted by: MeTooThen | May 30, 2008 at 12:43 PM
The greatest, or worst irony is the Nom de Blog Big Tent Democrat.
I absolutely agree with that.
Posted by: MayBee | May 30, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Well, I couldn't stand Jeralyn as a pundit during the Clinton debacle. When she appearred half the time I felt like throwing something at the TV and the other half of the time for the sake of my blood pressure I just changed the channel. I couldn't take it. Just another democrat trying to defend the indefensible. Evidently she is stil cozy with the Clintons and nothing she says about them will change my mind about these grifters. They are nothing but the phosphorus on the top of ponds.
Posted by: BarbaraS | May 30, 2008 at 11:11 PM
I'd be interested in her take on the development that half of the Democrats have now figured out that Joe Wilson is a liar.
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Posted by: kim | May 31, 2008 at 08:59 AM
Alternatively, I'd be interested in the take of any former Fitzlover who has figured out that Joe Wilson is a liar. Surely the Obama Nation has someone who believes enough to witness it.
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Posted by: kim | June 03, 2008 at 10:18 AM
C'mon, I know you've yakked up Joe Wilson plenty, and surely now the Expert Larry Johnson; I can't hear it but I can smell it all the way over here.
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Posted by: kim | June 03, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Nyah, nyah, a boo boo.
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Posted by: kim | June 04, 2008 at 08:40 AM