I’ve been hesitant to pile on Mickey Kaus for running for Senate. It takes guts to run for state office and I’ve never seen the point of throwing spitballs at someone with no chance of winning anyway. But James Wolcott makes a good point:
And is Mickey running on anything other than unionism, welfare, and immigration? He’s a bit undiversified in his concerns. I can’t say Mickey the policy journalist has been at the forefront of environmental issues, on women’s issues he seems to be permanently AWOL (like most neoliberals of the graduating classes of The New Republic and Washington Monthly in the eighties), and the horror of the Iraq war never seemed to have penetrated the enchanted forest of his eternal chirpiness.
At least Norman Mailer and William Buckley had some original ideas when they quixotically ran.
What bugs me the most about the self-styled media mavericks of the Slate-TNR industrial complex (Kaus, Easterbrook, Kinsley, etc.) is that they’re dickless and unimaginative in a way that Mailer and Buckley and Thompson and Vidal (for all their shortcomings) never were.
gwangung
Running on what they’re against, not what they are for?
Undercover FBI Agent DougJ
@gwangung:
I’d be satisfied if they found something worthwhile to be against.
CalD
Kaus? Senate? Oh, Shit! LOL!
Why in FSM’s name would anyone want to resist piling on? That makes no sense.
ed
Come on, dude. Buckley was so dickless. Yes he was. Correction now, please.
Undercover FBI Agent DougJ
@ed:
His stance on drug legalization — legalize all of it — was gutsy.
Ash Can
I was going to make a smartass remark in the last thread, but Tunch must have sat on it, ’cause that sucker’s broke-ass busted. So I’ll do it here.
Hell, since it was an actual arrest, they won’t be drawing straws. They’ll do a special issue and all write on how this guy is atypical of the noble teabaggers, and was driven to extreme behavior by the unrelenting commie fascist behavior of the evil Democrats, and was probably railroaded by the corrupt feds on top of it. Then they’ll publish the edition in hardcover and sell it for the low, low one-time-only price of $49.95. Reserve your copy today.
Mark S.
Jesus, these reply buttons are fucked up. The previous thread is jacked up (at least in FF).
WereBear
@ed: Well, that’s what I heard!
/bill murray
John Cole
The only threat Kaus’s candidacy poses is to the theory of the crazification factor, because he’s going to be such a bad candidate, there is no way even 27% of California’s Democrats vote for him.
neill
Kaus, Easterbrook and Kinsley — oh, sweet Jesus-on-a-stick!
Kaus, Easterbrook and Kinsley
Spit, Drool and Snot…
morzer
The Whiches of Easterbrook.
*cough* Sorry, classical reference.
Dan
The very best part of Kaus running is that he’s not blogging at Slate because of FEC rules. It almost makes me want to spot his campaign a tenner!
Martin
While I’m normally an advocate of not piling on, California really can’t afford any more crazy-ass politicians. Pile on with prejudice please. We’re already sweating the concept of Meg Whitman as governor.
Lesley
What? He’s not running on goat fuckery?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Note to self: Never piss off Wolcott.
Geeno
Thank you, I’ve been wondering lately why I REALLY hated the mainstream version of “new media”. It’s old media with new, but completely unoriginal, people.
Comrade Kevin
Are you a Jackson Browne fan, DougJ?
The Dude Abides
The other big difference between Kaus and the other two writers at Slate-TNR is that the latter two have never been linked to oral sex acts with barnyard animals.
SRW1
@John Cole:
Who says the 27% crazification factor applies across the board?
Maybe the benefit of Mickey’s candidacy is going to be that it will help establish the present-day crazification factor among California’s Democrats.
ds
The centerpiece of his campaign is bashing teachers’ unions and immigration reform, and he’s running in the California Democratic primary?
Hahahahahahahahahaha. I think Noam Chomsky should start a similar primary challenge against Jim DeMint.
I sort of wish this was a semi-credible campaign, like if Kaus was as rich as Meg Whitman, because it would be all the more hilarious watching him lose in a 90-2 vote with some LaRouchite picking up the rest, after spending millions on it.
DanF
Dickless? Didn’t Kaus fuck that goat?
Barry
Dougj: “It takes guts to run for state office and I’ve never seen the point of throwing spitballs at someone with no chance of winning anyway.”
If one is running to win, it’s a tough thing that takes guts. If one is ‘running’ as a lark, with the sort of day job which allows it, then it’s trivial. And when you look at his writing, you know that his day job is none too demanding.
OneMadClown
Yes, Dan F. Yes he did. And with Mickey Kaus at the helm, the Hideous Goatfucking Dwarf Party will lead the way to a fabulous new tomorrow!
Come with us brothers and sisters, let’s make this Democratic “big tent” into an even bigger barnyard…of love.
Barry
Wolcott: “I worked at Mickey at Harper’s when Mike Kinsley was editor and for all his attributes let’s just say ‘common sense’ isn’t the one that would spring most immediately to mind, especially since his entire journalist career has been built on a counterintuitive contrarianism that requires a clown college degree in paradox juggling.”
Not really; it just requires keeping an eye out for what the economic elites want, and another eye out for opportunities to bash hippies.
El Cid
@Barry: Exactly. It takes a lot of mental juggling to proclaim oneself a bold and unrepentant liberal while cheering on Reagan’s terror war on Central American civilians in order to save them from a Soviet communist threat which didn’t exist.
slippy
I can’t wait to see if Kaus’ opponent uses the goatfucking charges against him. It would be irresponsible, after all, not to speculate.
Bulworth
He’s against unions, immigration and welfare…so he’s running in the Republican primary? I wonder how he plans to distinguish himself from other Republicans?
Will
Wow, Wolcott is right–that is one bullshit website Mickey threw together for $5. And that picture of him in the upper left corner? Good Lord. I know they say politics is show biz for ugly people, but I think it’s actually Mickey’s face that is show biz for ugly people. Now that’s a face for radio.
Persia
@ds: Holy shit, I found the reply button!
Anyway, yeah. I mean, this is just some kind of meta joke at this point.
Northern Observer
The “dickless” alone they would forgive you for, but the “unimaginative” moniker is going to gnaw at the back of their minds and the “dickless and unimaginative” combo will wake them up at 4:06 AM and have them staring into the bathroom mirror… for five minutes after which they will resolve to pen another screed in print about the incivility and worthlessness of bloggers and the blogosphere.
You wait for it. Within a month there will be in print essays on the trouble with bloggers.
Resisting Arrest
I like what you have done here. Mostly i like the part where you say you are doing this to give back and looking at all the comments it seems that this is working for you as well.