I always thought Mickey Kaus was auditioning to be the next Andy Rooney, but I guess he really wants to be the next Pat Paulson, judging from today’s lengthy, fawning Times handjob.
That said, it’s worth a chuckle that Janelle Brown’s puff piece merits a correction from Ezra Klein, who basically says he doesn’t hate Mickey, he just doesn’t really give a shit what he says.
DougJ
The one time Klein did mention Kaus was very disturbing though: it was part of a piece that mentioned (via quotation) that the first thing Peter Orszag does every morning is read Kaus and Virginia Postrel.
Shoot me.
mistermix
@DougJ: I read that as Orzag fluffing his critics before telling them they’re full of shit.
Though I’m sure Postrel thinks Orzag is glamorous, so there’s that.
asiangrrlMN
I just skimmed the article, and it made me want to vomit. Ezra, on the other hand, made me chuckle.
P.S. Are you following in DougJ’s footsteps in using song lyrics as titles?
PeakVT
At least the NYT put this puff piece in the Style/Fashion section.
KCinDC
I was going to point out my favorite sentence from the article, but it’s changed now: “It’s difficult to find a writer or politico in Los Angeles who hasn’t knocked elbows (or opinions) with Mr. Kaus at a party, or at the monthly mixers he hosts at Yamashiro restaurant and a supper club jokingly called Morons.” Originally that “elbows” said “boots”. Really.
arguingwithsignposts
So he’s like a blue dog from California? (opposing labor unions and amnesty)
auditioning perhaps to be the next Don Quixote?
KCinDC
The “knocked boots” line was there for a surprisingly long time yesterday. I wonder what Janelle Brown and the Times copyeditors think the phrase means. Anyway, some traces still exist.
mistermix
@KCinDC: Mickey does seem to take his starfucking literally, that’s for sure.
mistermix
@asiangrrlMN:
I’d say 1/3 of my titles are song references. But they must be pretty obscure.
Napoleon
It drives me nuts that they use the word “liberal” to describe him (even if it has neo before it). He is the classic Republican who just can not stand the idea of being in the same party as the Palin/Tea Party crazies so instead he wants the Dems to become the second Republican party, just without the crazies.
Ann B. Nonymous
@KCinDC: I think that’s what Wikipedia calls a Kinsley gaffe.
Michael
OT, but ignorant twit nyceve makes again the demand that Obama “nationalize” the criminal BP.
dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/6/6/873360/-Doomsdaycuts-for-public-transportation-as-politicians-pay-li…
Of course, clear issues of constitutionality are completely ignored, proving again that there’s not a lot separating FDL morons from your average teabaggot.
dianeb
I’ll just mention that after Pat Paulson ran for President he then made a soft-core porn flick (Brand X). Can’t wait to see (no pun intended) if Kaus follows this career path.
Napoleon
@dianeb:
If so hide all the goats.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Napoleon:
Neoliberalism has nothing to do with liberal in the American left-wing sense, pretty much the opposite in fact.
In most of the world the word liberal is used (in political and economic terms at least) in a sense meaning liberation of the free market rather than the other way around, as we in the US use it.
Having said that, Kaus is in the US so I just see his using the term as a combination of pretentious posturing and what you said, not wanting to admit that he’s just another right wing Republican.
Bill H
@Michael:
Not to mention how England would feel about us nationalizing one of their corporations. Yeah, I know, “the US subsidiary of BP” and all that imaginary crap. It is still an English corporation.
Napoleon
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Yeah I know all that, it just kills me someone like him is identified with the Dems when he is not.
asiangrrlMN
@mistermix: Nope. I’m just a musical illiterate.
beltane
@Michael: Clap Harder! When BP is nationalized, that oil will just disappear into thin air. You’ll see. Don’t let them throw your sheeple out of the veal pen and under the bus.
tkogrumpy
@PeakVT: Which is in fact the ultimate putdown.
Bob
Has any one ever seen Mickey and Camille Pagilia together in the same room?
Brian J
I stopped reading Kaus, to the extent I ever read him more than a couple of times a week, during the 2004 election. He seemed like the ultimate contrarian jackass. Plus, his annoying writing style, which seems fit for text messages but not a blog, drove me over the edge.
@DougJ:
He doesn’t say that he reads them first thing each morning. He just reads them regularly, which is different. And if he’s going to pick some people on the right to read, he could do a lot worse than Postrel and Posner.
@mistermix:
Yeah, I don’t know what to make of that whole glamour thing, either. Suffice it to say, though, you can tell she’s smart. I probably don’t agree with her on much, but she’s not a senseless troll like so many on the right. Plus, she did put her money where her mouth was regarding organ donation, when she gave a kidney to a friend.
JAHILL10
Kaus is a crypto-conservative. Jonathan Alter called him out on this a long time ago on Bloggingheads. But in contrarian Slate-land he can get away with calling himself a neo-liberal because definitions that actually mean what they mean are like so conventional!
TheDreadPirateBrian
I don’t have the faintest idea of what this post is trying to communicate. Does there come a point, perhaps, where a blog becomes a little too dedicated to speaking to it’s own in-crowd?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Napoleon: Okay. Well, “neoliberal” doesn’t identify him as a democrat or a liberal. It identifies him as right wing.
“Common-sense Democrat” and “I’m running for the Senate as a Democrat” is the part that identifies him as a Democrat.
Joel
What the hell is wrong with the Times?
Mindless crap like this and the “nuke the gulf!” story that got the front page earlier last week makes me so glad that I convinced my wife to stop ordering the paper.
Bob
@Joel:
Plenty, and don’t forget the fluff of a few weeks ago on the gang at Morning Joe.
kos
Come on, give me props for that quote in the article. I thought it was quite hilarious. And very accurate as to how I reacted to Kaus’ candidacy.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@Michael: So Robert Reich is a firebagger, too? You do realize he’s basically advocating for it as well.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@tkogrumpy: No. The ultimate put-down was Markos comparing Kaus with Emannuel Lewis. That’s hilarious.
frankdawg
@dianeb:
Well, the article did say he was “knocking boots” with pundits. Maybe Mickey and mAnn Coulter could shot a gay porno.
I assumed the writer & editor are pretty stupid to not know what that term means or else they are dropping hints about Mickey. I remember an NYT story about The Anal Cyst going deaf. The last paragraph made no connection to the story but explained how long-tern abuse of Oxycontin could cause deafness.
Mike S
I ran a Kaus radio ad for the 1st time yesterday. It reminded me of one of McCain/Palin’s “get off my lawn” ads.
Brian J
@Joel:
Which “nuke” article are you referring to? I’ve been bad at keeping up with the papers this past week.
Anyway, despite the problems at the paper, which may or may not seem greater than they are because so much attention is focused on the paper, it’s still probably the best major source of news we have. That’s good or bad, depending on your look of things. I just wish that the bad would disappear more quickly so the good would have more resources to use.
Hob
@TheDreadPirateBrian: If you’re fortunate enough to be unaware of who Kaus is, read the links in the post. It’s not some obscure reference for Balloon Juice regulars. The guy is running for Senate in California and he’s a historic douche.
PeakVT
@tkogrumpy: For Kaus. Puff pieces in the A-section are an insult to readers.
Brian J
@frankdawg:
I assume you mean Rush and not the financial blogger by the same name…right?
Brian J
@Hob:
“Historic douche?” Wow, that is so perfectly stated.
Michael
@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle:
And he’d be wrong.
Robert Waldmann
Smells like pc spirit.
My understanding is that netiquette requires that puff pieces be described as blowjobs (with anatomical details related to gonads optional). So why does the word handjob appear in this post ? I think it must be, because Janelle Brown is a woman and the usual usage would be sexist. Plus the standard metaphor might bring a vivid visual image to mind and mistermix does not want us to lose our lunches.
@dianeb
“a soft-core porn flick (Brand X). Can’t wait to see (no pun intended) if Kaus follows this career path.”
Please please. I don’t worry about the pun, but the thought of anyone seeing any such flick makes me ill.
I hope no such film is ever made. Knock
bootswood.In case anyone suspects I am am being unfair to the aesthetically challenged, I stress that I am no more handsome than Kaus.
Anya
I am wondering how I’ve never heard of this Kaus character and how I missed the whole made-up John Kerry intern scandal. I’ve actually followed that election very closely, yet I do not remember ever hearing about this.
KCinDC
Since when is “knocking elbows” a phrase anyway? “Rubbing elbows” I’ve heard of.
goatchowder
How lovely. I would like a handjob too. Just, uh, not from Mikey Kaus, thanks.
KCinDC
Janelle Brown tweets:
4jkb4ia
Awww, that whole article was hilarious. The Markos quote was only the funniest part.
frankdawg
@Brian J:
Yes, the Great Anal Cyst, Mr. Limbaugh. In the entire history of mankind there was only one war he didn’t absolutely enjoy: Viet Nam. The one he could have had all the fun and good times by actually taking part in he shows up at his draft physical with an easily curable condition often caused by not wiping well after defecating.
frankdawg
@Robert Waldmann:
Wait, are you saying you have never heard the term ‘handjob’ used to describe an overly fawning puff piece? You either need to read more blogs or turn your outrage meter down 3Db
Brian J
@frankdawg:
Any time he brings up his passionate support for the wars we are now in and his hatred of the alleged fifth column that opposes it, he should be asked why he didn’t serve in Vietnam.
Amir_Khalid
How is the NYT story a puff piece? I caught more of a point-and-laugh vibe from it. I mean, it describes a candidate whose fringe political positions alienate core elements of his party’s base; who figures he doesn’t stand a chance of being nominated, but gets miffed when his party, his rivals and the public concur and don’t take him seriously; who gets compared to long-ago has-been Emmanuel Lewis (and the only thing Kaus has been since he quit the law is a print/blog journalist). I can’t imagine a greater humiliation for Kaus the candidate than the picture of him debating a cardboard box, because his opponent had better things to do with her time.
Kaus’ frivolous, no-hope candidacy only ever got attention from the media because he was recently one of them, and it must sting that all he’s getting from his peers is ridicule. His inevitable hurt feelings will only provoke more Schadenfreude.
Paul L.
Ezra Klein defends John Edwards.
Kaus And Affairs