Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Let’s finish the job.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

This really is a full service blog.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

T R E 4 5 O N

You are here: Home / Oh. Wow. Guess I Missed That. Happy 10th Anniversary, Balloon Juice

Oh. Wow. Guess I Missed That. Happy 10th Anniversary, Balloon Juice

by | 340 Comments

This post is in: 

So apparently we had our tenth anniversary on the blog a week ago, and I missed it. This shit show started ten years ago on the 2nd of January, 2002. Here is the inaugural post:

Since nothing in my life is easy, I doubt this will work the first time I try it. If it does work, I will be moderately elated.

Things pretty clearly have gone downhill since day one. Ten years, I guess, is kind of something in blog years, and if nothing else, we lasted ten times as long as pets.com. If I had to look back on things, probably the best decision I made was bringing on Tim F. as my first co-blogger. He was such a good commenter and even-keeled poster that I was encouraged to bring on lots of new faces, all promoted from the comments. Letting someone new have control and access was hard the first time, but Tim made it super easy. The worst decision? Just pick any post from 2002-2006.

So, yay us! Hit the the tip jar, or just make rude comments in the comments section, because hopefully we’ll be around for another ten. If we don’t, it’s probably because I will be dead. Regardless, it’s been fun, and no matter how emo I sound on any given day, I really do love this website, all the front-pagers past and present, and all the people who come by to tell me we are full of shit or the greatest thing ever. I like the fact that with limited exceptions, people are free to say whatever the hell they want. That’s how it is in my living room, and that is how it will always be on this little hole in the internet.

*** Update ***

BTW- if anything demonstrates what a shoddy enterprise this is, it is the fact that I only remembered the anniversary because you all pointed it out. If I had any advice for anyone starting out blogging, I would say have a comments section. Otherwise, you don’t have a blog, you have some vanity website, and really, no one gives a shit about you. Really, they don’t.

*** Update #2 ***

For posterity, no anniversary post would be complete without a picture of Tunch in his natural environment:

That’s the dining room table he is on, because if I do not elevate his food, the hounds get it. Plus, I think jumping up there is the only exercise he gets.

Reader Interactions

340Comments

  5. 5.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Congratulations? ;)

    A lot of shit has passed under the bridge here in that time, that’s for damned sure.

    Bask in the glory while you can John.

  6. 6.

    Linkmeister

    Huh. I hit the 10-year point in October of last year and completely forgot it until some other blogger I read (Kuff at Off the Kuff, I think) mentioned he’d hit his anniversary last week. Some things you do for so long you don’t even think about the landmarks.

    Congratulations to both of us. ;)

  9. 9.

    DCLaw1

    In all serious, I’ll drink to you and this joint tonight, Cole. This is a fun blog. I slowly came around to it, and now I check it more than any other. I love the mad medley of characters you have, with you serving as vinegar-footed patriarch in the dad chair.

  10. 10.

    MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson

    Ten years from now, when Samara Morgan is a Front Pager in the time she can spare from looking after Tim Tebow Jr…..

    Where shall we all be, I wonder?

  12. 12.

    Ron

    I have occasionally looked back at your old posts. I almost can’t believe it’s the same person. But this is a place I love, warts and all.

  13. 13.

    patroclus

    Congrats on the anniversary!

    By the way, to continue the FBS discussion from last night, the overnight TV ratings for the BCS game were the lowest in the history of the BCS, down 14.3% from last year. The rating of 13.8 smashed the previous low of 14.2 from 2002 and represented a 24% decline from the highest ever from 2010. It looks like the rest of America wasn’t too interested in the FG-only laden SEC re-match.

    I wonder if the powers that be will notice…

  15. 15.

    jeff

    Congratulations and thank you from a long-time reader. You’re an enjoyable part of my reading, and that’s an enormous compliment. Good show, old man.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    Congrats on a job well done.

    I like the fact that with limited exceptions, people are free to say whatever the hell they want.

    Tebow.

  17. 17.

    The Dangerman

    I found this blog during the dog days of the Obama/Clinton fight; kinda sorry I missed some of the 2002 to 2006 stuff (well, not THAT sorry, but it seemed like an apropos statement, certainly better than “I could give a shit”).

  18. 18.

    The Moar You Know

    Nice work, John, keeping this site full of scum and villany open and running. Glad it, and you, are here.

  20. 20.

    Citizen_X

    TEBOW! TEBOW! TEBOW!
    Just kidding. Congratulations!

    PS: It could be worse. You could be a Tigers fan.

  25. 25.

    BettyPageisaBlonde

    Wow. I’m old. I’ve been reading you and the Great Orange Satan for way too fucking long. And I’m a better person for it. Also.

  27. 27.

    The Other Chuck

    I’ve referred to bloggers abandoning wingnuttia as “Pulling a Cole”. I was happy to see Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs do the same. I wonder who the next blogger to execute the Cole Maneuver will be?

  28. 28.

    GMF

    Ten years is great – but pulling out of full retard is the real accomplishment, that’s what really matters – congrats.

  30. 30.

    Hunter Gathers

    I can’t wait for the 20 year anniversary, when I imagine we’ll be discussing the upcoming Chelsea Clinton V. Tim Tebow V. Rand Paul election for POTUS.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    So John, did you only think of this after you saw my tenth anniversary comment one thread down? If so, what does a person have to do arond here to get a hat tip? If not, why not?

    And I’m just laughing myself to sobs contrasting the BJ tenth anniversary with the party Sullivan threw for himself last year or whenever the fuck it was. If you ever needed anything to illustrate the difference between you and Bearded Andrew, look no further.

  33. 33.

    jacy

    Waiting for you to drunk tweet your address so that I can come to your living room and say anything i want. Then I expect you will feed me some psuedo-hipster organic foods and make eleventy pitchers of drinks, after which you will drunkenly act out something vaguely Shakespearean with Tim Tebow featured as the villain and Tunch, Lily and Rosie as the Greek chorus.

  34. 34.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @Hunter Gathers:

    I can’t wait for the 20 year anniversary, when I imagine we’ll be discussing the upcoming Chelsea Clinton V. Tim Tebow V. Rand Ron Paul election for POTUS.

    Fixed

  35. 35.

    MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    If you ever needed anything to illustrate the difference between you and Bearded Andrew, look no further.

    Now, now. The Burkean Beard was just showing his true Hayekian Modesty.

  36. 36.

    WaynersT

    I did go looking thru some of the first posts and looky looky – an early Romney supporter. My how time flies.

    ——–
    Andrew Sullivan has some interesting

    by John Cole

    Andrew Sullivan has some interesting info about the GOP candidate for governor in Massachussetts. Good news if you ask me. The right needs to get over this damn homosexuality problem. I have long felt that both modern Repubs and Modern Democrats spend too much time intruding in people’s lives. Republicans want in my bedroom to make sure I am not breaking sodomy laws, Democrats want in my bedroom to put those goofy handicapped bars around my toilet and to make sure my bed and desk are OSHA compliant. Both of them need to back off, and if Sullivan says that guy is a good candidate, he has my qualified support (as if a West Virginian has any say in Mass. state politics.).
    https://balloon-juice.com/2002/01/04/andrew-sullivan-has-some-interesting/

  38. 38.

    RossInDetroit

    Thanks for keeping the lights on at Cole’s Argument Clinic 24 X 7.
    May all your trolls lock their keys in the car in a thunderstorm, fall in a pothole and break an ankle.

  39. 39.

    MikeBoyScout

    Fuck off Cole!

    and congrats…. standing naked in public can’t have been easy.

    Tunch in 2016!

  40. 40.

    Elie

    Happy 10th to my favorite blog — evah… and thanks to the wonderful freaks who comment here regularly. I have learned from you, laughed with and at you and totally valued this place — my blog home — such as anyone can call a blog home.

    May balloon juice — with its bevy of political commentary, pet posts and fine cuisine posts — last forever!

    (By the way, what happened to all the neat foodie posts? I miss them… got one of the best dressing recipes right here!)

  41. 41.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    It’s an interesting place, for all the reasons stuckinred noted above. Thanks.

  46. 46.

    Elie

    @mothra:

    Totally agree… first stop shopping…

    I didnt comment for a while because I was changing jobs, moving, etc. But I always checked in — Always.

  48. 48.

    Jade Jordan

    Not to rain on your 10 year old bday party parade, especially during the week your Steelers got Tebowed, however, if you love all the front pagers even the insane, over emo, thin skinned one(s) you are nuts by association.

  58. 58.

    Valdivia

    Wooo hoooo! Mazal tov John. Best blog on the intertubes :)

    /+ too much wine after 2 months of being laid back on my ass because of a back injury!

  59. 59.

    General Stuck

    Seriously though, while I have my diffs with senor Cole, it is a remarkable feat running a large blog day in and out for ten years. The last five or so, I have witnessed, and have the scars to prove it. Though I don’t see any value much of the inane flame wars I’ve joined or started. It is cheap thrills that I am guilty as anyone for entertaining. These things hold no further amusement for me.

  60. 60.

    tom

    I started reading BJ probably not long after you started it after someone (Lawyers Guns & Money? Sully?) referred to you as a “sane conservative”. I was going through my own withdrawal from the Republic party at the time, and BJ was exactly what I was looking for.

    Keep up the good work!

  61. 61.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    If I had any advice for anyone starting out blogging, I would say have a comments section. Otherwise, you don’t have a blog, you have some vanity website…

    Very true. Looking at the sites I hit regularly, they all have active comments (except Fallows): BJ, TNC, Pierce, Booman, TPM, GOS. Even ginandtacos. The ones without commenters are trending to the bottom of my list.

  62. 62.

    beabea

    Congratulations John, and thank you for the first decade of Balloon Juice, may there be many more. I come here several times daily to read and mostly lurk so thanks to all the FPers and to the outstanding commentariat as well.

  64. 64.

    Schlemizel

    Thanks John – I know you take an inordinate amount of shit for running this hell hole when we should be grateful. In the old days I never understood why the great orange satan linked to you but I guess he saw some glimmer of thought in there. Its a great place now & you deserve the lions share of the credit for that.

  68. 68.

    Elie

    @Valdivia:

    Feel better… Lord knows my hubby has been totally dealing with that right now… muscular rather than disc but he can’t get past it…

    Wish you the best, Val…nothing worse than chronic pain

  72. 72.

    Elie

    @Schlemizel:

    Yeah, TOTALLY! Not only the dressing recipe but tips on how to fry chicken, where to get good ice cream and a shit load of other stuff…

    Bring back FOOD!!!!

  73. 73.

    sfinny

    Congratulations. Can’t believe it’s been ten years. Though for the first few years I only came here when someone in blogtopia would link, usually with a comment like “look what this idiot wingnut said now”. Good times.

  74. 74.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I don’t know how the hell I came across this place a few years back but I’m glad I did.

  77. 77.

    Valdivia

    @Elie:

    thanks Elie!
    I have had back pain before but this was insane. back out the day before thanksgiving. the following week it was regular back pain but then wow–shooting pain down my leg that was so debilitating I couldn’t even walk to the fridge. that finally disappeared this week (4 weeks later!)but that was the scariest shit I have ever gone through. i thought I would never walk again!

    I see the dr next week because it took this long to get an appt hopefully it was only muscular but I know something was totally fucked up. sigh.

    hope your hubby gets better I have been in pain so long today was the first day i could stand in front of the mirror and put make up on. So I totally get it!

    also too: pain killers not so good, wine the awesome for pain, though not a feasible pain managemnet regime at 9 am/haz a sad

  78. 78.

    Violet

    Congratulations on ten years! That’s quite something in the blog world. I love this blog, warts and all. Glad you’re still hanging in there.

  79. 79.

    TuiMel

    Oh gosh. I’ve been coming here hoping someone gave a sh!t about me. Dang.

    Happy 10th, John & others.

  80. 80.

    Paul W.

    I love you John, and what you’ve done here between the community and the front pagers is nothing short of amazing. I check this site over a dozen times a day and read probably a 1000 comments a week, while only contributing rarely myself, and this place keeps me sane and hopeful about the state of our nation. And , that guy is what I hope to be when I grow up.

  82. 82.

    Bobbo

    Is there a definitive “I’ve finally had it with the Republicans” post? I became a BJ fan sometime after the conversion.

  83. 83.

    andyferris

    Congratulations from a lurker! 10 years is an impressive run and I think you’ve done yourself a disservice by labeling all of 2006 as being in with the worst. By October it was clear you were fed up with GOP.

  84. 84.

    The Dangerman

    @Elie:

    …where to get good ice cream…

    One of my specialties!

    Anyone in the Bay Area been here (freezing ice cream on the spot should appeal to the Nerds here)?:

    http://smittenicecream.com/home/Home.html

    Also, there is a brand called Bishop’s Ice Cream that was great (it’s Washington State; I’m too lazy to look up how far out they market it).

  85. 85.

    The Dangerman

    @Elie:

    …where to get good ice cream…

    One of my specialties!

    Anyone in the Bay Area been here (freezing ice cream on the spot should appeal to the Nerds here)?:

    http://smittenicecream.com/home/Home.html

    Also, there is a brand called Bishop’s Ice Cream that was great (it’s Washington State; I’m too lazy to look up how far out they market it).

    Edit: Fuck! I only hit the button once and it posted twice; FYWP!

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @jacy: That was last weekend. Do try to keep up.

    @ Cole @ top: Congrats, if that is the appropriate phrase to use for someone who has kept this absinthe-soaked bordello of the damned going for this long.

  88. 88.

    MikeJ

    @Bobbo: I’ve often wondered if Cole would have converted without the blog. Yes, Republicans would have been just as stupid, yes they would have Schiavo’ed, but John had commenters to face. I wonder if that helped.

  89. 89.

    Splitting Image

    Congratulations on hitting the ten-year mark, John.

    I found the place during the run-up to the 2008 election, a few months before you tore up your Republican card. I don’t get a chance to post as much as I’d like, but I’m here every day and I have to say this is one of the few places I enjoy reading the comments as much as the posts.

    I’d also like to say I admire your efforts to find front pagers that take you out of your comfort zone a little bit. I haven’t liked every person who has posted here equally, and the occasional flame wars between the front-pagers have been cringe-worthy, but at least you can’t call the place an echo chamber.

    Here’s to ten more years!

  90. 90.

    poicephalus

    One surprising finding: Santorum, a Catholic, won only about 8 percent of self-identified Catholic voters, a serious underperformance on his part since Catholics accounted for more a third of the electorate Tuesday. Gingrich, also a Catholic, won 10 percent of Catholic voters, according to exit poll interviews.

    Mwaaaaahahaha (extra reverb)

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    Cole, in honor of the Bj 10th anniversary, I think you should post a link to an old post every day/week for awhile. Link to the first Lily post, the introduction of Tunch, the first inkling that you might be moving to the dark side, etc.

    Or the first comments from people who are still here after all these years.

    Do you have an easy way to get a list of all people who have posted over time? That would be fun. Maybe you could do one letter a day – all the As, then all the Bs, etc. It would be a fun trip down memory lane!

    Anyway, Cole, thanks for a great blog. It gets out of hand at times, maybe a little off balance, but most of us do that ourselves in our personal lives, too. Hey, I guess that makes Balloon Juice a person! Let’s check in with the supreme court on that…

  93. 93.

    Cat Lady

    I laugh, I cry, I learn stuff. This place has been my home within my home for about 4 years now because John went towards the light, and brought all these great minds with him, and his little dog too.

  95. 95.

    kdaug

    Hot diddly-damn!

    No, scratch that.

    Fucking Hell!

    This means I’ve wasted almost as much time here as on Skyrim.

    Seriously, I’ve spent 8+ years trolling around this place trying to pick fights, but y’all are just too sane and reasonable-y-ish.

    Best I’ve been able are some poo-flinging spats with m_c, and those don’t really count, do they.

    (Period, ’cause that wasn’t a question).

  96. 96.

    freelancer

    @Bobbo:

    Is there a definitive “I’ve finally had it with the Republicans” post? I became a BJ fan sometime after the conversion.

    Straw that broke the camel’s back was Terri Schaivo. Check the archives for March of ’05 and you’ll find some good posts there.

  98. 98.

    RalfW

    I would say have a comments section. Otherwise, you don’t have a blog, you have some vanity website, and really, no one gives a shit about you. Really, they don’t.

    And this would be why I barely even bother to go visit that Andrew guy any more. Thankfully Sully linked to youze BJers a few times, and I’ve been here tossing around my 2 cents ever since.

  99. 99.

    realbtl

    Thanks for all of the good work John. Like Tom @ 60 I first came here (2003 I think) on someone’s recommendation of BJ as the voice of a sane, or was it reasonable, conservative. It’s been fun watching the change.

  100. 100.

    pkdz

    My daily read: Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, TNC, Ezra Klein, the Times, Little Green Footballs, and Steve Benen. This is my favorite. I’m a lurker, but I love reading the comments. Great front pagers. Great rants.

  101. 101.

    flukebucket

    I have been a reader since August of 2004 and honest to Tebow I am sure I have read Balloon-Juice more than Billy Graham has read the Bible. It was an honor to hit the tip jar. I hope that in 2022 we can all look back on these days and laugh like hell!

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I was an Eschaton regular for a long time and slowly migrated here. This is a far weirder place.

  107. 107.

    joe1347

    Congrats. I’ve been following your site for quite some time now and always enjoy it.

    Interesting observation about allowing comments. As an example, I was following a somewhat obscure science related site and after having repeated difficulty posting comments due to the owner over managing the site – I lost interest and rarely visit it even though the content is in an area that I am still very interested in.

    I guess the message is – don’t run off your customers (i.e., commenters) if you run a site – no matter how much they annoy you within certain bounds.

  110. 110.

    Linnaeus

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I was an Eschaton regular for a long time and slowly migrated here. This is a far weirder place.

    Eschaton was my first blog, way back in ’02. I even had an “I Am Atrios!” hat. But it’s been years since I’ve spent any time there. Got a little tired of one open thread after another.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    Hey Cole, I never realized your middle name was Griffin. What a great name. I almost chose that for the name of my new pup.

  112. 112.

    moonbat

    Happy Anniversary, JC! This is the only place on the interwebs that hasn’t made me mad enough to leave…permanently. Keep up the good work and get ABL to come back!

  113. 113.

    kdaug

    @tom:

    I started reading BJ probably not long after you started it after someone (Lawyers Guns & Money? Sully?) referred to you as a “sane conservative”.

    Ditto. Then John had to get his mom to rescue him off his roof.

  114. 114.

    orygunian

    I just gotta put this out there. I’ve been lurking and occasionally posting for like 5 years. Didn’t know the old Cole. Went back to the archives and found this on my third hit.
    Ann Coulter, goddesspundit

    Goddesspundit. Oh. my.

    I don’t think it was snark? Jesus, Cole. I guess the difference is that you’ve always been an a$$hole but you turned into a sensitive a$$hole.

    Keep it up. Go Niners.

    Anyway I do check in here several times a day for the front pagers at least and the comments sometimes.

  119. 119.

    Garbo

    This is a real place in the virtual world. As others have said, warts and all, where I want to be. Thanks, John, for putting up with all the crap that being an innkeeper entails.

  120. 120.

    RossInDetroit

    I think the first blog I read was Alterman. Then Josh Marshall, GOS, Sully, Tomasky, various nutballs.
    I like this place because it’s a madhouse with a method. And has curiously ineffective trolls for some reason. Tomasky’s comments section became impossible around the time of the ’10 election. The majority of people who read him seem to hate his guts.

  121. 121.

    freelancer

    Yay 10 years. I’ve been commenting for a few, lurking for some time before that. Keep it going, Mr. Cole.

  123. 123.

    MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson

    @RossInDetroit:

    It was partly because Tomasky never really cleaned house as far as the obvious trolls were concerned. Some of them would just change names and return the same day they were banned. And Tomasky spent far too much time playing the role of “reasonable liberal” and telling us how Obama was wrong or weak etc etc. no matter how crazy the teabaggers got.

  124. 124.

    Roger Moore

    I would say have a comments section. Otherwise, you don’t have a blog, you have some vanity website, and really, no one gives a shit about you.

    The biggest thing is that without comments, the blog is really only about one person and can only be as big as that one person. If you allow comments and share the front page, you can create an actual community that’s much bigger than any one person could possibly be. Of course it helps if you’re willing to let it be a raucous community with a range of opinions and the occasional violent disagreement, rather than trying to limit it to one approved set of opinions enforced with a big old ban hammer.

  127. 127.

    theBuhjaysus

    I stumbled in here via Barry Ritholtz blog and can’t say enough about how I enjoy coming by and getting a little relief/insight/comedy.

  129. 129.

    The Other Chuck

    @Bobbo:

    Cole was always the “sane republican” who never went in for the social conservative bible-banging crowd, but neocons were right up his alley, and of course those pantywaist liberals just didn’t know anything about what America needs etc etc. He started souring on the conservatism in general around the time of Terri Schiavo. The final break was about 2-1/2 years later when the Countertop Inspection Brigade went after Graeme Frost and his family:

    https://balloon-juice.com/2007/10/09/when-rhetoric-meets-reality/

    And he’s just been slouching toward Gomorrah ever since :)

  130. 130.

    scav

    oh, and Congrats and Commiserations, as patient demands. Showed up after an epic rant (forget which) and lurked for a long while. Quality of the rants above and below the fold are an important personal draw, over and beyond the general level of empirically based chaos.

  131. 131.

    Cassidy

    I remember coming here a long time ago, in the days of Acidman, Kim du Toit, and North Georgia Dogma, looking for sane conservatives. I didn’t spend to long here. :D

    Came back around Schaivo. NGD’s Ricky was going “neener,neener…Cole’s conversion is short lived and he’ll still vote Republican.”

  132. 132.

    RossInDetroit

    @MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson:

    I pretty much agree with that. I still read Tomasky. He’s not very exciting, and not always 100% right but he’s like the level headed school guidance counselor who’s not going to tell you to do something stupid.

  133. 133.

    Galileo126

    Congrats, John et al.

    10 years, holy moley! May the Juicers live long and prosper.

    Again, way to Cole and all the contributors to the Juice!

    Gali

  136. 136.

    Johannes

    Congrats, Mr. C. Many more years of cranky, opinionated, exasperated Tunch-blogging! (And dog-blogging, too!)

    (But “punditgoddess”? Really?)

  139. 139.

    MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson

    @RossInDetroit:

    Yeah, he’s a decent, rather timid soul with a belief in human goodness and reason, despite the rabid stupidity of the GOP. I feel some respect for the way he’s maintained his illusions, but I am too shell-shocked from the last 30 years to do it myself.

  143. 143.

    WyldPirate

    Tis a good blog full of a lot of smart FPers–and smart or smart-assed posters–who I usually agree with except for a disturbing tendancy from some towards Rethug-like groupthink and blind-assed Obotisim. :-)

  145. 145.

    MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson

    @JGabriel:

    You.. you… WHORE!

    (Which seems an oddly suitable thing to say during this happy 10 years of BJ celebration).

  146. 146.

    Anya

    Wow, ten years! That very impressive, John. It’s a great blog, and you the rest of the bloggers should be very proud of it. I first discovered this blog during the primary wars, and it’s been my go to website for all things politics and clever comments since.

    The best thing I like about this blog is john’s laissez faire attitude toward comments. Even though, this means we deal with lots of trolls and sometimes we might tolerate offensive comments, but it still makes the blog a better place.

    Happy 10th anniversary, John and friends.

  147. 147.

    MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, you can take yer pet lobster and shove it up your Romney!

    *swings wildly, misses and falls into the pool of molten chocolate between two puzzled trolls and Rick Perry*

  150. 150.

    satby

    All I can say is thanks John. This is the oasis of sanity and snark I rely on. And pet stories! Happy 10th anniversary Balloon Juice!

  151. 151.

    Mark S.

    @Cassidy:

    Acidman, Kim du Toit

    Jesus, those are some blasts from the past. What was Kim du Toit’s magnus opus called, “The Pussification of the American Male”?

    I think Acidman killed himself, so I’ll let that one go.

  152. 152.

    Roger Moore

    @RossInDetroit:

    And has curiously ineffective trolls for some reason.

    That’s because Balloon-Juice is the house of snark, and snark is the best antidote for trolling. Besides, you’re forgetting about some of the highly effective trolls we have around here, like John Cole and DougJ; they troll us every fucking day.

  153. 153.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    hey congrats j.cole and the ballooncore.

    this is certainly more exciting than my trip over to the barnes and noble site. i got an ad promising 50% or more off something called
    “Nook E books”

    really not what i thought they were going to be.

  155. 155.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @scav: I might be able to locate some calvados, but that is about it. And what is this crap about starting to see invisible space chickens? I’ve been feeding them for years. I can email Cole my credenza to prove it.

  157. 157.

    Anne Laurie

    Congratulations, John.

    Migrated here, best I can recollect the chain: James Wolcott –> Lance Mannion –> Steve Gilliard –> Sadly, No! –> Balloon Juice, ca. early 2008. Still glad I ended up here, regardless.

  158. 158.

    Soonergrunt

    Thank you so much John, for giving me a place to call home on the net, and for letting me run. And for letting me fall on my face, and not kicking me while I was down.
    Thanks to the other front pagers for tolerating my presence, and thanks to Anne Laurie for seeing something I didn’t.
    Thanks to the commenters–all of you.
    May the next ten years be as good as the first ten.

  159. 159.

    kdaug

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I can email Cole my credenza to prove it.

    Ahem. I believe that’s what John calls a “bar”.

    Which is fair enough. A place to stack your bottles and antacids. I’m cool with it.

  160. 160.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    Here’s an amusing comment, from back in January 2008:

    It’s all over but the shouting – HRC is gonna win this thing.
    …
    Obama shot his wad in Iowa, he has nowhere left to go but down.
    …
    And the WATB’s can weep, wail, and gnash their teeth, but it ain’t gonna change nothing.

    Guess who?

  162. 162.

    MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Free gin as well as absinthe? Damn, I like this place. Last person to see Rex Ryan conducting an orchestra of pink kangaroos wearing sunglasses is a windy pigeon and you can call me Ishmael.

  163. 163.

    scav

    @Omnes Omnibus: mais, est-il riant, ton credenza? s/il/elle s/ton/ta/ but I’m not sure about the Calva/Chart swap. Lacks the herbal zing. Can’t wait for the space chickens month in the calendar.

  165. 165.

    SIA

    @The Dangerman: That’s when I started coming here too. A month or 2 before that I had no idea what a Blog was. I was an Obot starting in 2004, and the Hillary/Barack bloody primary inspired my handle ScreamingInAtlanta. Thought that shit would never end.

    Well done John – your past is out there for all to see, as well as your true political, and moral, reincarnation.

  166. 166.

    Cassidy

    @Mark S.: Not sure if he killed himself or not. He may have, as he was in a real dark place over his son and losing any custody rights, etc. If he did, his close friends and family kept it very hush.

  169. 169.

    schrodinger's cat

    Congratulations! Came to Balloon Juice via a link from Sully during the 2008 elections, smart commentary, snarky comments and Tunch, what’s not to love.

  170. 170.

    Jc

    I really do like this place a lot. My favorite place for discussion of political stuff, because of the ‘say whatever the hell you want’ mainly.

    I go on commenting spurts, but I’ve been around awhile. Always good to come back and read – do thanks for the blog Cole!

  171. 171.

    Darnell From LA

    Hey John, you have often said you wish your archives from 2003 though 2006 would just disappear. Well, what better way to celebrate your 10th anniversary than with a “system problem” that does just that?

    Just think, posts like this would be gone forever:

    March 22nd 2003
    Advice to ‘Peace’ Protestors
    by John Cole
    From Frank J.:
    Well, apparently it doesn’t matter how dirty, smelly, and annoying you are, you can’t stop the American war machine (a good lesson for both hippies and the French).

    or…

    March 21st 2003
    Why We Will Win
    by John Cole
    British Army Doctor, Lt. Col. Lesley Lintonbon, from East Devon, England, explains the activities of the Intensive Care Unit of the 33 Field Hospital near Um Al Aish, Kuwait, 80 km north of Kuwait city.

    Or this one….

    March 21st 2003
    F— Off, Frenchie
    by John Cole
    Jacques Chirac has clearly taken leave of his senses:
    French President Jacques Chirac said Friday that France would not go along with a new United Nations resolution allowing the United States and Britain to administer postwar Iraq.
    The French president said at a European Union summit he would “not accept” a resolution that “would legitimize the military intervention [and] would give the belligerents the powers to administer Iraq.”
    “That would justify the war after the event,” Chirac told reporters.
    He probably wants Mugabe or TotalFinaElf to administer Iraq.

    C’,mon John, let’s do it. A Trojan virus, a worm, and viola! It’s like it never happened. Let make it happen. C’mon, man, live a little.

    But seriously, happy anniversary.

  172. 172.

    handy

    @Anne Laurie:

    Funny I discovered this place right around that time. My typical fix was: Kos->Sadly No->Atrios->Edroso->Hilzoy. GOS commenters kept linking here, and now with rare exception I never go anywhere else

  175. 175.

    Kola Noscopy

    Cole, the lowest and strangest period on BJ was clearly the bizarro era during which a number of codependent weirdo commenters who have boundary issues began referring to you and ACL as the “daddy” and “mommy” of Balloon Juice. They would express that when you and ACL were having issues it felt as though “mommy and daddy were fighting.”

    WHAT THE FUCK?

  178. 178.

    Kola Noscopy

    @MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson:

    SM may have a child with Tim Tebow, but it cannot be denied that he is obviously a closeted homosexual. My god, have you listened to the man in an interview? He was going over the Pittsburg game for reporters yesterday and swishing up a storm. Off the field, Tebow makes ME look butch.

    So welcome to the family, Tim Tebow.

  179. 179.

    Polar Bear Sqaures

    Congrats Mr. Cole. You probably don’t know me or give the slightest crap but I’ve been coming here for a good four years now and I enjoy your analysis and occasional profanity very much.

    You cuss like you’re related to me.

  180. 180.

    DCLaw1

    Looking forward to Mitt’s speech Monday in South Carolina honoring Robert E. Lee’s birthday. He’ll relate a story about how he was a “rebel” in his youth, yuk yuk yuk.

  182. 182.

    schrodinger's cat

    Tunch FTW! Thanks John, you have made my day, Good night, fellow jackals, or is it hyenas?

  183. 183.

    Sledge Hammer

    Roll Tunch! Dominates opponent in Food Bowl… again! Really enjoying reading ‘Balloon Juice: The Wingnut Years’. Ooooooh! Just got to a post titled ‘Ann Coulter, goddesspundit…’!

  184. 184.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:

    Very true. Looking at the sites I hit regularly, they all have active comments (except Fallows): BJ, TNC, Pierce, Booman, TPM, GOS. Even ginandtacos. The ones without commenters are trending to the bottom of my list.

    The only regular place I go that does not have comments is The Rude Pundit. I wish my local paper’s web pages did not have comment sections, since those really bring out the crazies, which in turn scares me when I realize that those crazy people could be close by.

  188. 188.

    some guy

    it’s the inane blathering of the Center Right Fight Club regulars amongst the commentariat (roughly 78%, give or take a cornerstone) here that keeps me laughing and keeps me visiting this blog, and the quality frontpagers coming up with witty bon mots that makes each visit worth it.

    happy anniversary.

  190. 190.

    Kola Noscopy

    @Cat Lady:

    I laugh, I cry, I learn stuff. This place has been my home within my home for about 4 years now because John went towards the light, and brought all these great minds with him, and his little dog too.

    You see, people? THIS is the crazy kind of get a life, wtf? codependent shit I’m talking about.

  191. 191.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Kola Noscopy:

    Cole, the lowest and strangest period on BJ was clearly the bizarro era during which a number of codependent weirdo commenters who have boundary issues began referring to you and ACL as the “daddy” and “mommy” of Balloon Juice. They would express that when you and ACL were having issues it felt as though “mommy and daddy were fighting.”

    I thought those comments were snark myself.

  193. 193.

    Little Boots

    congratulations, John, I know you won’t talk to me, but I like you. I like that you did this.

    You have an awesome site.

    congrats.

  194. 194.

    trollhattan

    Congrats on a decade, even if it sneaked past until somebody yelled something. And a Kevin K sighting to boot–will wonders nevah cease!

    Now go give Tunch a wheel of edam for the celebration.

  195. 195.

    dogwood

    Congratulations. You deserve this love-fest. And thanks, to the great FPers too. Just think Cole, by bringing these people on board you have become a “job creator”

    And thank you to all the people who comment here regularly. You are a smart, funny, tough, good- hearted group of assholes. So in honor of Mitt’s NH victory, I’ll quote his prophet, Brigham Young — “This is the place.”

  196. 196.

    RossInDetroit

    Since we’re letting it all hang out I have to confess I don’t get the Tunch worship. I like cats. Some of my best friends, etc. But why such a big deal over an obstinate, obese feline who periodically flays Cole to within an inch…
    Okay. I get it now.

  202. 202.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    A relatively recent (last 12 months or so) visitor to this temple of Tunch. Was a regular at GOS and Atrios (not as much any more), and have been looking for a snarky unique crowd since Steve Gilliard and Billmon.

    Anyway, enough of my bullshit, happy anniversary!

  209. 209.

    Redshift

    Thanks for setting up a place that had evolved into just the right sort of hangout when I became an fdl refugee. Even on days when I don’t get around to posting much, I’m nearly always here.

  211. 211.

    Tim P.

    Been lurking here since the days John was linked as the relatively reasonable conservative of his day.. posting very occasionally throughout. I was about 20 then and I have to say this website, it’s front pagers, commenters and links have probably done more to shape my political worldview than any other source. Scary, isn’t it?

  212. 212.

    Irony Abounds

    John Cole on October 27, 2004 (typos from the original post):

    At any rate, I normally vote 40-50% Republican, 25% libertarian, 25% Democratic. Not this year. Every Democrat is guilty as far as I am concerened. YOu chose this man, you live with him. I refuse to reward the behavior I have seen over the past four years.

    I did, however, vote for John Perdue (D), for State Treasurer. He is just too fundamentally decent a man to punish, and would have been governor (wiith my suppoert) three times over had the monied fratboys that run our state Democratic party not blocked his candidacy every year.

    The rest of the Democrats- to hell with them. Guilt by association works for me.”

    Amazing how the worm turns.

  213. 213.

    General Stuck

    @SIA:

    Hi SIA!. Charlie is doing very well, and just finished racing around the apartment like some kind of wild thing. I play Godzilla and shuffle along waving my arms to get it started.

  215. 215.

    handy

    Those Primary days were a riot, a real watershed in the lib blogs. Up to that point everybody was pretty much united in utter disgust with Emperor Dumbass. Hilary-Obama happened and people went nuts. Man, good times.

  216. 216.

    phoebes-in-santa fe

    Congratulations on making 10 years, John. And I’m glad we Democrats have contributed to the blog’s success by posting literate and funny, and often obscene replies. Great blog.

    I came here in 2008 because I was looking for something like the late, great Steve Gilliard’s blog, which was the best combination of politics and history I’ve ever read. I could only hope that Steve was looking down and somehow knew that Obama won and that we finally had a black president.

    Oh, and by the way, I was looking through my copy of the pet calendar – “Alice Obama” and “Robin Obama”, my “Obama twins” are in the April page – and who do I see on every page but TUNCH. He was always difficult to miss because of his size and that fact that he was always the only unidentified animal on each page. John, the cat is one fine specimen. We may tease you and Drum about your cats, but their general fineness keeps them from being described as “Republican Fat Cats”.

    Keep on keepin’ on, Cole.

  220. 220.

    RossInDetroit

    One more thing to thank Cole for. I followed a link from here to Benen at the WaMo and have been reading him daily for quite a while. To the extent that I can keep up with him that is.

    I appreciate the connection as one of many ways that BeeJay has expanded my horizons.

  222. 222.

    FormerSwingVoter

    @Tim P.:

    I have to say this website, it’s front pagers, commenters and links have probably done more to shape my political worldview than any other source. Scary, isn’t it?

    Wow. That might be the most frightening thing I’ve ever read.

  226. 226.

    Brandon

    Congratulations on the anniversary. I didn’t know what a nut job you were back then though until I looked at the archives just now and realized that one of your very first posts was making fun of the death of Buddy, the Clinton’s dog that got ran over by a car. Because I did not read you before the conversion, I just took your word for how much you have changed. But I have to admit, that was pretty low. I stopped reading the archives there, on Jan. 4, 2002, because I was afraid of what I would find next.

  228. 228.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @Little Boots: ABL and Cole had a falling out. I’ll leave it at that. There’s a link to her own blog in the blogroll on the right margin.

  230. 230.

    Redshift

    Oh, apropos of nothing, I heard the most amazing malapropism at a meeting tonight:

    “We have to get our own house of cards in order.”

  237. 237.

    Calming Influence

    10 years. That’s 70 in blogyears. Which means you’re probably only days away from senility and uncontrolled drooling. Good times!

  239. 239.

    Angela

    Congrats on the anniversary! And thanks for the picture of Tunch. I mostly lurk, comment when I have something to add, this blog is a daily read for me, and sometimes several times a day when I ‘m looking for some sanity. I’ll leave it at that.

  240. 240.

    Poopyman

    Well shit, 230+ comments already, so somebody’s probably already pointed out that just because you die doesn’t mean the blog goes down too, monkey-boy.

    Also too, just because you are full of shit doesn’t mean you aren’t also the greatest thing ever at the same time.

    So Happy Belated, and thank FSM for all the co-bloggers! It’d be a LOT less lively without all-a yinz.

  241. 241.

    Little Boots

    I don’t know why, that pisses me off.

    I mean, John can do what he wants, obviously, but still, what the hell did he do to piss off ABL?

  242. 242.

    Alison

    Happy 10th, John and BJ! As a West Coaster, I appreciate this blog for having late night posts with generally active comment threads. I don’t comment a lot but I like having amusing shit to read at midnight when the 99% of the internet that lives in NY is in bed.

  243. 243.

    srv

    @Little Boots: Shit, 1/3 the commenters stormed off saying they were done with masogynist Greenwald fellating Cole, 1/3 cheered, and 1/3 rolled their eyes and said “no one could have predicted.”

    Roll back a week and read the 1000 comment posts, pick a side.

  244. 244.

    handy

    @Little Boots:

    I assume you mean the ABL thing? Look man, all you gotta do is search back a few days and you will find a lot of caring. So much caring you won’t know what to do with it. I suspect people are all cared out right now.

    Meanwhile, enjoy a video.

  247. 247.

    Birthmarker

    I came to reading political blogs while looking for Katrina pics in September 2005. Started with
    GOS. I guess someone linked here and I followed. JC was a dem by that time. (I don’t read conservative blogs on general principal.)

    I think JC running a few golden oldies is a great idea. The roof, nude mopping, getting Lily, the shoulder injury, Shiavo.

    The personal aspect of the place is its charm.

  249. 249.

    Gretchen D

    I’m pretty old and my daughter said, “You should check out some blogs – try Balloon Juice.” So, I’ve been lurking for maybe 3 years and it’s great here! I even branch out and check out a few other blogs now. Keep up the good work.

  250. 250.

    Little Boots

    @gwangung:

    I think I remember that.

    but, well, whatever, just wish they had not had that falling out. but it is what it is.

    just sorry about it.

  253. 253.

    General Stuck

    @Emerald:

    Brane salve. Forgot what it was like to exist and not wonder what someone said about what I just said on the internet.

  257. 257.

    Donut

    Congrats on year ten, Cole. I didn’t know of you until you had your infamous mea culpa moment re: Iraq, and even after I read that, I was still kinda like, “yeah, you fucked that up but good, nice for you that you finally figured it out.” But I still think that took a lot of guts to lay it out like that, when so many others just pretended like their own support for Bush and the invasion never existed.

    It took me awhile to start coming here on a regular basis, and even longer to start commenting…and you’re right, no one gives a shit about anything I have to say most of the time. And that’s just dandy by me. I love that you have open comments, and I don’t fucking care if anyone replies to my comments. I just like throwing in my two cents, and I’m too damn lazy to try to start my own blog (and you know, wife, kids and job all kinda come first for me).

    Anyway, in the time I’ve been reading your blog, not one of the front pagers has ever been boring, and even very few of the commenters are truly boring, as well. Yours is the only blog where I actually read comments. Your trolls are interesting, even. Many times I have slammed my laptop cover shut in disgust after reading some shit here, both from front pagers and commenters, but still, I love reading all of it – trolls and smart-asses and assholes and jerks, balanced by a healthy dose of people who are just really damn smart and astute. Basically, what I’m saying is, I hope you keep BJ going for as long as you enjoy it, and since ABL left (again) it seems like you have a new wind in your sails, and you are posting more, which is cool. Keep doing that. You’re a good read most of the time. Fuck off now, I’m going to bed.

  258. 258.

    Jay C

    Congrats on the anniversary, John! TEN years? what did you post the first diaries on, a linotype?

    Anyway, sorry-ass place as the blogosphere is most of the time, it would most certainly be considerably sorrier without Balloon Juice. Keep up the good work!

    J

  259. 259.

    dead existentialist

    Congrats, John and Co. I can’t remember when I discovered this place, but I come here daily. It’s become my go-to place after Wonkette opened its comment section and that area of the blog went to hell. (I suspect some of the old timers there found refuge here, the commatariat is that good on occasion.) Right on, brother.

    Yea!

  260. 260.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Democrats want in my bedroom to put those goofy handicapped bars around my toilet and to make sure my bed and desk are OSHA compliant.

    OK, now admit it. Those goofy handicapped bars come in handy after you’ve watched Tebow humiliate your Steelers, amirite?

    Also, that OSHA compliance stuff? Makes it so Tunch doesn’t pick up your desk and wail you with it when you’re late with a feeding.

    Oh, and congratulations on ten years of blogging. Even if the during the first few you were under the influence of the Dark Side.

  263. 263.

    pseudonymous in nc

    If I had any advice for anyone starting out blogging, I would say have a comments section. Otherwise, you don’t have a blog, you have some vanity website, and really, no one gives a shit about you.

    I’d amend the first sentence to “have a comments section and give a shit about it.” A blog where the proprietor clearly regards comments as MOAR PAGEVIEWS and nothing else is the suckiest of all.

    Congrats on making the decade, John.

  264. 264.

    dogwood

    @Birthmarker:

    Anyone who didn’t read Cole when he was a wingnut, needs to check out the Schiavo posts. During that fiasco everyone knew he was going to cut the cord, and it was fun to drop by each day to see if he had done it.

  266. 266.

    p.a.

    I like it here. Thank you and congrats. Even though there are other blogs I frequent and enjoy,this is the only blog I regularly comment at. Despite my presence, the Kommentariat here is consistently high-level.

    Are there any regulars around from John’s right-wing days? Are they now trolls under various pseudonyms? Or have they fallen by the wayside?

  268. 268.

    Tim F.

    You are too kind, John. As I recall you took me on as a one-finger salute to guys like Ricky and Darrell who were giving you grief for losing the faith in late ’04. The general message was, you guys don’t like my writing? Meet the new guy.

    It always struck me how John, a republican for some years yet, saw virtually everything eye to eye with an unreconstructed loony liberal like me. I really mean everything. In years of blogging and IM I can remember almost nothing that we disagreed about in any major way.

    John deserves miles of credit for his hands-off comments and coblogger policy. Nobody that I read with any regularity gives criticism a fair hearing or acknowledges his own fallibility like John does. Lord knows that includes me.

    My personal high points: winning the weblog awards in ’07. The backstory there was way more awesome than you’d think. I still feel a little bad that the guys at the Jawa Report got dinged on our behalf. You guys all stepping up to help make the health care bill happen. Lily rehabiliting John and vice-versa. And also everything else. Here’s hoping for ten more.

  269. 269.

    suzanne

    Happy anniversary. :)

    Mr. Suzanne told me about Balloon Juice on our first date. (Yes, we discussed what blogs we read. I know. We’re totally awesome.) He’s been reading for eight years, though he rarely comments, and I’ve been reading for four. I knew that he was my kinda person once I checked this place out. Maybe that’s why I love it so much, even when y’all discuss football, which makes me want to eat a bullet.

  271. 271.

    Mary G

    Nothing new to add, but thanks for a place where smart people can make smartass remarks at will. May you have ten years more and more beyond that. Also, more Tunch, Lily and Rosie photos, please.

  272. 272.

    Xenos

    Thinking back on how I started wandering over here… I think it was TPM, then Atrios (soon abandoned), Alterman (for the Charlie Pierce), then SadlyNo, the BJ. It was the fights back in 2005 between DougJ and a host of trolls that got me hooked. Most fun spot in the blogosphere, consistently so for at least 6 years.

    Someone needs to track down some of those right-wing characters – TallDave, Stormy70, Darrel (actually, let’s not), and the very funny collection of commentators who took them on. I don’t know if it is fair to give this site credit for Scrutator.com, but that was brilliant, too.

  273. 273.

    FlipYrWhig

    Congrats, Cole. I think I only started coming here partway through 2008 after souring on Kos and Atrios. My original circuit was the Jesse Taylor Pandagon, Sadly No, and World O’ Crap, but the latter two scaled back production and the Amanda Marcotte Pandagon is interesting and all but not fun to participate in comments. So y’all are stuck with me, bitches. XD

  274. 274.

    Genine

    Wow! Ten years. I’ve only been around less than half that time. But all of it has been great. It’s like pizza that way.

    Anyway, congratulations to you, John, and the rest of us who found a home here on the internet!

  275. 275.

    handsmile

    Arriving late to this party, and all the absinthe is gone, but I still want to join in for another rendition of “For he’s a jolly good fellow.”

    For you are indeed, John Cole (and only nobodies would deny), for establishing and nurturing this website that offers such savvy, snark and solace to so many. On your dispirited days, I hope that realization brings you some measure of satisfaction.

    It’s been a pleasure (mostly) to have been a passenger here (for the past two years, and I look forward to the sights ahead.

    Congratulations on your achievement! Skoal!

  276. 276.

    Cassidy

    @p.a.: Not really. Most of the commenters back then were still center left. The most notable conservative commenter was Ricky West of North Georgia Dogma. But that was also back in the day when we all thought we could have a reasonable conversation and agree to disagree. We were all so naive back then.

  278. 278.

    Calming Influence

    Also too, John,

    Thanks for not dicking around with the site design every 2 years and pissing us all off (pissing all of us off?);

    Thanks for generally staying out of the comments (better to remain silent and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and confirm it.);

    Thanks for elevating my Ducks vs. Penguins comment to the Hall of Fame status it deserved;

    Thanks for your faith that any day now WordPress will be the perfect blog host, so it would be stupid to switch now;

    FYWP.

  279. 279.

    gwangung

    John deserves miles of credit for his hands-off comments and coblogger policy. Nobody that I read with any regularity gives criticism a fair hearing or acknowledges his own fallibility like John does.

    And that’s the real secret.

    Not of being a top flight blogger. Of being a human being.

  281. 281.

    Yutsano

    @Anne Laurie:

    underblogging at ABL’s site, as well as her own

    Actually, wifey hung up her keyboard a couple months back. Turns out she was getting too many other gigs (including Imani’s) and decided to call it an Internet.

  282. 282.

    cbear

    I’ve been hanging around this joint for 7 or 8 years now and I consider the place home even when I just lurk for lenthy periods of time.
    Thanks John, thanks very much.

    cbear

  283. 283.

    gaz

    Yay 10 years. Thanks John.

    You’re an ass sometimes, but somehow I love you just the same. Or maybe it’s Tunch.

    Anyway, seriously your blog is one of my favorites. Thanks. You do great things with your corner of the Internet. I’ll keep coming back, even when I hate you. Because I love you.*

    *I’m too lazy to stalk you, so don’t worry. I’m mostly harmless.

  284. 284.

    Gustopher

    How much did Tunch weigh 10 years ago? Actually, how old is Tunch, was there even a Tunch that long ago?

  285. 285.

    HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist

    I read this thing every fucking day at least twice, and I don’t know why except that there’s a perfect blend here of political snark and animal pictures, with oddball detours into books, videogames, cooking, and drinking.

    Okay, I just figured it out, apparently. This is the only blog that perfectly reflects my own loser interests. Cheers to you, John — one satisfied customer for about 4+ years!

  286. 286.

    srv

    @Cassidy: Mac Buckets, Cold Fury, TallDave, and even Darrell on a good day could be friendly. TallDave was at Dean Esmays for awhile, and I found him a couple years back, but can’t remember where (mostly sports blogging I think).

    BTW, Gary Farber started at exactly the same time as John did. Gary was probably the lone liberal who fought it out here for a year or two before the rest of us piled on.

  287. 287.

    Jebediah

    Thanks for the great blog, JC. 99 44/100ths of my blog-reading time is here these days. Got here pretty late – not too much before Rosie came along. It might have been the Rosie dramas that lured me in, with the variety and quality of both FP’ers and commenters sealing the deal. Watching the experts troll-punch is a nice bonus, too.

  288. 288.

    BGinCHI

    Late to the party, the bar is closed, everybody is loaded, and I forgot to bring a date.

    Happy anniversary, folks. Lots of love here amongst the ruins.

  290. 290.

    BGinCHI

    @Yutsano: He’s asleep, so I tiptoed over here with my party hat on. Oddly quiet.

    Is it bad form to just finish whatever drinks are lying around?

  291. 291.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Just want to add my voice to the chorus on what a great blog this is. The best, Jerry, the best! Like a lot of others, I came here in ’08 for the politics and stayed for the pets and the bad ’80s music videos. This is my home on the Web.

  293. 293.

    Jebediah

    @BGinCHI:
    Well, I’m still sober, and feeling miffed you didn’t use my suggested baby name. Buy me a drink and I’ll get over it really quick.

  294. 294.

    Yutsano

    @BGinCHI:

    Is it bad form to just finish whatever drinks are lying around?

    It’s not if you mix them all in a Solo cup then chug. Otherwise it could be mooching. :)

  296. 296.

    Jebediah

    @BGinCHI:
    I’m just going to take that as a win and studiously avoid knowing how many suggestions there were. “Top 100” sounds better than “30th out of 20.”
    And anyway, it looks like the name you chose fits him better than Roxocrates would have. My neighbors didn’t go for it either – they went with Zoe. And my other neoghbors went with Madelyn instead. Yes, I do see the pattern…

  299. 299.

    ruemara

    Happy Frackin’ Birthday, Balloon Juice. I left the cesspits of craiglist WaPoFo for this. Lurked on Kos but didn’t really want to get back into the elbows and right hooks of comments. But this place had a nice population, a good blend of sourced posts and baked goods from Jeffryw. Speaking of which, have some freaking cake. Congrats, fucker. Long may you et al gripe.

  301. 301.

    Down and Out of Sài Gòn

    Congratulations to ten years of Balloon Juice, the only American blog I now read with any regularity. I discovered this place in 2007 or so, and kept reading. For several reasons, I lost interest in the other US bloggers in the interim. Some got “co opted”, the firebagger wars bored me to tears, and the “single sentence post: 367 comments” format never interested me.

    I’ll give a shout out to Steve Gilliard – the only other blogger from the US of A who I could see myself reading every day in this Year of our Lord 2012. Alas, he passed away in 2007. RIP, Steve.

    I don’t know what mojo this site has going (“Is it the dog pictures, the cat pictures or the snark?”), but never lose it, John. Good on ya.

  302. 302.

    c u n d gulag

    John,
    CONGRATULATIONS!
    I go back to when you still leaned Conservative.
    But you’ve grown up, and so has this site – which is one of great ones.

    I may not comment often. But I read every day.

    May the FSM keep the wind beneath your wings, and the spaghetti al dente.

  303. 303.

    harlana

    10 years! WOW! Who knew?

    So glad you came over from the dark side and started this blog, not necessarily in that same order!

    Thanks for all you do, it’s the only blog I visit and read regularly and I used to be a real blog whore.

  305. 305.

    harlana

    such a great place to do my early morning rants, complete with every expletive available to my caffienated brain, which is great since nobody is around at that time

    that alone makes this blog the best in the biz!

  306. 306.

    WereBear

    Congrats! Also, too, TUNCHIIEEE! (What’s funny is that I would never yell at a cat in person.)

    I picked the wrong night to crash early because of lingering flu.

    Still, I can thank you for your cranky beneficence. Found you after W won the second time and I was desperately trying to figure out why. Stayed for… everything.

  310. 310.

    Ben Cisco

    I came over from a link at the GOS, and never left.
    __
    Congrats for the ten-year milestone, and more importantly, for leaving the dark side.

  311. 311.

    Platonicspoof

    Congratulations, and more importantly, thanks to you, all the front pagers and the commentariat for the time and effort.

    And Tunch too, and the puppies, etc., but must post this before it becomes the 316th comment.

  312. 312.

    Waldo

    My oh my, how time does fly. I still remember the life-changing moment I happened upon this wonderful site. Seems like only yesterday, but it was easily two weeks ago.

  315. 315.

    Starfish

    I have been around since the time I tried to balance my political reading by reading blogs that were on the right, left, and center. I think this blog was in the center then. Now, it is the first blog I read every day and probably one of the only political blogs I read. I would have cried at the state of politics if you guys were not here to make me laugh.

  316. 316.

    Biff Longbotham

    Congrats, John (and company)!! You were interesting to read back in those dark days of 2002-2006, even if I didn’t agree with your war drum banging. This blog is an example of what the best of the intertrons could be. Alright, enough of the schmaltz. Let’s all get back to work keeping the forces of darkness at bay. Keep telling it like it is!

  317. 317.

    Gus

    @Starfish: I was on the same mission and found this blog as part of the right blogosphere via the Daou Report from Salon. The move to this being more of a left blog wasn’t yet complete. And there was beer blogging, which I miss.

  319. 319.

    Trinity

    I love this place. I have hung around here longer than any other site on these old intertubes. Thanks for letting us play here with you John. I’m shocked we haven’t burnt the joint down yet.

    Many congrats on making it to 10 years! You’ve obviously done something right.

    Also, too.

  321. 321.

    Paul in KY

    Congrats, John. Glad you had your ‘On the Road to Damascus’ moment back then. Hope you continue on for many years.

    All hail Tunch!

  322. 322.

    Amir Khalid

    Came upon this post a little late. (Yes, it does seem like I’m here 24/7, as someone told me; but I do have to eat and sleep at some point in the diurnal cycle, betul tak?) Tahniah atas ulangtahun Balloon Juice yang kesepuluh, John Cole.

    I came here a few years ago … from Swampland, if I recall, following a few regular commenters there who had migrated here. Lurked for many months, until I saw Yutsano mistranslate a phrase from my native Malay. Then I just had to start commenting, didn’t I? Love this place, hope you keep it going forever.

  323. 323.

    canuckistani

    That’s been a crazy ten years. But when hasn’t there been a crazy ten years? Congratulations, John.

  325. 325.

    bemused

    I love this blog. I didn’t read from the beginning but I gather that it has undergone an interesting evolution over the years. I don’t remember when I discovered BJ but I was hooked on reading it daily from the start.
    I did briefly check out some of the earliest posts and I have a question. John, do you still read James Lileks and think he is a genius? I have tried periodically to read Lileks but he bores me to yawns. I still don’t get why he is supposedly so popular. John, you are authentically funny, intentionally or not, and never boring.

  326. 326.

    hamletta

    Congratulations, Cole!

    I’ve been reading since pretty early on, as you were one of the few right wing bloggers who weren’t paste-eating morons. Or maybe you were the only one.

    Anyway, this has become my online hang.

    Here’s to you, your co-bloggers, and the critters. L’chaim!

  329. 329.

    qwerty42

    Congratulations to John and the others. I’ve been reading since – oh – probably 2005 (GG always had good words for you) and remember the great volte-face. I am sure it was painful for you, but am happy to have you over here (BTW, you did get all those Soros-bucks didn’t you?). I enjoy the blog.
    best.

  330. 330.

    tkogrumpy

    Geez, Cole you should stand farther back when you take a picture of Tunch. That feline may explode at any minute.

  332. 332.

    muddy

    @MacKenna:
    I know someone who swears by the trough feeding method for cats. He says they have lost weight, says because they don’t feel food-insecure. I say they probably don’t eat as it is stale and dusty. Still, they are thinner.

    I give mine a measured amount (1/2 cup per day), there has been some weight loss, not as much as the sad trough cats. Still, I am careful to be sure there is food in the bowl when I go to bed, else a furry arm will slide under the covers and cut me under my toes.

    Tunch looks like he enjoys cutting peeps, also possibly smothering them. His trough is not working, maybe it is not big enough.

  334. 334.

    dance around in your bones

    Well, here I am at the bottom of a dead thread, wishing you diez años mas. This is a great site you run, John Cole, and I am very grateful for it.

    And to all a good site!

  335. 335.

    kc

    @MikeJ:

    I have the sense that the commenters helped, um, steer Cole away from his misguided Republican sympathies. When I first read this blog (drawn here by Cole’s commenting on a skirmish between Goldstein and Thersites of WhiskeyFire), my impression was that most of the commenters were liberal-leaning, which was unusual for a conservative blog.

    I remember saying something to the effect that the BJ commenters were too good for John Cole. I take that back. Also, too, I remember calling Cole an “asshole” one of the first times I commented here. I take that back too (even though he was having a bad day). Cole has become one of my favorite bloggers. It’s a shame he abandoned blogging for Twitter . . .

  337. 337.

    pat

    Well, here once again am I with probably the last comment on this 24 hour birthday bash.

    I found this blog a few months ago and it has become my favorite time-waster. Always interesting posts, and the commenters are superb. I always learn something.

    Now I simply MUST start that vaccuming. Or something.

    And yes, that looks like a LOT of kibble.

  339. 339.

    xaneroxane

    Well then, Happy (Belated) Birthday! I also found myself directed here via GOS back in 2007, and now, it’s my regular stop. I’m a composition lecturer in the tropical South, and we have an assignment for which I think this blog would be perfect; BJ and its commentariat is a great, complex illustration of philosopher Kwame Appiah’s idea of cosmopolitanism via conversation. Maybe someday I’ll email you, Cole, with questions for a journal article… Thanks especially for Tom Levenson with the inspiring writing-related posts, and of course, thanks for Tim F., Angry DougJ, Anne Laurie, Dengre, Kay, Randaho, Mistermix, ABL, Zandar, Soonergrunt, SteveM (a new one for me), EDKain, and anyone else I’ve forgotten. And as always, thanks for you, JC–you’re the absolute best!

  340. 340.

    Caravelle

    Almost-constant reader, infrequent commenter here : I love your blog John Cole, your co-bloggers are pretty cool too, keep it up and happy 10th anniversary !

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