Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

The revolution will be supervised.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The words do not have to be perfect.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Let’s finish the job.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Gawker‘s “Least Important Writers of 2013”

Open Thread: Gawker‘s “Least Important Writers of 2013”

by | 76 Comments

This post is in: ,

Note: I pulled & rescheduled this post when I saw I’d bigfooted the Bloghost. It mysteriously returned to the front page — so I rescheduled it, again. And it came back, while the Bloghost’s post… has gone into scheduling mode.

Either this is Cole’s idea of politeness, or FYWP has developed semi-sentience. Merry Whatevs.
***********

Sure, everybody knows Richard Cohen/Tom Friedman/Malcolm Gladwell will take full honors, but Nick Denton’s intertoob parasites go the extra mile to spotlight the deservedly undeserving:

… Dylan Byers, a staff typist at The Politico, has been called, by this very website, the “dumbest media-news reporter in the business,” the “world’s grossest reporter,” and “worthless.” It isn’t that we believe he’s a nefariously intentioned individual, it’s just that the former Adweek word-stringer is astoundingly clueless. Is it the way he frequently, and publicly, struggles with basic reading comprehension? Or the way he acts like the most insipid observations are astounding revelations? Or is the way that his first-draft sentences flow as gracelessly as phlegm—and he never bothers to clean up his writing?
He seems like a nice guy. Too bad Bazooka Joe wrappers have more insight….

… The grumpy old man of turn-of-the-century warblogging, Andrew Sullivan still has his fans. But having bounced his blog around from TIME to The Atlantic to the Daily Beast to its current “paywall” site run by Sullivan himself, the declining returns of his particular brand of preachy warmongering, apologies for warmongering, jabbering about Catholicism and complaining about New York City have been revealed. Just 30,880 people had subscribed to his Daily Dish as of November 1. Sullivan’s “Mini-Me,” Ross Douthat, put the nail in the coffin this summer when he named Sullivan “the most influential political writer of his generation.”

Less important than: Ross Douthat….

Buuuuurrrrn!

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  3. 3.

    Violet

    Someone linked that earlier and I spent awhile trolling through it. I hadn’t even heard of several of the “online magazines” (if that’s what they’re called) where these people write. Thought Catalog? xoJane? Never heard of them. Hilarious that Andrew Sullivan is included. Didn’t he have to start taking ads earlier this year?

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    OT, but more from Noisemax:

    Chris Christie Faces History of Bullying, Petty Attacks

    The knives are out for Governor Toecheese.

  6. 6.

    Schlemizel

    @Violet:

    poor, poor, pitiful L’ll Andy he only has a couple more than 30,000 people stupid enough to pay him for the privilege of reading the shit that he routinely excretes on them. He has so over-played his attempt to be one of the VSP that only the bottom of the barrel want to read it.

    He’ll be turning tricks in the bus station men’s room soon if there is any justice in the world.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    I pulled & rescheduled this post when I saw I’d bigfooted the Bloghost.

    When I first saw it, Cole’s post appeared above yours.

  8. 8.

    Anne Laurie

    @John Cole: Merry Xmas to you, too.

    Nothing in my post couldn’t wait until the late hours, but Steve pictures are always a joy, and I hope the early-to-bed commentors get a chance to enjoy them for once!

  14. 14.

    Linkmeister

    I often sneer at Sullivan’s output and his opinion, but he’s managed to persuade 30, 000+ people to pay him for that stuff. That may not be at Palin’s level of grifting (and anyway, Sullivan believes what he writes, I think, unlike Palin) but it still ain’t cheddar. $800K in revenue is about $790K more than I’ve had this year. So he gets credit for a good sales pitch and opinions some folk find appealing from me.

  15. 15.

    raven

    @Cassidy: I’ve never been able to get interested. My pal that is now in China as trainer with the Bejing Ducks CBA team loves it but he has a background in Aikido and stuff like that.
    eta I assume you mean MMA?

  18. 18.

    Steve S

    Matthew Yglesias is not so much a writer as a dada thought experiment: What if Andy Rooney was a private-schooled trust-funder who was paid to cross-post Yelp reviews on Slate and interpret Thomas Friedman for D.C.-based millennials with bachelors’ degrees?

    Less important than: Andy Rooney’s rant against bottled water.

    ouch.

  19. 19.

    Cassidy

    @raven: Yeah, but I’ll watch any martial arts/ combat sports on television from boxing to kickboxing, sambo, jiu jitsu tourneys, amateur wrestling, etc. Hell, I’ll even watch the 3 man MMA matches and the crazy Russian shit that’s part obstacle course part team MMA competition.

  20. 20.

    jl

    Balloon-Juice posts are scheduled? I didn’t expect to be exposed to organized activity of that nature at this blog.
    The gardening, food and recipe, and health economics posts excepted, but I thought they were exceptions, permitted due to certain eccentricities of their authors, namely being organized enough to do regular posts on well defined topics.

    Anyway, I am shocked. And amazed and surprised.

  21. 21.

    Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler)

    @John Cole: @Baud: @Anne Laurie:

    Either this is Cole’s idea of politeness, or FYWP has developed semi-sentience.

    Right after Raven posted the lyrics to Saint Stephen, the blog site seemed to shimmer, and looked sorta purple. I heard wind chimes, but the phase [of] their sound seemed …shifted. One could suggest it was just me, but everything else around me was unchanged.

    Probably a good thing Raven didn’t continue with the words of The Eleven.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler):

    the blog site seemed to shimmer, and looked sorta purple. I heard wind chimes, but the phase their sound seemed …shifted.

    Wait till you see Cole’s post. The photos of Steve are well-lit and in-focus.

    It was freaky.

    ETA: And it’s up.

  25. 25.

    cokane

    @Schlemizel: you mean the privilege of reading his blockquoting of what someone else wrote. It should deeply shame someone to ask for money for linking to something else on the internet, but there it is.

  29. 29.

    Violet

    @Anoniminous: Andrew Sullivan isn’t keeping all that money himself. He’s got a couple of employees, plus costs for running the site. It’s still a good income stream.

  30. 30.

    cokane

    @Anoniminous: his blog also lists 8 staffers and 3 interns, not to mention none of those listed positions are technical positions, so hes forking some of that money over to others. He’s definitely making it work, but bank is not the word I’d use.

  31. 31.

    jl

    Any BJers invited to Michelle Obama’s 50th B-day dance party? That’s what I want to know.

    And I see at TPM that Rob Ford nearly swept the Golden Duke awards. I thought that was a prize for U.S. scandals. If they’re going to let the whole world compete, the U.S. will need to step up it’s game.

    Edit: and to get beat like an old rug by Canucks, home of the Worthwhile Canadian Initiative. I fear the U.S. is losing its edge.

  32. 32.

    cokane

    @Cassidy: I guess when you get on your high horse about what constitutes “good journalism” on a semi-regular basis you should be also be capable of looking the mirror, if only for a moment.

    Furthermore, it isn’t about taking people’s money. It’s about profiteering off others’ work… key distinction here.

  34. 34.

    jl

    @cokane:

    Cassidy said “ashamed to take [money]”? wrt to U.S. media? I see those words put together, but not sure what they could mean. Ashamed to take money? What? Is that some kind of ‘green dreams furiously sleeping” philosophy puzzle, or what?

  35. 35.

    Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler)

    @raven:

    The lines; You can’t let go and you can’t hold on – you can’t go back and you can’t stand still…

    always reminds me of hearing the three Laws of Thermodynamics described:

    – You can not win.
    – You can not break even.
    – You can’t not play.

    I’m sorry I don’t know who to credit for this pithy restating.

    Some might find it discouraging but, for me, its of immeasurable comfort. A peace inducing mantra.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    Republicans are ready to offer their health care plan.

    “It’s no longer just a piece of paper that you can repeal and it goes away,” said Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and a Tea Party favorite. “There’s something there. We have to recognize that reality. We have to deal with the people that are currently covered under Obamacare.”

    “The hardest problem for us is what to do next,” Mr. Graham said. “Should we just get out of the way and point out horror stories? Should we come up with a mini Contract With America on health care, or just say generally if you give us the Congress, the House and the Senate in 2014, here’s what we will do for you on multiple issues including health care? You become a more effective critic when you say, ‘Here’s what I’m for,’ and we’re not there yet. So there’s our struggle.”

    Generally, I think Senators should refrain from opining on “their struggle”.

    OTOH, Ron Johnson sounds vaguely threatening when he talks about “dealing with” the people currently covered under Obamacare, so that’s not quite right either.

    It’s a work in progress, obviously.

  38. 38.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Peggy Noonan is one of the most incisive columnists of the 19th century.

    Best line I saw there.

  40. 40.

    Comrade Jake

    Ahm, Sullys not taking a salary in the first year. All that money’s going to staff and overhead, so far as I can tell.

    Some irony, the folks at Gawker putting a list like this together.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    It’s the essential Republican struggle: How to hurt people while getting the people to blame Democrats for being hurt.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Asked what should be done with the millions of people getting health care through the law, Senator Dan Coats, Republican of Indiana, said, “Call the White House and ask them.”

    There’s that belligerence we’ve come to know and love.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Graham thinks they can milk anti-Obamacare for one more cycle. I agree. They just have to mumble something about “across state lines” with no numbers and they’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter though, longer term. 75% of Republicans polled want it repealed. If they take the Senate they have a problem, because they will have to at least pretend to repeal it. If they don’t take the Senate they have the same problem in 2016, except it’s bigger.

  50. 50.

    jl

    @Kay
    @Baud:

    ‘ Ron Johnson sounds vaguely threatening when he talks about “dealing with” the people currently covered under Obamacare, ‘

    ‘ Asked what should be done with the millions of people getting health care through the law, Senator Dan Coats, Republican of Indiana, said, “Call the White House and ask them.” ‘

    I thought you two, of all people, would be familiar with the GOP outreach program by now. It’s a finely honed PR machine.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Open season doesn’t end until the end of March. I wonder what the final numbers will be and how that will affect election strategy.

  54. 54.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Kay:

    Darth Sidious to separatist leaders: “My apprentice, Darth Vader, is coming to…take care of you.”

  56. 56.

    Bob

    You know what’s really interesting in that article? No. I’ll tell you. Freddie DeBoer shows up in the comments. I thought he was dead, or something.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I never thought the law was particularly politically beneficial. “The uninsured” are not influential or courted. “The insured” are much louder and better represented in Congress.

    I think the only wild card there is Latinos, actually, as far as identified groups that supported the law and will probably benefit from it. I’m interested in how that plays out.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    “The uninsured” are not influential or courted.

    But people who sign up are no longer uninsured. They now have something tangible that Republicans are planning to take away.

  59. 59.

    Cassidy

    @kc: That’s funny. You’re so intent on trying to be insulting, and failing, that you just say shit without knowing what you’re even talking about. Lame and sad.

  62. 62.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    True, but I’m not convinced. I base this on SCHIP. I know how important it is to parents and one would think childrens’ health care would be politically bullet-proof, but it isn’t.
    Has SCHIP offered any particular benefit to Democrats? No, not really. It should, but it hasn’t. I see kids literally every day who would never see a doctor without it. Doesn’t matter.
    I’m curious about a lot of things, the mental health parity plus Medicaid expansion will be huge, I think. People have no earthly idea what a mess our mental health system is. We don’t have one. It’s basically cops and emergency rooms and exhausted family members. I have these ridiculous situations where I have a court order but what am I supposed to do? Talk this person into my car? Take them…where?
    I think the mental health piece might be profound, if not politically potent.

  64. 64.

    Keith P

    IIRC Byers is the main guy at Politico who posts “articles” every week or so about whatever Limbaugh says about Obama or Harry Reid on a given day.

  65. 65.

    Splitting Image

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Best line I saw there.

    It’s a great line, but I would question its accuracy. The nineteenth century would have eaten Peggy Noonan for breakfast. Her competition as an American opinion-writer would have included Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, the James brothers, and Edith Wharton.

  67. 67.

    rikyrah

    @efgoldman:
    The Democrats should definitely nationalize the election. Go to Kentucky and make ad after ad with all those working poor who now have healthcare. Ask those who are the working poor in states with GOP Governors why they shouldn’t have healthcare too

  68. 68.

    Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler)

    @Splitting Image:

    Her competition as an American opinion-writer would have included Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, the James brothers, and Edith Wharton.

    I confess to being culturally dim. Educate me please Splitt, I either recognize or know all the above – except the brothers.
    I should probably not spend the rest of my life thinking I just learned Frank & Jessy would have made a fine addition to the table at the Algonquin, no?

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    And it goes without saying that all the working poor in those Dem ads are WHITE. I stand by my belief that the non-White working poor are ABSOLUTELY CLEAR as to whom is keeping the bridge to healthcare away from them.

  73. 73.

    Cassidy

    @NotMax: hehehe. I like that. Reminds me if a comedy bit about adding extreme to everything in the 90’s. Look up Hip Show In YouTube.

  74. 74.

    Radio One

    I was surprised that Matt Yglesias made the list, since I’ve read his stuff for years during the Bush administration. Then I realized that I haven’t actually read anything he’s written for the last couple of years.

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