Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

We still have time to mess this up!

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

“They all knew.”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

No one could have predicted…

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

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

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / It Was Twenty Years Ago Today- Balloon Juice Hits 20

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today- Balloon Juice Hits 20

by | 303 Comments

This post is in: , ,

It started with this:

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.

It’s been downhill ever since.

In all seriousness, it’s been, to borrow an overused phrase, a long strange trip. And twenty years is a long long time in the digital world. We’re like the blog equivalent of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s Hollywood marriage. We’re a 21 year old dog and a 32 year old cat.

Watergirl has all sorts of fun stuff planned this week and we have a couple surprises, so stay tuned.

Reader Interactions

303Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    I saw this comment under Betty Cracker’s first post:

    The Moar You Know
    JANUARY 18, 2012 AT 4:51 PM
    You didn’t start off with a post full of rage and unsourced allegations, so you’re already off to a better start than the last socially dysfunctional malcontent front pager, so that’s a good thing. Welcome aboard!

    Was this a reference to ABL?  I’m curious what happened.*

    *I have a theory:  Greenwald sockpuppeted her out of this place.  But it’s just a theory.

    Edit:  Maybe Moar can explain.

  2. 2.

    Lapassionara

    Thank you, John Cole, for hosting this blog.  And thanks to WaterGirl for putting together a fitting celebration.

  3. 3.

    Miss Bianca

    Thank you, John!

    That first post…who could have foreseen where it was all going to go? : )

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    @John up top: This morning I came across your post from when you missed the 10th anniversary!

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

    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.

  5. 5.

    Unabogie

    Well, I’ve been a lapsed juicer, to be sure, but John is good people and this blog saved my sanity.

  6. 6.

    Jerzy Russian

    Congratulations on the millstone milestone!  I can’t recall when I first visited here (it was around the time of Terry Schaivo).  My first comment seems to have been around November of 2011.    Thanks to you and all of the other front pagers present and past who have helped keep me sane.

  9. 9.

    BSR

    Has it been THAT long?  I think I first stumbled upon BJ when it had been up and running a couple of years, but it’s hard to remember that far back.

    Many thanks to all who keep this site (and my occasional sanity) running!

  11. 11.

    zhena gogolia

    Congratulations! I’ve been here since GWB was in office (first as gogol’s wife, then I had to translate that into Russian to get rid of the apostrophe, and I know Gogol never got married, it’s a reference to a story by Tommaso Landolfi in which Gogol has an inflatable doll as a wife). This place has saved my sanity so many times.

  13. 13.

    laura

    This is a nice place full of scrappy people and their lovely pets. Also opinions- lots and lots and lots of strong opinions.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    @Unabogie:  She is adorable, and there are some great comments on that thread!

    “Holy hell. What do the tattoos look like when you shave her?”

    “I guess the bandana is more of a jumpsuit.”

    “That little chick is rough and tough and ain’t taking shit off no one. You can just tell.”

  17. 17.

    Edmund Dantes

    I was definitely hear way back.. not at the inauguration but long enough to be pre-schiavo and watch that whole thing ruin one of my best “sane” gop blogger go to’s. Thanks a lot W.

    I remember the foray into pajamas media or whatever that gop blogger group was that you were briefly part of. It’s been quite an evolution.

    Still the best community I’ve ever been pet of on the internet.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Unabogie: This comment from that thread brought me to tears.  So perfect.

    The new girl looks delightful, and somewhere, you know Fergie’s pleased that someone’s going to be taking care of his people.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: We should have a thread where everyone who has changed their nym tells us what it used to be.  And the evolution along the way… seems like it’s not uncommon for folks who change their nym once to change it more than once.

    Schlemezal had something like 5 different nyms.

  27. 27.

    Spanky

    @germy:

    Was this a reference to ABL?  I’m curious what happened.*

    *I have a theory:  Greenwald sockpuppeted her out of this place.  But it’s just a theory.

    My guess is that it’s a reference to Freddy the Boor.

  30. 30.

    BellyCat

    A decade of lurking here has permanently damaged by social graces in mixed company IRL, but buoyed my spirits during some exceptionally incomprehensible brushes with institutional power in the wrong hands.

  32. 32.

    Evinfuilt

    Thank you for being a bastion of “sanity” in those Bush years, for us recovering republicans.

  33. 33.

    Spanky

    @WaterGirl: Round about 2002 I found a tuxedo kitten, maybe 2 days old, alongside the parking lot at work. Bottle feeding ensued, and I found out the hard way that reconstituted powdered formula was prone to giving kittens severe constipation, so a few trips to the vet for a tiny, tiny enema happened. And so the name Poopyman was coined, and I stole (stool?) his ID for my nym.

    Once he passed in 2016, I felt a more serious, stately nym was called for, so I stole our boss cat’s name as my current nym.

  35. 35.

    eclare

    This blog is so much a part of my daily life it is hard to imagine life before it!  I think I started somewhere around 2007-2009, led here by Sullivan.

    A big thank you to everyone involved for keeping the wheels on.

    Weather report: 30 and sleeting in Memphis.  Snow predicted.  High yesterday was in the 70’s!

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    @Spanky: It definitely wasn’t mean as literally the person right before Betty Cracker, because that was Soonergrunt, and that comment is clearly not about Soonergrunt

    And definitely not about Angry Black Lady, who was several people before Betty Cracker.

  38. 38.

    Spanky

    @eclare: Temps here in Southern Maryland in the 60s, and the forecast has been updated to 3-6 inches of snow overnight! Gonna be a hell of a ride.

    Speaking of, has Burnsy piped up since he reported the front moving through last night?

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     

    We might find out that matoko is still here or Ted & Hellen

    If Matoko is still here, she achieved it by completely changing her posting style. I’m not usually one to complain about how much better things used to be, but we did used to get more original trolls.

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: I guess you didn’t read my warning about not conjuring up trolls by saying their names.  Or you read it and you just didn’t care!  :-)

    edit: I don’t think that person could hide under a different nym unless something drastically changed in her life.

  50. 50.

    Miss Bianca

    @BellyCat:

    A decade of lurking here has permanently damaged by social graces in mixed company IRL, but buoyed my spirits during some exceptionally incomprehensible brushes with institutional power in the wrong hands.

    Oh, ha ha, well-put, i’faith. I feel you! I too have gotten so used to verbal rough-and-tumble here that I’ve really had to learn all over again to put the bite on my cursed temper and tongue when I interact with others IRL. The other, too – I don’t know how I would have made it through the Trump Years without this place. Salut!

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: You mean when someone transitions from one nym to another?  Or remembering that PurpleGirl and WaterGirl are not the same people even though their nyms are similar?  Or remembering that x person lives in Toledo and y person lives in Kentucky?

  53. 53.

    Percysowner

    I’ve been here since 2005(?). I remember John’s rants against Cindy Sheehan, and that fits the timeline. I somehow got over here via Sully. At the time Sullivan was part of the small anti-torture Republican contingent. Later I found out that anti-torture was about the only view of his that I supported, but he led me here, so that’s one good thing from him.

    I stuck around at BJ. I only comment sporadically, but this place helps keep me sane. When the news gets too much and I pare back on my political sites, I always keep this one as my lone holdout. It’s the animals and the people and John that keep me coming back.

  55. 55.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    I’ve been here probably within 6 months of you starting, obviously lurking much of the time.

    Unlike *every* other blog that’s been around, the community comments here remain the best. You’re still alive, that’s something (I mention that because of the early passing of the late, great Steve Gilliard–I like to think if he were still around, his comment community would still be thriving like this one).

    And, while some of your FPers haven’t been the greatest, the current batch are consistently the best on Teh Internetzes.

    Thank you John and everybody else.

  56. 56.

    J R in WV

    Congratulations to Big John Cole and all his minions both present here today and passed on to greater (or just more interesting, or less stressful) things!!

    I won’t try to list them, but we all know who many of them are. I enjoyed them all, even Freddie.

    And many happy returns, also too.!!!

  57. 57.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia:

    a story by Tommaso Landolfi in which Gogol has an inflatable doll as a wife

    : blinks into middle distance :

    @germy:

    Was this a reference to ABL?

    I can’t imagine anyone would describe her that way, though she had some…. adversaries among the regulars. I’m not sure if the time lines up, but that makes me think of that Bernard Finel who had the keys for a while. I often agreed with him but… what a dick.  I think he posted/sock-puppeted in the comments for a while after he quit posting on the front page.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    FYI, all the anniversary posts will be in the Anniversary Week category, so that should help if you miss any or someone references another one and you want to find it.

  59. 59.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    New ones, like when trolls try coming back. I know there are similarities in posting styles, but some posters’ acuity is really very impressive.

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    Happy 20th (it appears my kid is a few days older than Balloon Juice, so you can have some of her cake. It’s really good cake).

    As a gift, Twitter has spiked MT Greene’s account for serially lying about Covid.

    “We permanently suspended the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy,” Twitter said in a statement. “We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.”

  64. 64.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @zhena gogolia:

    I wondered about her for a long time. Worried, even. Didn’t she live in a high rise in a New York borough? There seemed to be some background hints of personal problems, and then she suddenly disappeared. At times I wondered if it was a General Stuck situation.

  69. 69.

    dr. luba

    Congratulations! I have been hanging out around here since the early years of the W administration…..we thought shit was bad, then. Little did we know!

    Charles at LGF recommended your site as one run by a reasonable republican, and you were. Which is why you are no longer one, I can only assume.

    Keep up the good work! I love the pet posts, even though I am pet-free (due to allergies, not inclination), the politics, the science, and the humor. You have great taste in front pagers.

  70. 70.

    WereBear

    Congratulations, John Cole. We won’t hold you to that mild elation.

    I was reading the Great Orange Satan and someone mentioned a Republican who had seen the light. The year 2000 was a terrible time, which just kept topping itself.

    Glad to have a place like this.

  74. 74.

    joel hanes

    I started reading Balloon Juice when Cole, prior to his several epiphanies, was a warblogger, because I am a mid-1970s armored division veteran, and Cole was a later armored division veteran who had done Gulf War I, and I valued that perspective, even if I disagreed with him about the early stages of Gulf War II.

    So many other online folks have seemingly lost perspective and gone around one bend or another; it is one of the enduring charms of this place that Cole is so stubbornly, grumpily sane, and seems to understand himself.

  75. 75.

    Patricia Kayden

    Congrats on running a successful blog, John. Also congrats on attracting so many excellent front pagers to keep this blog interesting with a diversity of topics outside of stressful politics. Wishing all of you the best in 2022!!

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    @debbie:

    Yep. She mainlined Trump’s screechy imagined victimhood and carved out her own special niche. “Why are you being so mean to me!”

  77. 77.

    joel hanes

    And now, let us rotate on our sanitary pedestals, and in memory of the much-missed efgoldman, present a one-finger salute to Republicans everywhere, while reciting the creed he imparted:

    “Fuckem”

  78. 78.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @zhena gogolia:

    No idea. What about Little Boots? Or that guy with a name vaguely like Bearnaise Hollandaise or some such sauces, do you remember the one I mean? And we can’t leave out Brick Oven Bill. Not that I miss any of them or want to see them back.

  79. 79.

    mrmoshpotato

    @joel hanes:

    And now, let us rotate on our sanitary pedestals, and in memory of the much-missed efgoldman, present a one-finger salute to Republicans everywhere, while reciting the creed he imparted: 

    “Fuckem”

    Amen.

  81. 81.

    Ohio Mom

    Congratulations Cole on this wonderous achievement and milestone. And thank you for creating this refuge.

  83. 83.

    Ella in New Mexico

    I really wish there was a way for me to figure out the exact date when I first started coming here. It was definitely before GWB was elected, it has to be. If I recall, I didn’t own my own home computer until mid to late 1992 which I bought to use to write papers for a graduate class. Late Clinton, maybe?

    But: One thing I am absolutely, postively sure about, however, is how I found this place in the beginning. And since you are all forgiving, compassionate folks I’m going to confess:

    it was through repeated links to BJ by none other than ANDREW FUCKING SULLIVAN.

    I will say I was not a total fan but he was writing some stuff then that I found to be reasonable and a good critique of the RW circus at the time. Later he was a big fan of Obama and disgusted by the R’s racisim peaking out after his election (then he’d sprinkle in shit about how true the Bell Curve was which would piss me off)..)

    Anyway, BJ became my blog-home long ago, the first place I go after reading my local newspapers online (I suscribe!). The ups and downs of I don’t know how many Presidential election campaigns, fighting among sibling posters, occasionally being chastized by John to quit fighting or he’d have to come back there.

    Love it here. Thank you to John and Anne and Betty and Watergirl and all the incredible front pagers who make this place so very special.

    HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ALL MY FELLOW BALLOON JUICERS!

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @Ella in New Mexico: I wrote this on the earlier anniversary thread:

    I can search on the back end, assuming the person knows the email address they used when they first started commenting.  Or if they have a distinctive nym, and know what that was.

    In honor of Anniversary Week, I am willing to look up 10 people in each of our “Come Here Often?” or “How Did You Get Here” posts.

    Just catch me in an anniversary post where I say that’s an option, and make sure you’re one of the first 10 in a particular post.

  86. 86.

    Bex

    Whatever happened to Violet?  I think she said she had gotten very busy caring for elderly parents?

  88. 88.

    Hildebrand

    Happy Anniversary!

    I think I arrived around these parts circa 2007.

    This place has been, and continues to be, an absolute refuge.

    My thanks to John and all of the Front Pagers – other than Freddie, this place has had a knack for finding the best people.

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SiubhanDuinne: Little Boots got perma-banned after he dropped the c-word in a crazed misogynistic rant at (I think) Bella Q.  People called him out and he went even more nuts.  Then BOOM.  I do worry that any older person I meet in Madison who likes ‘70s music may be him.

  95. 95.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jerzy Russian: “Having a real life” is immensely overrated. Particularly these days. If you’re managing to avoid it, I’d say, “keep at it!” : )

  96. 96.

    Starfish

    @Ella in New Mexico: I think that I joined from Sullivan’s blog around the time where John was starting to get super pissed about the politicization of Terri Schiavo’s death, and how no one was respecting that husband’s right to let his brain-dead wife be dead.

    The way that the religious right was politicizing that was so gross.

  102. 102.

    West of the Rockies

    I found refuge here in pre-BHO 2008.  It’s been a lifeline to sanity, a warm and irksome community, a true pleasure.  Thanks to all involved.

    Ah, Freddie… he tried, but a certain self-aggrandizement often wafted up from his words.  Oh, and why use simple sentences when compound-complex sentences a block long can do?

  103. 103.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: Is/was Little Boots living in Madison? *shudder*

    That would be weird. I went onto one of the Absent Front Pager posts (think it might have been ABL) and lo and behold, there he was. Yow! There are some people I don’t miss, altho’ LB did manage to spark some late-night music threading, which was cool and probably his only redeeming quality.

  104. 104.

    JWR

    @trollhattan:

    Greene said, in a statement Sunday through her office, that she was suspended for tweeting statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

    “Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Greene said. “That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”

    Don’t you just love Cancel Culture? ;)

    Also, I caught bits and pieces of this morning’s Big Three Sunday shows and was surprised they were all paying most of their attention to the January 6 Committee, including interviews with co-chairs Thompson and Cheney and member Schiff. Better than usual, I’d say. Oh, except for Margaret Brennen going after Education Secretary Carmona for not fixing everything related to public schools and Covid right now TODAY! It was just a really dumb interview.

  105. 105.

    raven

    What about the poor dude who tried to “fix” the site and was obviously way over his head? From Bellville, Il if memory serves.

  110. 110.

    Matt McIrvin

    During the period in 2001-03 when I was giving advocates of Bush’s wars the benefit of the doubt, I was not here, and only sporadically looked at the place when linked by other “warblogs”. Was definitely not here in the couple of years after that when it was still a right-wing blog. I think I dropped in in the immediate aftermath of Cole’s Terry-Schiavo-induced apostasy.

    That’s a long time ago now!

  111. 111.

    Poe Larity

    Watergirl has all sorts of fun stuff planned this week and we have a couple surprises, so stay tuned

    How bout inviting Gary Farber to do a drive by? But let’s not invite Hugh, Glenn or Sully.

    twitter.com/GaryFarberKnows

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    @JWR:

    “Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Greene said.

    And then she surely went off to post on her official account ON TWITTER, which is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth.

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @WaterGirl:

    I think my brain is frazzled from all of the deep diving into the archives I have been doing. Stuff runs together and stuff gets deleted.

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: He was a somewhat prominent blogger in the early 2000s and has also been active in online (and offline) science-fiction fandom for a very long time.

  120. 120.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: I can’t recall his name, African American fellow. BJ used to have extensive threads on Saturday afternoon and night until John got religion and Betty found it wasn’t worth the abuse to keep posting the threads.

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: Yes, he was.  At one point, I thought of meeting him for a drink because that might calm him down.  I am very happy that I did not.

  123. 123.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    I came here in the run-up to the ’08 election, from a link at Sullivan’s blog. I was pretty much over him, but he still had some good aggregated links and the “View from Your Window” thing, which I always liked. Took me until about January ’09 to make a comment.

  127. 127.

    eclare

    @raven:   In my last job before I left ATL I worked for someone who played linebacker for UGA.  You don’t run into that often in tax/accounting!

  128. 128.

    raven

    It was 2009 when I got booted from FDL after Jane joined up with Norquist. Jeffery had already come over and I think he invited me to take a look.

  132. 132.

    raven

    @eclare: Ya never know, ever hear of Terry Hoage and his vineyards?

     

    Terry Hoage was a professional football player whose career began at University of Georgia, where he was a two-time All-American, Heisman Trophy candidate and 1984 SEC Athlete of the Year. His NFL career spanned 13 seasons with six teams, including the New Orleans Saints (where he met his wife), Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Oilers, and Arizona Cardinals. Upon retirement, the Hoages purchased their Paso Robles estate and began making wine. Terry paid homage to his football days when naming his TH Vineyards wines, referencing “The Pick”, “The 46” and the famed “Hedges” of UGA.

    Terry Hoage began his football career as a defensive back for the University of Georgia from 1980 to 1983. In 1983, he finished 5th for the Heisman Trophy and, in 1984, was the SEC Athlete of the Year. He graduated from UGA in 1985 with a BS in Genetics, a 3.85 GPA, and as a two-time All-American. Vince Dooley, head coach at the University of Georgia, called Hoage “the best defensive player I’ve ever coached and maybe the best one I’ve ever seen.”

  133. 133.

    HeleninEire

    I don’t have a clue when I started lurking/commenting here. It may have been when Jane Hampshire lost her shit and Firedoglake went tits up. I never knew John as a Republican, so sometime after that.

    I am so grateful to have found this place. It is my first stop every morning. I feel genuinely invested in your lives; your families, your jobs, your health, your pets; especially your pets.

    And the support I have found here is unparalleled. I do hope it goes on forever.

  135. 135.

    germy

    Aside from the entertaining and informative content, this is a blog with the best design I’ve ever seen.

    So many other places turn me off because they’re just too difficult to read.  I have less and less patience with poorly laid out websites.

  136. 136.

    mvr

    Going to scroll up and start reading but just wanted to post a big THANK YOU to John and to all the front pagers past and present.  This place helped keep me relatively sane in the Bush II/Iraq war years. I fondly remember John’s slow conversion from his former political leanings and his eventual enthusiasm for better responses to our common plight. That was a long time ago, but this was also helpful to the remaining small bit of my sanity during the more recent reign of error and now while we are all doing what we can to keep it from coming back.

    So THANKS TO ONE AND ALL!

  138. 138.

    germy

    I remember when every post by Elon James White was a link to a podcast that would crash my old computer every single time.

  139. 139.

    joel hanes

    @WaterGirl:

    Gary Farber was a romance-fiction editor for some publisher; then he became a big wheel at Obsidian Wings during the hilzoy era.   Also had his own blog, “amygdala”

    He struggles with severe depression, and dropped off ObWi and disappeared from sight for several years, during which I believe he could not work and suffered from severe penury.

    Glad to learn that he occasionally posts to twitter

  140. 140.

    Miss Bianca

    @Bex: Oh, God. Please don’t. Because you could never NOT set eemom off. It was like living with your alcoholic step-mother that you had to tiptoe around for fear of setting off a torrent of unwarranted abuse. The occasional witty or insightful thing she would say just wasn’t worth it, finally.*

    * Standard YMMV bromide applies, of course.

  141. 141.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: Not the Potterville guy?  The one who would castigate us for insufficient fealty to the goals of the Left and then ask for rent money?

  143. 143.

    germy

    @Miss Bianca:

    I remember when she yelled at Dorothy Windsor for mentioning a book she’d published.

    “We know you’re a writer, you don’t have to keep bragging about it!” or something.  But I often enjoyed her comments.  She had a real energy, even if it often turned negative.

  144. 144.

    joel hanes

    Little Boots used to stalk Omnes through the comments, late at night, whining and attempting to9 provoke, and demanding responses to impertinent questions.   Gave every impression of being a deeply disturbed person.

    Also, “Little Boots” is just the English for “Caligula”, so I was a bit put off from the get-go.

  145. 145.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It’s interesting to hear about the number of people who came from other blogs—Firedoglake; GOS; Sadly, No; etc.—that I somehow managed to miss completely. What was I reading back then? I seem to remember some friends really pushing The Smirking Chimp (which I didn’t read), but I don’t think I’ve seen anybody here mention it.

    The ’00s were a tough stretch for me. Maybe I was coping with real life.

  146. 146.

    mrmoshpotato

    Not sure when I ran across this place, but apparently I wasn’t here to commiserate with you all on Election Night 2016.

    Most definitely, it was during the orange shitstain’s Reign of Shit and not the transition period.

    People, pets, celebrating the good, and “fuck this shit!” the bad.  Thanks for making this place, Cole, and everyone else for being here.

  147. 147.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: Ooh. Wow. Yeah, I think you made the right call, there. Don’t meet up, it only encourages them is a standard to live by that I’ve found out the hard way.

  150. 150.

    germy

    I remember when someone said something that displeased the (at the time) IT guy, and the IT guy said he knew everyone’s IP address, and could “do all sorts of things with them.”

    To this day I find myself wondering what an IT person could do with someone’s IP address.  I still have no idea.

  152. 152.

    West of the Rockies

    I enjoyed commenter Hovercraft.  Haven’t seen her around these promiscuous parts in a while.

  154. 154.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Miss Bianca:

    I liked eemom. She was instrumental in discovering the fate of General Stuck. She did rub some people the wrong way. Big-time.

  155. 155.

    Miss Bianca

    @germy: Oh, that was the one where I went to town on her, finally. Just so envious and spiteful, it right curdled mae wame, ye might say.

    (So, whae’s been readin’ scripts by Scottish playwrights, lately, eh, laddie? Can ye tell atall?)

  156. 156.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    No, the Potterville guy was different. I wonder if he’s still running his “We’re about to be evicted for the 415th straight month” scam.

  157. 157.

    germy

    There was someone nymed “truckloads of cash” or something, who kept boosting various republicans during a primary.  Kept assuring us that whichever republican he was boosting would destroy us.  But as each candidate dropped out, he’d just jump to the next one.

  158. 158.

    West of the Rockies

    Who was the sailor guy who was interesting but had a writing style that eventually blew up a few threads?  He’d say something like, “With Trump, my thinkies have been conflicted…”

  168. 168.

    joel hanes

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    jurassic pork, aka welcome to pottersville

    He lives now by begging from an apparently extensive email contact list of people who have given money to him at one time or another.   Pitiable.

  172. 172.

    HeleninEire

    @raven: @Steeplejack (phone):  Oh I could not stand him. He was so full of shit it was flowing out of his ears.

    Didn’t we determine here that he died? I can’t remember how or when or who figured it out. But I believe he is no longer among us.

  173. 173.

    Jerzy Russian

    @germy:   That was Tommy (Young).  People were giving him a lot of shit, and he responded as you noted above.

    I don’t know what you can realistically do with someone’s IP address, other than figure out roughly where they are.  Actual experts and hackers might know more than me, of course.

  175. 175.

    joel hanes

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    I wonder if [welcome to pottersville] is still running his “We’re about to be evicted for the 415th straight month” scam.

    Got one such email from him in my spam bucket between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I’d say the answer is probably yes.

  180. 180.

    JWR

    @raven:

    It was 2009 when I got booted from FDL

    Aha! So it was you. Meaning, you’re the same Raven who used to comment over at FDL (I mentioned you in the 20th anniversary thread.) But boy, every time I started reading one of your comments I’d wonder if I’d make it to the end before Jane bahammered you, just for challenging her positions. Good times! ;)

  183. 183.

    feebog

    @Baud:

    yes, I have no clue exactly when I climbed on board this leaky vessel, but General Struck quickly became one of my favorite commentators.

  185. 185.

    Baud

    I sure other nyms I miss will come to me, although I don’t know of some of them just changed their nyms.

  189. 189.

    NotMax

    No idea how many years I spent lurking nor how I found this place. Might have been a recommendation from comments at my own blog (’99 – ’09)?

    Just think, there are current commenters who were like six years old when Señor Cole first flipped on the lights.

  190. 190.

    HeleninEire

    You know who we haven’t mentioned? General Stuck!! Now I am zeroing in on my first days here. I was here with him for a short time. And then he disappeared and somehow John was able to figure out that he had died. And everyone here was soooo concerned about his dog.

    ETA: And Steeplejack at 154 beat me to it!

  191. 191.

    Matt McIrvin

    @germy: That guy kept changing his nym to avoid bans and had a million of them; “Reality Check” was one of the earliest so I thought of him as that.

    He came back here for multiple presidential election cycles, always pumping some Republican candidate or other. I think he was doing it for McCain and Romney. It was clearly the same guy, always bragging about how UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH in BRINKS. TRUCKS. would steamroller the opposition and put his candidate over. He loved to brag about how his guy had all the money and would crush everyone with it.

    In 2016 he was, I think, a Jeb Bush supporter for most of the primary cycle, and accused the rest of us of being Trump fans because we didn’t think Jeb would defeat him. Then he jumped to other successive candidates (Rubio? Ted Cruz? I forget) and finally to Trump, and I guess he got his wish of backing a winner then.

  195. 195.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Baud:

    Yes, I picked them up at her apartment building when they were down here for a visit. I didn’t meet her, though.

    The efgoldmans were talking about moving down here to be closer to the new grandkid, but fate intervened.

  205. 205.

    manfrommadras

    Happy Anniversary Cole….I loved reading your blog and though I think I have probably drifted away from being a lefty progressive to an independent, I still love your writing and have very fond memories of you, mistermix, dougJ, and the BJ lexicon. May your tribe increase!!

  211. 211.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    At one point, I thought of meeting him for a drink because that might calm him down. 

    Damn, for real?! You’re brave!

    This is the best place on the internet. Thanks to John and all of the various jackals and front-pagers and lurkers for keeping the fire burning.

  212. 212.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Steeplejack (phone): efgoldman was, in real life, for a time the announcer for the Faneuil Hall Festival of Bands, which my wife played at. Pretty sure I saw him do it more than once.

  213. 213.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @JWR:

    It seemed to be one of the few places where people could safely vent their anti-Bush spleen.

  215. 215.

    Brachiator

    It was 20 years ago today
    Johnny Cole had a few things to say
    Some remarks might have a little bile
    But his pets were sure to raise a smile
    So may I introduce to you
    The blog that all the jackals cheer
    John Cole’s Juicer All-Star threads

    I am not sure when I first came to Balloon Juice, but it was definitely post-Republican Cole. A co-worker lurked here and recommended the site, and some Sullivan references and links to the place reinforced my curiosity.

    I had never followed many political blogs before, but found this to be a quirky, interesting, and, most of all, often a fun place to hang out.

    Happy anniversary.

  218. 218.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jerzy Russian: There was a downright disturbing trend of black front pagers being driven away by persistent stalker harassment. Zandar’s was one of the scariest, and he was a good writer; it was a real loss.

  221. 221.

    JWR

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I wasn’t here to commiserate with you all on Election Night 2016.

    Oy, me neither. That was a very dark day. And it went downhill from there, extending out over four very dark years. So thank you all for keeping me relatively sane.

  223. 223.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Steeplejack (phone): In the early days of political blogs, the one where I hung out the most was probably The Poor Man. As I mentioned, I’d heard of Balloon Juice but I only came over here much after Cole’s ideological flip; don’t remember exactly where I heard about that.

    And there was Obsidian Wings, and Pandagon (mostly read it in the Amanda Marcotte era), and the Nielsen Haydens’ blog Making Light.

  224. 224.

    Xantar

    (copied from previous thread)

    So apparently February 22 is associated in Japanese with cats because the Japanese word for 2, “ni,” sounds like “nyan” (the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a cat makes) when repeated over and over. February 22 is this “nyan nyan nyan.”

    This February is of course 22/2/22 or “nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan” and it’s the Year of the Tiger. I think this means we have to prostrate ourselves before the Balloon Juice calendar on that day.

  228. 228.

    WaterGirl

    @joel hanes: Yes!  “amygdala” and “Obsidian Wings” and your mention of  the struggles with depression brings me back.  The money thing I vaguely remembered was a monthly donation to help keep him afloat when he was unable to work.

    Seemed like a truly good guy, just struggling.

  229. 229.

    germy

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Obsidian Wings is one of those blogs I’d like to enjoy, but the page design is off-putting to me.  As I said, balloon-juice has spoiled me.

  230. 230.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus:  That was definitely someone else.  I always felt like that was a scam.

    Joel Hanes nailed it at #139.  This fellow was a good guy who struggled with depression.  Here’s hoping he is doing better now.

  232. 232.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: BRINKS TRUCKS.  TRUCKLOADS OF CASH!!!

    I forget the exact wording.  Thank god we did not have color available in the comments back then.  (Or did we?)  Did he always do that in BOLD with red?

  233. 233.

    Matt McIrvin

    @germy: Obsidian Wings is the one that seems to still be around, but the list of authors has dwindled to mostly just “liberal japonicus” with occasional posts by somebody else who mostly talks about UBI.

  234. 234.

    debbie

    I remember listening to Glenn Beck literally crying on air the day after PBO’s win in 2008 while driving around to drop off clients’ work, and I couldn’t drive back home fast enough to share this hilarious news here.

  237. 237.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:

    I remember lots of ALL CAPS.

    I don’t remember if bright colors were involved.

    The comments were so over the top that I really thought it was parody.  I still think it was dougj.

  239. 239.

    WaterGirl

    @feebog: General Stuck was one of the first people who responded to my early comments here.  We’re all so used to BJ that we hardly remember it, but making the first few comments on the blog made me feel really vulnerable.  Putting yourself out there like that.  With strangers!

  242. 242.

    eachother

    Got here as soon as I could.
    It is interesting how BJ has become part of my day.
    To each Happy Anniversary.
    and ps, I am intending to eventually try opening a banana from the other end.

  245. 245.

    WaterGirl

    @Matt McIrvin: Zandar and Angry Black Lady were terrible losses.

    Great writers, great peeps.  I hope they stop by in the comments, or better yet, would be willing to write a guest post for Anniversary Week.

  247. 247.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: As I was working on the Past Authors page, it really struck me that Imani’s haters were threatened by race and gender.  She is in your face (in the best way) unapologetically on women’s issues.  I have so much respect for her; so sorry she left, but hey, she is doing great things now.

  249. 249.

    Tehanu

    I guess it was around 2005 or so when I found this place. Still read it every day. Back then I was also into Sadly, No! and TBogg and some of the other lost places people have mentioned but this, LGM, and Roy Edroso’s place (alicublog) are the main survivors, for me. I appreciate not only the front pagers but all the regulars in the comment threads — it’s nice having a like-minded community. Thanks to John and you all.

  250. 250.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: That is one of the reasons I always suggest that lurkers and other new people start with innocuous comments in friendly threads. Establish a beachhead before jumping into fraught topics.  I normally try to mention this in every welcome lurker thread.  It worked for me when I started commenting at Eschaton and when I started here.

  251. 251.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JWR:

    That was a very dark day. And it went downhill from there, extending out over four very dark years. So thank you all for keeping me relatively sane.

    Yeah, definitely.  I’ve been listening to the Professional Left podcast since 2015 or 2016, and I’m eternally grateful for their day-after podcast instead of waiting until Friday of election week.  And sometime in past few years, I found here.

  254. 254.

    Ruckus

    John, congrats on the 20. A real milestone. Long term stuff takes a bit of effort to pull off, working for 20 yrs in a shitty job, some marriages, blogs, making a car last…..

    Ya done good. It’s been a long road, many have been on it with you for a great part of the trip, but you are the one here the entire 20. I imagine there may be a few others but most of us you picked up along the way.

    I remember reading the blog a bit before the bucket load of sanity arrived at your doorstep and I got here from reading Sullivan before he dived off the deep end. Damned if I’m not very glad I arrived. And stayed.

    One of the greatest aspects of this place is that you’ve listened to yourself and been honest with what you’ve heard. A lot of humans can’t do that, they bullshit themselves more than anyone else. You seem like someone who hates bullshit with every fiber. Which is what I credit you with for your conversion.

    I also say Thank You for a place filled with all types, and to hear and speak your mind, even if sometimes one should just shut the hell up.

  256. 256.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think I broke the ice by sending in a cat photo that Cole front-paged. Shock! I responded to some of the comments on that and a follow-up photo, and that eased my way in (regarding my comfort level).

  257. 257.

    mali muso

    Happy birthday to the blog! I wandered over here by way of the GOS when they kind of lost their shit following Obama’s election. I think I must have lurked for many years before finally getting up my courage to comment on one of the World Cup soccer threads.

  258. 258.

    SteveinPHX

    I just discovered BJ early in 2021. It helps! I’ve mostly lurked, but am SO grateful for you all being there. Keeps me relatively sane and I am learning every time I bring up BJ. Can’t beat that!

  260. 260.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: Most commenters are nice to new people, but an unknown ‘nym whose first comment begins with “Pelosi is wrong…” or some such is going to have a rougher welcome than someone who asks a question about buttering cats.

  262. 262.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “Hello, nym I’ve never seen before and probable troll . . .” Even if it is demonstrated that the person has commented before, just not in short-term memory.

  266. 266.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: That is a related problem.   That’s one where old timers really need to learn to hold their fire until they are sure.  No idea how to make that happen.

  269. 269.

    Matt McIrvin

    I’m sure BiP could regale us all with more tales about the fate of that Malaysian airliner, but I’d rather he didn’t.

  270. 270.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    What got him going?!

    Antonio Brown needed:

    8 more catches to unlock a $333,333 bonus.

    He also needed 55 receiving yards to unlock another $333,333 bonus.

    He also needed just 1 receiving TD to unlock another $333,333 bonus.

    This was a costly outburst.

    — Spotrac (@spotrac) January 2, 2022

  275. 275.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It’s a deterrent to new people commenting. I think some people finally decide to comment when some issue suddenly hits a nerve, and they come in with a strong take that might be “normal” for a known commenter but seems odd (to some people) from someone new or unknown.

    I have regularly demonstrated how you can do a Google search to see if a nym has appeared before:

    site:balloon-juice.com [troll nym]

    where you replace [troll nym] with the actual nym, e.g.,

    site:balloon-juice.com Steeplejack

  277. 277.

    KM in NS

    This might be a dead thread now… I came across this blog when I heard about it from a commenter from the AR Times. Wow! Lot’s of time has passed but I lurk faithfully. Thank you!! From this transplant from a red state!

  279. 279.

    SFBayAreaGal

    I was a lurker at FDL. Loved Emptywheel posts. When she left, I noticed FDL started looking different. Stopped lurking after reading more about JH and the direction FDL was going.

    I also was reading Digby and the great Orange Daily Blog (which I still read). It was a link from the Orange Blog that brought me to Balloon Juice.

    The name Balloon Juice was the hook, the line was the front pagers, and the sinker was the commentators.

    Thank you John Cole, all the front pagers (both past and present), and most of all the commentators (the most lovable pack of jackals that I have ever known)

    Happy 20th Anniversary

  280. 280.

    Paul W.

    We did it! I don’t know when I started lurking but probably sometime around 08 or 09, and it’s been… A hill ever since!

    Good news on the redistricting front in the last week, and to be honest I didn’t understand how it could net out as bad as everyone screamed about anyways considering how extreme 2010 was. Now we just need to hit the ground running and take advantage of a very favorable Senate map!

  282. 282.

    Fair Economist

    I started lurking here back around 2004 when BJ was a “sane conservative” blog. These days, it’s getting hard to believe such a thing ever existed. Been commenting here from around 2008, and it’s certainly been a great trip!

  283. 283.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Congratulations and thanks to Cole, the FPers and everyone who works to keep the site running, as well as my fellow jackals for uh… lively… discussions.

    I discovered the blog from Andrew Sullivan’s site — yes, I know, I know, but I enjoyed him ripping Republicans a new one every day back in the day before I realized what an awful shit he is, and he did have an interesting blog list, plus the weekly “View From Your Window” contest.

    I’m trying to scale back my blog time and get out more (at least pre-Omicron), so I’ve been mostly lurking, but BJ remains one of the blogs I check in regularly with.

  284. 284.

    Jim Appleton

    I’ve said this before but it never feels old.

    I found BJ early 2000s when The Poorman (sigh) sent folks over to laugh and point at John.

    Then it got interesting.

    Thank you John and the BJ crowd.

    Indispensable.

  285. 285.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Happy Anniversary – and many, many thanks to John, front-pagers past and present and all commenters who have given me a refuge for sanity and joy since the 2008 election.

  286. 286.

    dopey-o

    @zhena gogolia: and I know Gogol never got married, it’s a reference to a story by Tommaso Landolfi in which Gogol has an inflatable doll as a wife).

    So Gogol’s wife was full of balloon juice?

  288. 288.

    dopey-o

    @germy: i wonder to this day what an IP person could do with someone’s IP address?

    Oh, you’d be surprised what those old timers can do.

    (Link shows Vinton Cerf, the Father of The Internets.)

  289. 289.

    daryljfontaine

    Been here since roughly Schiavo, though not as frequently of late. I have this lovely pets-and-politics collective to thank for getting me one of my cats, who six years in is the most communicative non-verbal fuzzball I have ever had the pleasure to know. I recognize most of the names people are invoking as regulars long since moved (or passed) on, or trolls of Christmas Past. Hard to believe Phlegm Spleenwald and Freddie DeBoer once frontpaged here.

    Congratulations on 20 years!

    D

    P.S.: ABL is active on Twitter, and works for Rewire News Group on the Reproductive Justice beat. Her personal account is also a very funny follow.

    Phlegm is also on Twitter, and is more of a fecal waffle than he ever was before.

  290. 290.

    EmanG

    Congrats to Cole and Watergirl and all the other fp’ers. I’ve been coming since well before W left office and it’s at least a daily visit for me. It’s been interesting watching the ebb and flow of front pagers and lately it feels like the line up has really hit a sweet spot. If I recall correctly I started coming because of mentions on Kos? Doesn’t matter, I likes what I likes and what I likes is Balloon Juice! Huzzah!

  291. 291.

    surfk9

    I came here from a link in a post by Kos at the GOS. I was an occasional visitor at first, but as time wore on I began to check the site many times a day. It has become my blog home.

  292. 292.

    There go two miscreants

    Congratulations on the 20th anniversary! I have been reading for a long time, started definitely after John’s enlightenment, but I can’t recall exactly when. I only created a nym and commented (sparsely) starting around the time of the first zoom. At this point the blog is an essential part of the day! Thanks to all who keep it running.

  293. 293.

    Laura Too

    Always late to the party. Thank you John Cole for all you do, your humor, humanity and vulnerability makes this a special place. To Watergirl and Adam you will always have a special place in my heart. Anne Laurie has kept us all going during Covid. Betty Cracker’s lively turn of phrase is always welcome. All of the wonderful jackals who lifted me up when my Uncle died and stayed awake with me during the riots. Raven for your wonderful stories, and Laura for letting me be a junior. Albatrosity for wit and birbs!  TQ and Mr, Steep for a fun filled adventure in DC.

  294. 294.

    Betsy

    I loved finding this place some time before La Palin was raked from the rabble by John McCain. I will never forget how I felt that, here at least, like-minded people saw immediately the loonery that took (seemingly) ages for the “lamestream media” to observe.  I still think of that gleeful time, and many others.

    All our front pages are fantastic, but the female voices are those that sustain and delight me the most.  Betty, whose Florida commentary takes me back to a time half-forgot in life. Anne Laurie, who assiduously analyzes. Cheryl, the emeritus.  And ABL, whose writings I relished. Thank you all.

    Also, this place has seen me through the evolving the ACA struggle/saga/pilgrimage. That legislation has been life-changing for me.  Well, emigrating to the EU years ago would have been more life-changing, but still.

  295. 295.

    Ramalama

    @Percysowner: same. I hate-read Sullivan, believing I had to keep learning about conservatives. The conservatives I like I consider to be reasonable.

    Anti-torture kept me at Sullivan’s but  when Hillary ran the first time, the screeching, the absolute testosterone laden shrilling over her run sent me away, finally.

    But I kept coming back to balloon juice. Glad for the nod to John Cole. Here I mostly love-read, except for flower Sunday, where I steam with envy. Anyhoo Congrats and bravo!

  296. 296.

    Steeplejack

    This thread  has reminded me that I also miss @seaboogie. She was in California, I think, but I haven’t seen her nym in four or  five years.

  297. 297.

    cain

    @dr. luba: I came here through the Daou Report. I enjoyed his posts, and the commentariat was awesome as well. I’ve stayed every since. I’ve been here since 2003 I think.

  299. 299.

    geg6

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Same.  I know it was quite a while before I started commenting though.  It was through Sullivan’s Daily Dish (I forget what caught my attention…he linked BJ approvingly a few times.  Plus, around that time that I saw Sully linking to him, I was a community member at another unrelated-to-politics blog and had asked one of the sane GOPers there to recommend a sane Republican blogger to see the other side’s best arguments.  He highly recommended Cole.  Who proved his sanity not long after. And the guy who recommended BJ is also now a Democrat.

  300. 300.

    The Oracle of Solace

    I honestly have no idea how long I’ve been a Balloon Juice reader. It dates from around the time that Cole began talking smack about Dubya. His righteous anger at obvious GOP lies and con-job governance predated the Lincoln Project and was inspiring to see. For most of the time I’ve visited this site I was a lurker (and I still lurk, too much perhaps) and didn’t have the courage to add my voice to the sterling commentariat here until the last year or two. So thank you Mr. Cole and all you fabulous front-pagers and commentors for the years of reading & thinking material.

  302. 302.

    janesays

    Holy crap, have you really grown up Mr. Cole. I mean that genuinely. It’s astonishing that you actually wrote THIS 20 years ago…

    A snide and obnoxious op-ed in the L.A. Times by one Norah Vincent self-described ‘senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a think tank set up after Sept. 11 to study terrorism.’ At any rate, this is merely a one-page dossier of all the bile spewed about Giuliani by the left-wing kooks, union thugs, and race-baiters. No deep thought is required, she just references Abner Louima, and references both Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. Clever, hunh? She also manages to tar Bush. Worth a read, and was better than my treadmill at getting my blood flowing.

    Anyway, it’s a real testament to the ability of people to truly do a 180 on their views and join the side of the light. I think it’s extremely cool that you’ve left up the posts from your wingnut days, because it shows that people really can come around to better ways of thinking about politics and the world.

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