Steve Benen is leaving his Washington Monthly gig to be on MSNBC:
I have some news to share: after three-and-a-half years at the Washington Monthly, I’m moving on. My last post will be tomorrow and I’ll start my new career at MSNBC on Monday morning.
Working for the Monthly has been an amazing experience, but I’m thrilled about an extraordinary opportunity at MSNBC: I’m going to be a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show” and an MSNBC contributor. Don’t worry, I’ll still be blogging; I’ll just be writing at a new online home.
That Jonathan Bernstein guy who fills in for him sometimes does a good job, so I hope he takes over. WM has been my favorite blog, along with NoMoreMisterNiceBlog and Atrios, for the past two years.
Alison
Benen’s definitely been one of my favorite bloggers for a while now, and a daily must-read. I do hope he’ll still get to do a good amount of writing at the Maddow blog, and also he’s totally earned this move IMO. Congrats to him! And good score by Rachel :)
Bret
Great, more liberal media conspiracies.
General Stuck
bigger bucks and a louder megaphone. Well earned and deserved by Mr. Benen,
JPL
Congratulations to Steve. It’s definitely sad news for Washington Monthly and great news for Rachel. Next Monday I’ll be reading his column at his new home.
dogwood
This is really disappointing to me. I am sure the pay is much better at MSNBC, and for that I am happy for Steve. But he is one of the finest bloggers out there; one of the best voices Democrats have. That will now disappear down the rathole that is cable news.
liberal
Atrios is a great blogger, and very smart and shrewd at the same time. But he doesn’t post often enough these days, and the comment section always had an atrocious signal/noise ratio.
Alison
@dogwood: He’ll still be blogging, just at the Maddow Blog rather than WaMo. And I think one of the ways of making cable news better is to have smart, sharp, non-nutjobs like Benen involved. Rachel is already doing yeoman’s work out there, and I think this move will just make her show even better…
Steve
Benen always seemed a tad too polished, like he was consciously trying to create a meme with every post, but he was definitely a go-to blogger if you wanted to stay on top of things.
liberal
@dogwood:
That’s a big institutional problem. There are definitely good liberal bloggers out there who need to bring home the bacon, and (as Bob Somerby seems to point out all the time)they’re incentivized to pull their punches. Or at least many of them are.
There’s a great asymmetry here: there’s no such barriers on the right, but there’s definitely limits on establishment-approved discourse on the left.
Punchy
Eschaton isn’t a blog IMO. Its a collection of random one-liners every 4 hours about something cryptic and obtuse, interspersed with 37 open threads/day and 1 or 2 links to Yurro’peanz goofing up their austerity plans. And the comment section is a trainwreck of inside-baseball and slanguage.
/also, too…get offa mah lawn
Comrade Javamanphil
Benen is not just good, he is amazingly prolific. I hope that continues. But he definitely deserves some reward and recognition for his work so congrats to him.
Hill Dweller
I’ve been reading Benen since Hilzoy was there, and it sucks he is leaving. I hope he has time to blog at MSNBC.
As I was saying on the previous thread, the list of blogs I visit daily continues to dwindle.
Kola Noscopy
Movin’ on up, and sellin’ on out.
Same old media whore trajectory.
Slow and steady assimilation, proportional to their rising income.
Cap'n Swag
@Punchy:
I feel the same way.
Trinity
Steve Benen is extraordinary. He is going to be a great addition to the Maddow show. I’m excited!
dogwood
@Alison:
This is exactly why I’m disappointed. If he went to work for Hardball, Morning Joe, Andrea Mitchell. then I might see the point. Those are the shows that need to get better, not Maddow’s.
wvng
“Movin’ on up, and sellin’ on out.” No selling out on Rachel’s show. This is a great move for both Steve and Rachel. But I will echo the comments that I hope he continues to blog prolifically at his new home.
Ajay
Kind of sad though. I dont watch any TV and I liked his blog.
trollhattan
My hope is he doesn’t disappear into the more fractured and frantic environment, which IMHO has happened to Chait at NYM.
Benen has been a bedrock go-to resource in his time at WaMo.
Alexandra
Amen. Although Balloon Juice is at the top of my list, followed by Greg Sargent’s Plum Line.
kay
I love reading him and I hate when people move around.
Now I have to get used to his new place, and I was cranky enough as it was.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trollhattan:
Yeah, that has not been a good move if you’re a Chait-fan who doesn’t give a shit about NYT style-section stuff. Given Benen’s apparent work-ethic, I imagine he’ll come to dominate the TRMS blog.
kay
But, I hope he’s making more money because he certainly works hard.
TooManyJens
He’s terrific. He’ll be a real asset to Rachel and MSNBC, but I’ll miss his blog.
slag
@Punchy:
Balloonbagger!
I, for one, am still holding out hope that Steve will continue his blogging rate (or at least not let it diminish too much). He strikes me as a really good guy with his priorities in the right place. A rarity.
Angry DougJ
@Alexandra:
I may start reading Greg Sargent again. I sort of tuned out all the WaPo blogs at a certain point, but he is good.
Angry DougJ
@trollhattan:
Yeah, that’s my take with Chait too, at NYM.
He’s a weird one, because he’s very clever and he writes very well, but he always ends up being wrong with what he predicts.
Southern Beale
Idiot Oklahoma state senator files a bill outlawing imaginary food made of human fetuses. Oh, thank God.
Cris (without an H)
I’d say the same for his posting. I have always hated the posts consisting of one word linking to an article (even “Heh, Indeed” Glenn Reynolds uses the blockquote). That’s okay occasionally, but I’m not at your blog for links, I’m at your blog for your take on the things you read.
Also, tolerance of “FIRST POST” is a leading indicator of a shitty commenting community.
Villago Delenda Est
So WTF is BJ? Chopped liver?
Ref Atrios: He’s still my homepage and I still read him every day, but I stopped commenting there long ago not due to the signal-to-noise ratio, but because the commentary system just blows Mickey Kaus. BJ’s commentary system is much better, DESPITE THE LACK OF AN EDIT BUTTON FOR THE LAST FIVE KRIFFING DAYS and yes, despite such irritants as the reading comprehension challenged m_c, Colon Blow, and the ever adorable Lester Maddox stylings of BO Bill, the commentariat overall has a superior signal to noise ratio than Atrios’ place.
Although some of Atrios’ trolls make Veritas/RealityCheck seem like Hume or Voltaire.
Alison
@dogwood:
I see what you’re saying, but at the same time, I feel like being on a more middle-of-the-road, less liberal show would just end up leaving him relegated to the background, with less leeway and ability to be forthright and vocal. Those others shows are much more invested in the cult of balance and pseudo-civility (with the exception of Matthews screamy interruption freakshow, but even still), while Rachel is generally pretty clear about calling out “both sides do it” bullshit and not giving in to GOP framing and such. I don’t want to see someone like Benen have to sacrifice his true beliefs on the alter of Village Turd-Polishing.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cris (without an H):
Ahem, that would be “frist post” if you knew your internet traditions.
Alison
@Alison: And now it’s my turn to whine about no editing. That should be “altar”, of course. Rawr.
Cris (without an H)
LOL
RIP Phil Hartman
Jewish Steel
@Angry DougJ:
@trollhattan:
2nded on Chait @ NYMag.
He can be so insightful and yet he does go wildly off the rails at times.
BGinCHI
Bene has done more good work for this country and its progressive politics than all NYT/WaPo et al pundits all rolled into a burrito.
Smart of Maddow to grab him.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Southern Beale: But did he bother with taking care of food made of humans after they’re born? Or is he just a Soylanter? Once again, they only care about you until you’re born.
SteveM
Aw, shucks….
Kay Shawn
Oh noes! If Benen has to go to TV, I guess this is the best one can hope for.
Also, I too regret that Eschaton is a shadow of what it was in the old days. I never read the comments threads anymore. But Atrios’s frontpage snark is still fun a couple of times a day.
Cris (without an H)
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah I started to write it that way, but the word still brings up memories of remote diagnoses of persistent vegetative states. My fingers won’t type it, like I have some kind of political autocorrectness.
Amir Khalid
@Angry DougJ:
I had a little trouble following this sentence. Did you mean
or
?
Kane
Almost everyday Rachel cites a post that Steve has written, so being a producer for her show sounds like a natural fit. I will miss his posts at the Washington Monthly.
Gust Avrakotos
I’m bored. When is Not Republican Cole going to waltz in and throw another Obama stink bomb so I can call him on the asshole I know him to be.
dogwood
@Alison:
Sorry, I completely disagree. Guys like Matthews are malleable, and unfocused. If he could bring even a modicum of truth and consistency to a program like Hardball, he would be doing “yeoman’s” work. Instead he’ll be just another like-minded guy at Maddow’s place. His work there will change absolutely nothing.
grape_crush
There are few bloggers out there who can produce the volume of work Benen does and maintain the quality and integrity of his commentary. I’m sure that he will be bringing that to TRMS and the MaddowBlog, but the fear is that it will be diluted. Still, I’m gonna give whomever the new person at the WaMo is a chance as well as peek in to Maddowblog.
That aside, are there any recommendations for a good equivalent to Benen?
b-psycho
@Southern Beale: WOW that is stupid…
So “company uses cell line from the 70’s in the form of taste receptors for an overly specific taste testing thing” turned into “ur eatinz dead babees!!” Great.
Alison
@dogwood: Well, shit, maybe he doesn’t *want* the responsibility of forcing an old ass stick-in-the-mud like Matthews to be less of a pandering idiotic doofus. Maybe he wants to be a part of something he already believes in and is in sync with, in order to make it even better, and to hopefully show TPTB at MSNBC that decidedly left-leaning shows get good ratings, and they should keep “leaning forward” that way…as they do seem to be doing with Hayes’ show and with MHP’s upcoming show.
I mean, to each their own opinion, I’m just not convinced that unless someone is fighting against the tide they’re doing “absolutely nothing”.
Kane
Rachel Maddow, Steve Benen, Chris Hayes, Melissa Harris-Perry: MSNBC is assembling a smart, young group of progressives.
handsmile
@BGinCHI: (#36)
I do so very much want to assume that you are omitting Krugthulu from that particular delicacy. For my taste, there is no more nutritious progressive burrito grande than El Krug. Perhaps you are distinguishing “columnist” from “pundit”?
With Benen’s transfer to RMS and Michelle Harris-Perry soon to be part of its broadcast line-up, it seems to be as if MSNBC is assembling a formidable squad of liberal Los Galaticos.
liberal
@Punchy:
The stuff on Europe’s idiotic austerity plans is very important; it’s a potential harbinger for the US, and it could damage Obama if it precipitates a European recession.
Me, on the other hand, I tire of all the mass transit stuff. I’m highly in favor of m.t., blah blah blah, but I don’t find Atrios’ stuff on it that interesting.
Violet
@Punchy:
Agreed. I’ve tried to read it but cannot see why I should. If there’s anything worth seeing over there it’ll be linked elsewhere. And the comments are a disaster.
wvng
SteveM would be a good fit for SteveB’s old job. What say you?
Or how about SteveM and Booman?
liberal
@handsmile:
Agreed. Krugman is one of my top three or four blogs to visit.
waratah
I would not be surprised to see Benin on shows like Morning Joe, Hardball etc to boost ratings by attracting more liberal viewers.
RSA
I was amazed that it’s been 3.5 years since Kevin Drum left Political Animal behind. Steve Benen has done a great job. Not just aggregation, but good commentary and perspective.
burnspbesq
After seeing Krugman link to him so many times, I’ve added Mark Thoma to my list of regularly visited blogs.
Catsy
This is a great move by Benen. Well-deserved, etc. He’s one of my regular stops as well.
That said, I have to echo the WTF about Atrios. I remember well when Eschaton started, and for a good chunk of the Bush disaster he was a go-to blog for sharp commentary and timely links. But at some point over the last several years the quality of his posting has gone way, way down. It consists mostly of one-liners and links to other bloggers presented without any value added. On the relatively infrequent occasions where he adds any substance to a post, it’s typically so short that it feels more like it ought to be a comment than a post.
I still have a lot of respect for Duncan. He was a pioneer in liberal blogging, back when there were very few blogs of note and the scene was dominated by the odious Glenn Reynolds.
But he just doesn’t produce much original content of any worth anymore, and more often than not when I find an interesting link on Eschaton it’s something I’ve already read somewhere else.
handsmile
Duncan Black/Atrios/Eschaton is a National Living Treasure in the land of Left Blogistan. One of its true and constant heroes.
His political acumen is unfailing; his interests pleasurably broad; his readership and influence widespread; his writing style a marvel of concision and wit. (His comment section, on the other hand, is a cesspool and has been for years.)
His is the first website that I visit every day, and have been doing so since I first developed this asocial compulsion back in the early years of the Cheney/Bush administration.
Among the countless things for which I am grateful to Atrios/Eschaton is that its links first brought me to Balloon Juice.
Cris (without an H)
To mitigate my participation on the Atrios pile-on, the guy is one of the granddaddies of political blogging. I first heard of him back in 2001 (yes, before September) because Tom Tomorrow kept linking to him as a “must-read.” (Same with Kos, for that matter.) I may not like his style of tossing up links with little comment, but a decade ago that was one of the dominant models of political blogging, in part because it was harder to find targeted news aggregators.
handsmile
geg6
Well, I’ve never heard of NoMoreMisterNiceBlog and can’t imagine what anyone gets out of Atrios’ place (quit reading in about 3 years ago because I thought it was useless).
But the Political Animal is the second blog I go to every.single.day. Charlie Pierce at Esquire is number 3.
I seriously need to know why you like Atrios. I quit reading it because it never had anything meaningful to say about anything. And the commenters there? Shudder.
Shawn in ShowMe
@Cris (without an H):
I can understand gratitude but how long does a blogger have to be in decline before his supporters say thanks for the memories and move on? George Lucas used to be the man back in the day but that doesn’t the mean the prequels get a pass.
catclub
@Kane: “MSNBC is assembling a smart, young group of progressives.”
And we hope the follow up line is not: “…and turning them into crap just the way big media typically does.”
geg6
@dogwood:
I fail to see why Benen wouldn’t be contributing on Tweety’s or O’Donnell’s shows. He said he’d be a producer on Rachel’s show and an MSNBC contributor. Those aren’t necessarily the same thing, as you’d know if you ever watch MSNBC. MSNBC contributors end up on pretty much every show on the channel.
J. Michael Neal
I go to Benen’s blog several times a day and think that it’s very good. However, am I the only one that thinks that he displays a complete and total lack of a sense of humor? I have no idea what he is like in real life, but his blogging consistently treats hyperbole as if it is meant literally and completely misses that some of the things he takes seriously were jokes.
As I said, I like what he does, but for god’s sake, lighten up, Francis.
Kay Shawn
Yes, Eschaton does belong in the Hall of Fame.
One of my fondest Atriol memories is the evening of Obama’s election–he presented us with a huge color pic of Mars, from the fond saying, “Mars, Bitches!” And of course, he has coined some of the most concise terms in economics and sociology: “urban hellhole,” now is in common use; “big shitpile,” another. Even if he didn’t originate these [too lazy to research it], he does frequently serve up good scattered thoughts, and I will probably visit Eschaton several times daily until Black throws in the towel. [I’ve been expecting that for a couple of years.] But no comments, unless I’m in the mood for, “Oh, my back is out again, time for bed, folks!”
mai name
Agree on Atrios. My blogs to go in order used to be Atrios/DK/Tbogg/Hullabaloo/TPM/Drum in the pre-Benen days/Roger Ailes/Gen JC Christian. Now its BJ/Benen/Tbogg. If I feel like it I go to TPM/Drum/Atrios/Roger Ailes. Don’t go to DK anymore.
rikryah
VERY sad to see him go.
VERY SAD
Paul in KY
Steve is a great guy & I’m sure this is a promotion for him, so I wish him best of luck!
Jason
This kind of sucks but I still miss Hilzoy everyday. I like how prolific Benen is but never considered him a great writer and PA stopped being an everyday stop for me when Hilzoy left. Many other blogs I used to read religiously have fallen off my radar, but Atrios is a constant. I never go into the comments though.
BGinCHI
@handsmile: Yes, yes, and yes.
Kthug is a real economist who has real data and is not a pundit.
A pundit is someone who knows just enough to be wrong but not have the self-doubt that would keep him/her from telling everyone and getting overpaid for it.
Paul in KY
@Shawn in ShowMe: I stopped going there a couple of years ago. Not enough meat & every comment thread was already North of 400 when I got there, so it just wasn’t worth the trouble.
Catsy
@Jason:
This 1000x. Hilzoy was a treasure. She decided to permanently stop blogging for personal reasons, but there isn’t a blog at which she’s ever written that wouldn’t celebrate her return.
Jeffraham Prestonian
@Villago Delenda Est: Well, I for one miss you and your excellent ponies.
.
David Koch
Atrios sucks.
barkleyg
I agree with Angry DougJ ! My favorite 4 “single writer” blogs are Washington Monthly, Glennzilla, Scott Horton, and taking the lead in the last 2 months, CHARLES PIERCE. All 4 are great bloggers, but Charlie’s wit separates him from the rest.
I find it Absolutely, Positively, AMAZING the output that Steve threw out daily. A great reader, analyzer, and most importantly, writer who on any single day could explain 10 different subjects accurately,
Tribute to King George
liberal
@Catsy:
My own presumption is that he’s busy with other stuff. (My impression from his posting is that he’s somehow affiliated with Media Matters, but I’m not sure.)
Such is life. Max Sawicky had an awesome blog (economics focused) named maxspeak.org that he shuttered (no more access even for archives) when he got a new job, IIRC. (Old job was for the thinktank EPI, I believe.) That was really sad.
liberal
@Kay Shawn:
Oh, come on—Atrios’ most important contribution to the lexicon was clearly the “Friedman unit”.
FlipYrWhig
Atrios is like Conan O’Brien. You remember how once it was fresh and quirky, and then it just got self-referential and lazy, and then you try to remember a good bit from the past decade and you can’t. It’s like, wait, wasn’t there like a robot pimp who said “wheeee,” or a masturbating bear who wanted to torment Lou Dobbs, and why was I laughing, or was it just the despair mixed with weed all along?
FlipYrWhig
@J. Michael Neal: I don’t think Benen is funny, but we have way more funny and wannabe funny than we can use, and what we sorely lack is clear-eyed analysis. That’s Benen.
phoebes-in-santa fe
PA used to be my go-to liberal blog, but I hated the style change they made about a year ago. Most style changes I can deal with, but the way PA looks now is terrible. Also, there are fewer comments, maybe because of that dreadful captcha system.
AnotherBruce
@b-psycho: I like my fetuses over easy, just a dash of salt and pepper.
J. Michael Neal
@FlipYrWhig: The problem isn’t that he’s not funny; I’m fine with that. The problem is that his clear-eyed analysis fails him when he’s commenting on anything that was not meant literally. He comes across as incapable of understanding hyperbole. He earnestly rips into it without ever understanding what was actually said.
Jeffraham Prestonian
@FlipYrWhig: Preznit giv me turkee.
.
Kay Shawn
OMG, “Friedman Unit” it is!! I used it just yesterday! Thank you for much-needed addition…
Kay Shawn
@Kay Shawn:
Please list all–my memory cells are shot, anyway.
Nellcote
Just what does a cable show producer do anyway?
kc
Bob Somerby must be gnashing his teeth in rage.
Angry DougJ
@geg6:
I just find him funny and insightful. I like that he keeps it brief. I don’t like his comments so much, but I like the posts.
Sophia
@Shawn in ShowMe:
Ouch. Horrible analogy in so many ways I don’t know where to start attacking it. I’ll leave it at this… George Lucas is the guy who took my childhood enchantment and spun it into shit. Duncan Black is the guy who created a safe place in the wilderness (starting long before “we don’t roll out new product in August”) for dissenters to gather and reassure ourselves that, no, we aren’t the ones acting crazy. It was a very disconcerting time, and I suspect that a lot of people were like me and found Atrios/Eschaton to be a touchstone for sanity in the whirlwind of bullshit. It goes beyond just the Iraqi war, he was on the housing bubble for *years* before anyone “serious” thought it could be a problem. He just has a very clear eye.
No, he doesn’t offer up lengthy commentary. And I have no idea why anyone would read the comments section. But I start with Eschaton every day, and I will as long as Atrios is writing it. For me, he’s sort of like the Sergeant on Hill St. Blues, offering a heads up on some issues to keep an eye out for and a “let’s be careful out there.”
Jay B.
Benen is the last person in the world who won’t use the phrase “lying sack of shit” when discussing a Republican Congressman, instead saying “confused” or “unclear”. You can either find that endearing or grating.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
For me Atrios absolutely nailed the media when he said acceptable Beltway opinion runs the entire gamut from Free Republic to New Republic. For that an the Freidman Unit, he belongs in the Hall Of Fame He got bored, or lazy, or maybe he got full time day job, now he seems to have gotten sucked into the pouty maestrom of his comments section “If only Mr Hopey-Changey cared about jobs…”
FlipYrWhig
@Jeffraham Prestonian: That was a great moment. But I think the outstanding blog of 2002 has run its course. YMMV.
@J. Michael Neal: I think you’re right that he takes things literally, but IMHO it’s a conscious pose (“listen to what he actually said. Can he be serious?”) rather than a failure to compute. And, like Jay B. said, he doesn’t say “lying sack of shit,” but instead things like, “if this is what he truly believes, that’s extremely disappointing.” I’m OK with that, having grown up in a house where “stupid” was close to a curse word.
mai name
I forgot Charlie Pierce. Don’t know how I forgot Charlie Pierce. And the other people at Esquire aren’t slouches either.
Also too, Atrios added WATB to the lexicon. Also also too, he added the pleez gimme some turkee mister prezydant. OMG, I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy Atrios’ snarkaliciousness. And calculated risk. I doubt I would have gone to cr if I hadn’t gone to Atrios.
sprezzatura
atrios is better than jesus
Donut
Happy for Benen, bummed out because next to B-J and TPM, I probably visit WM more than any other blog. No offense to the B-J crew, but Benen runs circles around everybody in terms of analytical skills, IMO.
Jeffraham Prestonian
@FlipYrWhig: I stay there because of the commenters. There’s no closer-knit group of caring people that I have ever found in all my travels (not that they don’t exist — I just haven’t found them). It’s usually completely silly banter, but I need some of that, too.
.
Petorado
I’ve been reading Steve Benen since 2004. Giving up his old gig at The Carpetbagger Report for a turn at Washington Monthly was hard on those of us in that community, but a boon to the broader blog community. This time it feels like a bigger loss as he moves to TV.
The guy’s been the hardest working blogger I’ve ever seen. I think he’s taken two weeks off in the last decade. May he delight at taking off at least two weeks each year. I hope he has as much impact on cable political analysis as he’s had on the web. Good luck Steve!
TuiMel
@Petorado:
Yeah, I feel like such a baby for STILL missing the CB community…
Blue Galangal
@dogwood:
dogwood – January 24, 2012 | 1:06 pm · Link
That. I’m heartbroken. He’s going to be lost in the noise news mess over there and I’m pretty sure his long thoughtful posts are going to be few and far between.
Aaron
You know that Jonathan Bernstein has his own blog, right?