March 28th, 2011
The New York Times has a big piece on Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, Dave Weigel, et al. It’s everything you hoped it might be.
Meanwhile, I put together a short complaint about a stray line in Ed Kilgore’s otherwise interesting TNR analysis of Tim Pawlenty’s prospects. For whatever it’s worth, the New Republic is, happily, undergoing a real resurgence in recent months, since Richard Just took over. I think it’s not an accident that the really good stuff at TNR is coming from Ed Kilgore, John Judis, and William Galston–who are basically the antithesis of the Juicebox crowd.
(Richard Just gets no mention in the NYT piece; I guess he’s not part of the posse.)
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Oh wow, that NYT piece on the juicebox mafia is AMAZING!!!
My favorite quotes:
“I think their popularity is a myth.”
“I always think of myself as an explainer,”
“They’ve grown up, They’re not spring chickens anymore.” (this was my personal fav. Annie Lowery, age 26, talking about Ezra Klein, age 26, and his under-30 buddies. Not spring chickens. Under-30. Are you fucking kidding me?)
“We had a weekly trivia team, and Ezra was often on it,” he recalled. These days, he said, “I think functionally you couldn’t commit to that on a weeknight, because Ezra’s on TV four times a week.” Translation: We’re too fucking famous to do nerdy stuff like trivia games. We’re out drinking bourbon (oh really asshole, what kind?) at trendy bars, shaping policy, talking to important people. Trivia is for common-folk.
Noticeably absent from this profile: The JBM enforcer, Spencer Ackerman. I bet he’s mighty pissed this morning.
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I like the picture of Weigel just hanging out in his apartment wearing the sport coat and t shirt. So rock n roll. He must have just been hanging out at a Maroon 5 video shoot.
Jeff Singer March 28, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Great post and comment from SkinsFanPG. I have been getting TNR for years and even when I became a neocon (or theocon…who knows?) I decided to keep getting it because I wanted to read serious liberal arguments so I didn’t get trapped in the conservative bubble. I generally don’t think much of those arguments anymore, but I am glad that grown-up are writing those articles AND the back of the book is still one of the best in the business. Benny Morris’ smackdown of Ilan Pappe in the latest issue is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. If you spot anyone quoting from one of Pappe’s books anywhere on the web (Ackerman, this means you), just send them Morris’ article and the debate is over.