Back on the Horse

Hey, check it out! Uninformed musings from a delusional idiot with a following about the uniformed musings of a delusional idiot with a following! It's like looking at a mirror in a mirror in a mirror in a....

Ann Althouse suggests that liberal magazine sales are down now that Obama is in office. From what I understand, that's not exactly surprising; the conventional wisdom around here is that political magazines do best when their party is out of power. On the other hand, there is this recession on, and I don't know that conservative magazines have seen their circulation rise. Personally, I just decided not to renew our subscription to Harper's, not because it's run out of anti-Bush hate, but because I've been reading it less and less. On the other hand, I guess you could argue that Bush hatred infused the magazine with an energy that it's now lost.

So, Megan, tell us about the magazines you read!

And -- so as to save brad the trouble of making the note -- as far as we know, neither Megan McArdle, nor myself, nor brad, nor M. Bouffant, nor Connor Friedersdorf, nor Ann Althouse is, in fact, Ann Althouse.

Update: She doesn't even read her own links (like me!)! From the Vanity Fair article Ann Althouse links:

The year 2009 was a tough one for magazines in general, with circulation down 2.23 percent overall, according to ABC (the decline in advertising revenue was far greater and more detrimental, but that’s another story). The three leading liberal political magazines, however, fared particularly badly. The Nation’s circulation in 2009 was down 7.4 percent from 2008, Mother Jones was down 6.7 percent, and Harper’s was down 5 percent.

(...)

What about the conservative magazines? The most prominent and biggest-selling, The National Review, definitely seemed to experience an Obama-hatred bump in 2009. Paid circulation was up a solid 4.8 percent from 2008, and was 16 percent greater than the magazine’s 2003-2008 average. The Weekly Standard rose by 8.4 percent, with an especially big spike in the second half of the year. As for relative newcomer Newsmax, which has less name recognition than the Standard but a higher circulation (an average of 101,370 copies in 2009 versus 77,470), its circulation held steady.

Compare & Contrast For Consistency, Or: Trying To Stir Up Some Shit Here

Conor Friedersdorf on his constructive InstaPundit criticism:

I am a writer. When I critique people or sites, it isn’t because I’ve got a personal grudge against them, or because I want them to fail, or because I want to divide and conquer them, whatever that means — it is because I think they are wrong on some matter of substance.

The very same Mr. Friedersdorf on something closer to my heart:

Perhaps that was just Mr. Friedersdorf on his own time, not something that he typed as "a writer." In which case he should use a different name, or add a clever disclaimer to his profile like: "Not the 'serious' me, expect no consistency w/ my claims of substance."

War Among The Passive-Aggressive

Young Conor Friedersdorf, Washington Media Village utility player, substitute typist & seasonal fill-in, analyzes Robot From The Future Glenn Reynolds, wherein we are expected to swallow this:

People like reading Instapundit! He brightens the days of so many office workers. I am not being flip. That is truly significant. So are the digital camera recommendations, the links to great Radley Balko and Megan McArdle stories ...

Well, one must stop there, mustn't one?

Especially when Friedersdorf's main complaint w/ Reynolds is summed up by this:

So many posts either pander to or coddle the movement conservative’s ideological preconceptions — so you have controversial plank X in the Tea Party platform, and Professor Reynolds signals his agreement with it, almost always without any argument about why it is correct. Other times he actually disagrees with plank X, something he’ll occasionally make known, but very seldom does he actually argue against plank X, or try to change anyone’s mind about it. Instead he’ll note that while he happens to be against plank X, other people who are against it are silly or annoying or hypocritical or ham-handed in their advocacy or approaching things in the wrong way or are the subject of a really funny Mark Steyn one-liner.

which could as easily be directed at Ms. McArdle as at Prof. Reynolds. (Except for the "funny Mark Steyn one-liner," because that's an oxymoron; & I don't remember McArdle ever linking to M.S.)

First spotted at Balloon Juice, as if that should make any fucking difference to anyone at all, ever.

Libertarians are the Funniest People Ever

Mr. Speederdorf makes an appearance again in our little corner of the crap-o-sphere, and Megan chuckles approvingly.

The dork to end all dorks decides to do one better than David Letterman and make a "top eleven" list.

Being unoriginal in a format so monumentally unoriginal is a task in and off itself, but the sheer nonsense that this idiot thinks is a joke is mindboggling:

Top 11 Things That Will Change in the Post 2008 Economy

Oh, God, you can smell the superior libertarian bullshit from a mile away. Some highlights:

10) Ben Bernanke's new bathroom reading: Ron Paul position papers.

Riiiiiighhhttt..... cause Ron Paul was all totally prescient here, and I'm sure his plan to destroy all regulations of any kind what-so-ever would have immediately stopped the bankers from running around taking absurd risks with other people's money without a second thought to the repercussions. Nothing makes you more responsible than knowing that no one is watching. That's why so many banks use the "honor system" for their withdrawals.

9) In updated version of Monopoly, bank no longer makes error in your favor, whichever player has the car must pay $200 gasoline surcharge when passing Go and all the houses -- now peach-pink in color and branded KB Homes -- are held in collective by a massive Chinese investment fund.

Brevity is your friends, Conor. Also your friend, fresh air, females and not following bullshit, self-centered and narrow ideologies that no one with a trace of compassion or an iota of common sense pays any attention to (other than to mock).

7) Sensing that color photos strike false chord during a Depression, National Geographic returns to publishing in black and white.

WTF?!?!??! What in the hell does National Geographic have to do with the economy? Why do I have the feeling that Conor only mentioned this because it's the only magazine he reads and it's just to see the tribal bare boobies?

5) Harvard remains filthy rich; alumni inexplicably continue to give it money.

Um, so I guess the implication here is that Harvard is to blame for this mess. Or something. I don't know. This kid is seriously brain damaged. I think he's another blogger that Megan links to just to make herself look better.

3) Cloning ban overturned to create army of Alan Greenspans.

While Harvard takes all the blame, apparently Conor thinks the man who resided over the entire track laying for this monumental train wreck is just who should be called on to fix it. What's next, suggesting we just need more strong leaders like George W. Bush to get us all straightened out?

1) Lender of last resort: Oprah.

Right, and the corollary to that, I suppose is "Comedian of last resort: Conor Friedersdorf."

This kid's mom really needs to take his computer away before he hurts someone with his poisonous "wit"