I have developed a deep, meaningful, SERIOUS crush on Eric Alterman

[CatWoman]

One the country's most significant problems is the stupidity of our political discourse. It's most obvious in cable news, but it's everywhere, in print, on the Net, on the Sunday shows, on the left, on the right, on the center. It's not just inconvenient and annoying; it interferes without our ability to address our problems and allows thugs to get away with metaphorical murder.

Here are three examples, two of which involve me.

Joe Klein represents virtually everything wrong with political discourse in this country; he's ignorant, insulting, self-satisfied and feels himself to be some sort of victim. Writing about Connecticut, he complains of the "expected torrent of rubbish from left-wing blognuts and conservative wingnuts . nauseating triumphalism . unblinking assertion ... stupid excesses" and that's just in the first few paragraphs. It's all typical Klein but what caught my eye was the end, where he describes "bipartisan moderation" as "the highest form of patriotism" here. Oh really? What if the "center" goes off the rails, as in Iraq? As in the present economic policy? The Medicare bill? Etc, etc. Klein says, "Agree or else: dissent is unpatriotic." Where does it end, Joe? Just a little bit of torture? A touch of illegal spying? Throw away half the Bill of Rights?

Now, how stupid is the extremist Left in this country? Klein and the whole so-smart-they're-stupid-Neocon establishment treat sensible liberals like Ned Lamont as if they were raving Commie lunatics, which is a shame, but it doesn't mean there aren't a few raving lefty lunatics around. Fortunately, they are entirely impotent. Still, when my name's involved, I usually hear about it and it can be pretty annoying, the way mosquito bites often are. Look, for instance, here. If you read this column, you see someone making an argument that liberals thought Liberman was good and Nader was bad in 2000, and now think Liberman is bad, so doesn't that mean Nader was always good and we liberals are hypocrites?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-alterman/the-stupidity-of-our-disc_b_27270.html

[senseandsensibility]

1. Cool.

I prefer Joe Conason, though. :-)

[AlCzervik]

2. he's worthy of your affection, i had a nice email exchange with him

about 2 years ago, he was lovely. I contacted him after he appeared on Dennis Miller's now mercifully canceled "Show". Miller was a total douche to him.

[Dudley_DUright]

3. I have been reading Eric A for years now

His book "What Liberal Media?" is a must read (paperback has a good section on the woeful failure of the media on the run-up to the Iraq war).

http://www.whatliberalmedia.com/

[CatWoman]

4. I ordered the hardcover version from Ebay

:)