Getting to a peek at his living conditions seems to be a big point of the piece:
...his two-bedroom apartment in the Venice neighborhood.... Ikea furniture buried under a flurry of political tomes, magazines, printouts, cellphone manuals, and two-year-old Christmas card photos starring his friends’ children. A red laptop balances on a stool.A stool or a DAVE?
A small TV sits on a table. In the kitchen, spilled coffee grounds share counter space with a spread of vitamins and nonalcoholic beer....There's stuff about his background — jumping from a law career into mainstream journalism and then to political blogging. But the campaign itself, per the NYT, is "quixotic" and "insane" with "grim" prospects. The writer, Janelle Brown, catches him complaining "I’m completely allergic to Washington, D.C. I was literally developing asthma." (He worked at The New Republic and lived in Washington before retreating to his homeland, California.) She needles him by pointing out that the Senate meets in Washington. He "grimaces" and backfills with "I’ll invest in a lot of air-purifying technology."
He offers his guest water in a disposable plastic cup (“I hate doing dishes,” he apologizes).
Then Brown makes one of the funniest gaffes ever in the NYT:
For a solitary blogger, Mickey Kaus is astonishingly social and well connected: It’s difficult to find a writer or politico in Los Angeles who hasn’t knocked boots (or opinions) with Mr. Kaus at a party....That's a lot of sexual intercourse! (Glenn Reynolds has already pointed out this gaffe.)
We eventually get to his positions on the issues, and really, Mickey can't complain about this. When does a candidate with no chance at winning get written up in the NYT? They can't be covering the political positions of everyone who qualifies to be on the ballot, even in a big state. You have to go in by the "Style & Fashion" door.
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What's the carbon footprint on those plastic cups? Are they recyclable?
Well, at least it wasn't in the Science Section under Anthropology!
"When does a candidate with no chance at winning get written up in the NYT? "
I imagine that William F. Buckley got more than a few inches when he ran against John Lindsey for Mayor of New York. But I'm too lazy to link.
The NYT should expound a bit more on Kaus' sex life if he really does knock boots that much. Campaign shirt: "I Knocked Boots with Mickey Kaus" or maybe "I Am Mickey Kaus' Baby!"
Is the next section after "Style & Fashion", the "Obituaries"?
I'll reserve judgment until I get David Brooks' pant crease appraisal.
Kausfiles wasn't started in late 1999; I believe that's when Kaus moved it from his own server to Slate.
Mickey is probably getting his issues more attention as a candidate than he did as a blogger. It will be interesting to see how his candidacy effects his career in the future. I assume he will write a book on it. (Is he living on an advance?) It's certainly not a bad thing to do and there are many people in the Senate who are far worse at the job than Mickey would be. Boxer among them.
This para was the kiss of death for NYT readers
More than a decade on, he’s legendary for being a gadfly, an irritant and a provocateur, a so-called “neoliberal” who is loathed by many Democrats (see: Ezra Klein) and befriended by an equal number of conservatives (see: Ann Coulter).
He's probably in 'Style & Fashion' because I'm betting that's where they put the piece about the Meadehouse romance this time last year.
Ann Althouse said...
'It’s difficult to find a writer or politico in Los Angeles who hasn’t knocked boots '...
That's a lot of sexual intercourse!
The Gray Lady can't get anything right. It sounds like making potato salad.
Since this post is partly about California, let me mention that all traditionalist generation guys are lowering their flags to half mast today in honor of the wizard of Westwood who was our greatest example of how a real man lives.RIP Coach Wooden.
Dude looks like a total Venice pothead.
He's got my vote!
Here are Mickey Kaus’ issues, in a nutshell: labor unions (which he blames for the destruction of the California educational system, the auto industry and assorted government institutions) and illegal immigration (which he thinks can’t be solved with a general amnesty).
Of course, in the world of the New York Times, neither of these opinions is fashionable among the right sort of people, so it just acknowledges them as evidence of Kaus's eccentricity and moves on.
Mickey is a hybrid or half breed in the sense that he is a truth telling liberal. A very interesting man, who may turn out to be a closet Christianist. He sure failed the NYT's smell test. Apparently all liberal/progressives have to pass an initiation by slandering innocent men, women and groups as scapegoats to be ruined for the furtherance of the cause before the can be admitted to the group of dead men walking committed only to the cause. Mickey is caught by his knee jerk Truth Telling, and therefore seems to be a useless washout to the NYT master liars.
Reading this, I was trying to imagine how Kaus' place in Venice might compare to Souter's cabin in NH. They're both solitary yet "astonishingly social," albeit in different ways. Kaus's preference for plastic cups to avoid doing dishes has a nice, Yankee practicality to it, but it's also a major Enviro-Sin. Kiss of death for Mickey's campaign in CA, if Boxer's handlers read this article.
I can't imagine Souter using plastic cups -- he's more into old, cracked mugs is my guess. And I don't ever expect to see Souter in the Fashiion & Style section.
Like all engaged people Kaus can't be bothered with getting crap like furnishings just so.
I'm getting kind of tired of reading about Kaus, who seems to be a conventional liberal with the exceptions that he wants to seal the border and reduce the power of labor unions. He would have voted for Health Care Reform, and probably stimulus.
I can't see that he'd be much better than Boxer, except that he doesn't sound as vapid as she does.
I think you should have combined this post with the "My Pet Goat" one.
Just sayn'
Oh yeah and the one about marrying your pets.
You could do a big mash-up.
I spent way too much time watching an interview he did and pointing out how the interviewer was wrong (and other things Kaus should have said).
If you'd like to help Kaus and you have a website, make a link like the following on your site: Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine.
Mickey Kaus's political campaign exists only in the blogosphere. He's a minor internet / low-rated chatshow celebrity, and isn't exactly making much of a splash with his Senate race, unlike Bill Buckley's flamboyant and entertaining run for Mayor of New York. Basically, he's Tila Tequila, without the charm.
Will the Althouse blog cover Mickey's path to victory over Boxer tonight?
Frankly, I don't give much for his chances. No commercials (TV or even radio); No mailers came to Mrs. FLS; No robocalls (ditto); Not even google ads pop up.
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