Althouse: Kaus to Newsweek.

September 21, 2010

Kaus to Newsweek.

"Basically I write about what I feel strongly about, which is the blog's strength and also its weakness. I don't try to cover every topic. Readers know I won't waste their time unless I think I have something to add."

ADDED: The link is to the New York Observer which headlines: "Newsweek Staunches the Flow of Talent with Blogger Mickey Kaus." Well, Mickey is a staunch blogger and Newsweek may be bleeding, but the Observer needs to stanch the flow of usage errors.

35 comments:

GMay said...: "Readers know I won't waste their time unless I think I have something to add."

People who don't like having their time wasted won't be reading Newsweek in the first place.; 9/21/10, 9:58 AM
Anonymous said...: Gosh! I hope they didn't have to let Howard Fineman or Eleanor Clift go to make room for Mickey.; 9/21/10, 10:11 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Walt Kelly (the Pogo guy) once used "stench" for "stanch" and had a kerfuffle over it. He paraphrased Lewis Carroll, asking "who's the master, you or the word?"

In short: don't be a silly elitist. The spelling and pronunciation are less important than the meaning. Did you miss the meaning, Professor Althouse?; 9/21/10, 10:14 AM
chickelit said...: The comments at the link are pretty funny.; 9/21/10, 10:15 AM
Sprezzatura said...: I hope he saw the middle segment of The Daily Show yesterday.

I'm sure he'd like it because they completely ripped apart a union. It was ruthless, and effective.; 9/21/10, 10:30 AM
jungatheart said...: Mickey!!!; 9/21/10, 10:33 AM
traditionalguy said...: I confess that I love Fineman's ways of presenting his arguments. But Mickey will shake them all up by easily puncturing Newsweek's usual reliance on liberal myths. Stay tuned.; 9/21/10, 10:36 AM
Anonymous said...: I saw this story last night and knew you would write about it, Anne. What I was wondering was whether you would highlight this passage from Mickey's first post:

"--kausfiles on Newsweek won't be quite the same as kausfiles on Slate. My early New Year's resolution is to be a lot more interactive (e.g. responding to comments), a bit less insidery, and a lot more Instapundit-y--emulating the wildly popular Tennessee blogger who posts lots of short links to worthy articles by others. Please let me know how I'm doing."

Remember when he talked about his try-out as a radio talk show host? And he described his failure at that thusly:

"Basically, you're talking to people who are alone in their apartments. And I knew I dropped the ball on that. I forgot that. I was proclaiming like Rush Limbaugh, you know, denouncing people, as if I was talking to talking to a crowd of 10,000 people. And I knew I screwed that up."

And you rightly pointed out that his argument was absurd. If he did what Rush really did, and he really understood Rush's show, he wouldn't have been a failure but a great success in imitating him. But, of course, anybody who understands Rush's show as someone denouncing people in front of a crowd of 10,000 doesn't "get" it.

So, anyway, do you think he understands Instapundit's blog better than he understands Rush's show? I think he probably does, but couldn't help but laugh when he said his posting quota would be three entries a day, or 15 a week. Like that's even remotely Instapundit-y. Glenn can do 15 posts in his sleep. But then again, do robots ever sleep?; 9/21/10, 10:42 AM
jungatheart said...: Bob Ellison, apparently you are unaware of how the blogosphere works. Try observing for a while, and come back when you're ready for the Show.; 9/21/10, 10:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Oops, sorry, of course I meant Ann. My friend I was talking to is Anne.

WV: robac

I'm rowing back my mistaken spelling.; 9/21/10, 10:51 AM
Anonymous said...: "In short: don't be a silly elitist. The spelling and pronunciation are less important than the meaning. Did you miss the meaning, Professor Althouse?"

They might be less important, but they're not unimportant. Surely, a professionally published document can get spellings right, even of the "hard" words.; 9/21/10, 10:57 AM
Sprezzatura said...: "Oops, sorry, of course I meant Ann. My friend I was talking to is Anne."

How about going the next step by using 'Althouse' or 'professor'?

Maybe things have changed (since I've recently read nearly a dozen commenters use 'Ann'), but I thought that the clear preference was to be called 'Althouse' or 'professor'. Maybe Althouse was not being earnest (and I didn't realize it) when she requested such in the past. Maybe she's abandoned her earlier request.

Whatever the situation may be from Althouse's perspective, imho it reads oddly for commenters to use 'Ann'. Obviously, others don't agree w/ me.; 9/21/10, 11:05 AM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: I used to be a staunch fan of Newsweek, from the time I was about 10 years old. It was a sort of legacy from my father. Yes, I read Stewart Alsop when I was 10. I subscribed during college, and would read it as soon as I got the new copy each week, even if I had an exam. I'm not sure when I noticed how much it was going downhill--both in bias and in style. I even started catching typos. About 7-8 years ago, I gave up. I haven't missed it, but I'm sad to say that.

Toy; 9/21/10, 11:08 AM
Unknown said...: I wonder if Evan Thomas is paying his outstanding campaign expenses?

1jpb said...

"Oops, sorry, of course I meant Ann. My friend I was talking to is Anne."

How about going the next step by using 'Althouse' or 'professor'?

Maybe things have changed (since I've recently read nearly a dozen commenters use 'Ann'), but I thought that the clear preference was to be called 'Althouse' or 'professor'. Maybe Althouse was not being earnest (and I didn't realize it) when she requested such in the past. Maybe she's abandoned her earlier request.

Whatever the situation may be from Althouse's perspective, imho it reads oddly for commenters to use 'Ann'. Obviously, others don't agree w/ me.

Mrs Meade is quite gracious in her tolerance of a great many forms of address.; 9/21/10, 11:10 AM
The Dude said...: They're writing is taunt. I am surprised alot more people dont by there magazine. Noone should miss it.

WV: lifeurea - it's a piss of a life afterall.; 9/21/10, 11:17 AM
ricpic said...: According to the article Kaus is a "skeptical" supporter of Obamacare. I guess that makes him a "responsible" Democrat.; 9/21/10, 11:53 AM
Opus One Media said...: "feel strongly" also qualifies..

have strong feelings about..is what was meant but feel means touching something..touching strongly...similar to feel badly...means to touch something clumsily...

just saying; 9/21/10, 12:12 PM
BJM said...: As a long time Kaus reader I can't help but wonder why he's boarding the Titanic of weeklies.

Though it will be fun to imagine Evans' head exploding, figuratively speaking of course, when Mickey gores liberal sacred cows as he is wont to do.

Any one care to guess how many weeks before Mickey either rebels or is asked to walk back an opinion?; 9/21/10, 12:29 PM
Lance said...: According to the article Kaus is a "skeptical" supporter of Obamacare.

They couldn't be more wrong. True, he's skeptical of Obama's and Orszag's curve-bending claims. But that's no problem for Kaus. He enthusiastically supports universal government-run healthcare, even if it costs more.; 9/21/10, 12:42 PM
fivewheels said...: It's hard to tell this early, but the setup of the blog looks like some kind of stupid corporate page-view-generating scheme. My longtime "kausfiles.com" bookmark takes me to a snippet, that then forces me to click "more."

But "more" doesn't take me to the post that is excerpted, it takes me to the first post of the blog. So am I ever going to be able to read this the way every other fricking decent blog on earth is organized, last post first?

Geez, Newsweek sucks.; 9/21/10, 12:51 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Don't know how old As My Whimsey Leads is, but I'm 66 and when I was HS age it was necessary to read Newsweek, Time, and US News & WR from cover-to-cover each week plus Scientific American plus local, maj. State newspapers daily plus NYT/WSJ to be considered minimally informed. Sadly now almost all these pubs do today (WSJ excepting) is largely either mis-inform or hard-left propagandize.; 9/21/10, 12:53 PM
virgil xenophon said...: PS: Of course that's just the point of talk radio and the blogosphere isn't it? In those days the gate-keepers that were the MSM had such a strangle-hold on the news/presentation of reality that it was next to impossible to know if one was being mis-informed by sins of either leftist omission or commission via lefty spin/"framing."; 9/21/10, 1:01 PM
virgil xenophon said...: PS: Of course that's just the point of talk radio and the blogosphere isn't it? In those days the gate-keepers that were the MSM had such a strangle-hold on the news/presentation of reality that it was next to impossible to know if one was being mis-informed by sins of either leftist omission or commission via lefty spin/"framing."; 9/21/10, 1:02 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: It is clear that Newsweek is crashing, and maybe this can help.

As you may recall, the husband (Sidney Harman) of long term Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman bought the magazine in early August for $1, plus debts.

I can't remember exactly, but Harmon has not gotten along all that well with fellow California Democratic Representative Pelosi. She was supposed to get the chair of intelligence committee (she was ranking member before), when the Dems retook the House, but Pelosi put a stop to that. She (Harmon) was also, apparently, considered too much of a hawk for the liberal lions running the House, as well as the ACLU.

Should be interesting. Sydney Harmon's wife is considered a hawkish Blue Dog Democrat, and I wonder how much of that has rubbed off on the new owner of the magazine, and how well Kaus will be able to work there.; 9/21/10, 1:26 PM
LordSomber said...: Speaking of newspapers' usage errors...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091304476.html; 9/21/10, 1:43 PM
Phil 314 said...: So let me get this straight:

-"Respected journalist" Howard Fineman leaves Newsweek for the Huffington Post.

-As an example of that fine news organization we read an article from Huff Po suggesting that Christine O'Donnell's "dabbling into" wicca defames wicca

-and now conservative darling though actually a conservative Democrat Mickey Kaus will now join Newsweek? Should I assume that he, a la David Wiegel, will be "the conservative voice" of Newsweek?

(Don't get me wrong, I respect Mickey Kaus, but if the rats are leaving the sinking ship what does that say about who's boarding?)

I'm seeing a future with The New York BloggingTimes, All the News that's fit to talk about....

The Gray Lady in the classic black dress reporting on the serious issues of the day but with a certain style and some HOT pictures ...; 9/21/10, 2:14 PM
jungatheart said...: BH, to thicken the plot, Mickey worked for Harman many moons ago, not sure in what capacity.; 9/21/10, 2:27 PM
David said...: What does Mickey Kaus do for an actual living?; 9/21/10, 3:01 PM
Banshee said...: Staunch(2) is a well-recognized variant spelling of stanch. A lot better attested than the variant spellings of kinnikinnick and raccoon.

And that's not surprising, because the Old French verb it's from was spelled both "estaunchier" and "estanchier", and there's not a penny's worth of difference between which Old French spelling you choose (unless you're doing a linguistics research paper on pronunciations and sources). So hold your language curmudgeon horses instead of giving them free rein.; 9/21/10, 3:33 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Going from Slate to Newsweek is like rowing your life raft from the Andrea Doria to the Titantic.; 9/21/10, 3:37 PM
BJM said...: Isn't "Respected journalist" an oxymoron nowadays?; 9/21/10, 5:57 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I'm amazed! Newsweek found a way to get me to go to their site!; 9/21/10, 7:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Some time in the not-too-distant future...

Kaus to Newsweek. Kaus to Newsweek. Are you there, Newsweek? Come in, Newsweek?; 9/21/10, 8:47 PM
damikesc said...: Kaus is an amazing pickup.

Not nearly enough to make me read Newsweek, though. God that rag is horrible.; 9/21/10, 9:02 PM
jungatheart said...: lol kcom; 9/21/10, 9:22 PM