Richard Bennett

is the subject of this piece by Jonathon Chait (The New Republic Online: Sullivan v. The New York Times)

Sullivan first condemned Krugman January 18, then continued on for days, posting twelve items. After that massive output, he wrote, “No more Krugman, I promise.” Alas, he failed to keep the promise, mentioning Krugman in 22 more items before once again promising, “I’m gonna lay off (unless I can’t help myself.).” Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t help himself and has since gone after Krugman in 17 subsequent items.

The use of the numerical method fits this case neatly. I commented on the obession some days ago, both here and elsewhere because it was so blatant. Joshua Marshall had an “All Enron, All the Time” theme for a while himself, though not nearly as severe as Sullivan’s. I pointed this out to Marshall, and he sent me a civil reply and cleaned-up his act. Sullivan’s response to a similar pointer was to send no reply and continue on his merry way. I used to respect Sullivan, despite his quirky ways, but I have to wonder when his behavior is so crude in comparison with that of a man whose politics I don’t even agree with. Intelligence knows no ideology, apparently, nor does boorishness.

Thursday’s line score in the battle of the Blogs: VodkaPundit 33, Instapundit 28

Reynolds upped the ante a bit, returning to his old form after a couple of days of slacking-off, but Stephen is in the Zone and will not be denied. Insta tried to catch the Newbie in the death-grip of mutual admiration by sucking-up to one of his posts, but it didn’t work.

Take heart, Professor — even Steve Austin couldn’t be champ forever.

Meanwhile, back at the Fox News ranch, pundits Breen and Jacobs discuss Andrea Yates. Breen says killer mom’s a loon, and Jacobs says it’s the man’s fault.

Megan McArdle says get your red hot videotapes right here:

Daniel Pearl Videotape

R Kelly Videotape

— If there’s one thing Salon’s chief censor and managing editor Scott Rosenberg knows about, it’s soaring debts. But somehow he manages to project Salon’s business practices onto the president of the United States. This is why I call these folks “The Sneering Class”. Salon.com Politics

Still, it’s incontrovertible that the government has a lot less money now — and will have less and less in the future — thanks to Bush’s ill-conceived tax cut. And it offends anyone who cares about honesty in government (a phrase that, during the Clinton era, was the rallying cry of impeachment-happy Republicans) to watch Bush continue to pin responsibility for his own fiscal mismanagement on the head of Osama bin Laden.

This is downright stupid. The tax cut has had no effect on tax revenues so far, and Democrats oppose the one tax cut that’s guaranteed to raise money for the government, the capital gains tax cut. Scott, son, go sell some more worthless stock and be done with it.

— VodkaPundit cements his domination of the Blogosphere by out-blogging Instapundit for the second day in a row, 29-21. The sudden drop-off in productivity on the part of the long-time King of the Blogs is hard to explain, unless the professor has been spending lots of time plotting with Rupert to take over (more of) the world. But the question is how long Stephen can maintain his blistering pace.

Meanwhile, the wall of silence on Sullivan criticism continues on the J-list blogs, and sharp-tongued computer industry pundit John Dvorak opines that the blogs are a massive web of interpersonal self-congratulation. But of course.

? Yesterday, for the first time in recorded history, Instapundit Glenn Reynolds was outblogged. Intoxicated by Andrew Sullivan’s endorsement, Prof. Reynolds let his output drop to a piddling 27 posts, while VodkaPundit Stephen Green blogged a solid 31 posts to take the lead and establish himself as the most prolific blogger of the day. Green posted an additional 4 past midnight, making his lead in the technical category all the more impressive. Green’s stuff is rife with wit and commentary, which earns him extra points with the judges in the coveted presentation category as well. Here’s one for the new champion, long may he reign.

? old bits of nothing says, vis a vis the snobbery of the J-Team:

If the journalism-with-a-capital-J crowd is calling it a fad, perhaps they are scared at the prospects of admitting there is something useful in weblogs, and it’s a smoke shield.

That they’re scared is a given; the challenge is to recognize that they’re using two tactics to undermine the threat: one is the snobbish put-downs in the print media, and the other is active co-option, or pushing the Blogosphere toward banality. Behind the high-profile banality you’ll often find Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, handing out cash and exposure; Fox News and the London Times (publisher of Sullivan’s linkless manifesto) are both News Corp properties. But that’s just a coincidence, of course, because News Corp has so many properties they’re involved in all things mediarific by necessity, from tabloids to dailies to networks to satellites and even to set-top boxes; they’re pretty big in James Bond movies too.