My First Time

The first political blog I ever read was talkingpointsmemo.com by Josh Marshall. It was after the push to go to war in Iraq, a move I deeply disagreed with, that I found TPM. I remember emailing Josh about helping me understand what a "progressive" was and how that was different from a Democrat or a Liberal. At my age, I was much too naive.

As political blogs go, I have always believed that Josh has maintained his political bias without letting it get in the way of reporting. His empire now (TPMCafe.com, TPMMucracker.com and the original) tends not to comment on the news so much as to report about news in a cutting edge way. Even his original talkingpointsmemo.com is less about commenting than it is about reporting. He even gives the devil his due, more on occassion than his peers.

That's why I think this is a monumental step toward the legitimacy of blogging as a real news medium. Perhaps FDL started that change with Scooter Libby, but no one has driven a story like TPM and the US Attorney scandal.

Every time a job opening is posted at TPM, I think that I would fill it the best. I have the passion, the drive and the time, but, alas, not the connections or the place (I live near Orlando - the pot belly of the Bush/Martinez dynamic) do not fit.

That does not prevent me, nor should it you, from dreaming that we could make an impact the way that Josh has on this one particular event. At the very least, he has precluded a presidency from being embalmed as a kingdom. That is the VERY.LEAST. not such a small thing.