Klein Awards

Koufax awards are up and you guys should all go vote and do your thing. I want to use the opportunity, though, to hand out a couple awards of my own and give you guys an opportunity to add some terrific new links to your list. And I even kept the list short so you'd actually use it:

Most Deserving of Wider Recognition: Liberalism Without Cynicism. Reading Laura tends to be the most infuriating moment of my day. I've been blogging longer than her, I'm a professional writer -- and yet her stuff is orders of magnitude better than mine. Smarter, more gracefully composed, more genially put. I hate her. But, through the red mists of my rage, I can recognize that she's the shiniest hidden gem in the blogosphere, and if you're not reading her regularly and obsessively, you're making a huge mistake.

Best New Blog: Battlepanda. Angelica is my favorite kind of blogger, the amateur wonk. Since she's not yet gone pro and been co-opted by an organization or specialization, her curiosity ranges wide and she approaches a stunningly broad array of issues both honestly and substantively. That she's a lively, energetic writer just completes the package.

Best Writer: Lance Mannion. Easily the finest prose stylist you're likely to read in a day. The blogs boast a couple of professional word crafter (who are a different breed than the more workmanlike professional pundits), but for my money, none match Mannion. If you want to know why, read his post on curmudgeons. It's a classic.