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August 07, 2007
The Neoliberal's Lament
Just to recap: No presidential candidates attended the DLC's national conference, Harold Ford wrote a very defensive, very poor, op-ed arguing for the institution's relevance, and Mickey Kaus* has taken to quoting instances when some of my commenters disagree with me as to the culpability of teacher's unions in the failures of inner-city education.
Is anyone else getting the feeling that the few unreconstructed neoliberals left are very, very anxious?
*Yes, Mickey. I have a comments section. In it, people disagree with me. Why, pray tell, don't you allow your readers the same access? Surely I'm not the only one who could benefit from some constructive engagement...
August 7, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
If Mickey had a comments section, it would make Swampland's look like a civility fest. I have stopped reading Slate altogether because of him. He's a union-bashing, homophobic pinhead, with a dash of racist thrown in for a really putrid mix. That he continues to self-identify as a Democrat is just cringe inducing.
Posted by: Klein's Tiny Left Nut | Aug 7, 2007 3:28:21 PM
He's just trying to poach hits from you Ezra.
BTW, for the record, are you employed either by government or a political party? If not, I'd say that calling you an aparatchik, whippersnapper or otherwise, amounts to a baseless smear.
Now if he'd called you a member of the nomenklatura on the other hand...
Posted by: WB Reeves | Aug 7, 2007 3:42:12 PM
I suspect Kaus was trying to insinuate that Ezra is employed by the teachers' unions. Or something. It's Mickey Kaus, it doesn't pay to read too closely.
Posted by: Tom Hilton | Aug 7, 2007 3:45:04 PM
Mickey's such a moron that he doesn't realize a vibrant comments section might have actually kept him mildly relevant. But as it is, he's reduced to baiting better, smarter bloggers like Ezra and hoping for links.
Funny thing is, Kausfiles was the first blog I ever read... it was his section of links below that introduced me to the blogosphere. But soon he was driving me nuts with his contrarian bullshit and I made Josh Marshall my automatic first read instead and never looked back. Anyone else have experience with Kausfiles as a gateway blog?
Posted by: Philly | Aug 7, 2007 3:46:31 PM
I think every time someone says "DLC" there should be a "bwah-bwaaah" horn cue, to signal their pitiful sad-sack-ness. Like the one you hear when Col. Klink discovers he's been outwitted by that wily Hogan again.
Posted by: emjaybee | Aug 7, 2007 3:48:32 PM
Ezra
I'm curious why you think the op-ed piece is poor quality? I clicked the link and read the actual article and the word DLC is mentioned once. I don't think the article is meant as a defense of the DLC as much as a foreboding of remembering the middle.
I get tired of people from the center left and the far left arguing over labels that are empty,rarely defined, and overlap. Where on the scale does liberal begin and end? What defintion are you using to define moderate,progressive,liberal,centrist,etc.
Unless someone clearly articulates who falls into what category and why, then debates about different wings of the democratic party are useless.
Posted by: Phil | Aug 7, 2007 3:49:43 PM
> Where on the scale does liberal begin and end?
When a politician votes with the Radical Right more than 49% of the time he is no longer a Democrat much less a liberal. The DLC advocates triangulating with the Radical Right which requires Democrats to vote with the Radicals 50% of the time or more, and also to stiffarm the Democratic base. That's past the "end".
Cranky
Posted by: Cranky Observer | Aug 7, 2007 3:53:47 PM
Some people disagree with you, and that's supposed to be the final word? No one in that thread provided any actual evidence proving that teacher's unions stand in the way of reform - all that anyone could do was partially cite a particular instance where it's possible to interpret the union's actions as a hindrance to good reform. And even that ignores the fact that there is a debate over just what "reforms" need to take place anyway.
What's going on is that Ezra has clearly become the gold standard in honest, intellectually rigorous punditry, so people like Kaus take potshots at him to try and make themselves look better.
It ain't working.
Posted by: Stephen | Aug 7, 2007 4:03:39 PM
I read Mickey very much in the spirit I read James "Boychick" Kerchick at The Plank -- for the sheer unadulterated masochistic hell of it. To me, Kaus represents the death rattle of all the neoliberal bullshit which had a stranglehold over left of center politics for over 20 years, but is now, thank god, (all but) gone daddy gone.
I'm also fascinated by Kaus's continuing obsession with Ezra, which does not bode well as to his mental health. It's so nakedly clear that he resents Ezra's youth, his command of policy and politics, and his growing prominence. I think it frustrates Mickey profoundly that Ezra is someone he just can't dismiss, because Ezra obviously knows his shit, and also because the facts are largely on Ezra's side. The way the economy has shaken out over the past decade or so has done a lot to persuade people that neoliberal policies weren't all they were cracked up to be.
Mickey is also quite a troll as far as physical appearance goes, and Ezra is ... well ... not. Which I know is very mean and bitchy of me to say, but I'm sure that fact plays a big part in what goes on in Mickey's twisted psyche, vis-a-vis Ezra.
Posted by: Kathy G. | Aug 7, 2007 4:04:27 PM
Klein's Tiny Left Nut: If Mickey had a comments section, it would make Swampland's look like a civility fest. I have stopped reading Slate altogether because of him. He's a union-bashing, homophobic pinhead, with a dash of racist thrown in for a really putrid mix. That he continues to self-identify as a Democrat is just cringe inducing.
Homerun! (with bases loaded)
Can we vote him off the (Dem.) island?
Posted by: JimPortlandOR | Aug 7, 2007 4:07:50 PM
Funny, even the commenters that Kaus cites are just presenting their opinions--simple assertions that they disagree with Ezra, unsupported by any external data other than their gut feelings. That's what passes for a critique to Kaus?
I suppose it does.
Hey, Kaus: people--including you-- have all sorts of unsupported opinions. Is that really news to you?
For the record, Brokeback Mountain ranked 22nd in box office for movies released in 2005:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2005&p=.htm
More than March of the Penguins, Dukes of Hazzard, Sin City, etc. etc. Not bad for a western.
To Philly (above): The first blogs (as we more-or-less know them now) that I read were probably Kausfiles and Instapundit, neither of which I read at all now.
Posted by: blatherskite | Aug 7, 2007 4:11:40 PM
Thanks Jim -- I voted him off a long time ago.
I find Kaus more reprehensible than almost any of the admittedly right wing denizens of the blogosphere. And I really have sworn off Slate because of him -- well him and Dickerson and Hitchens and Schaefer and Lord Saletan. It's too bad because I love Dahlia Lithwick, but I refuse to give them any hits.
And Philly, I think Kaus was my gateway drug to the blogosphere. I guess it's the equivalent of smoking oregano when you're 14.
Posted by: Klein's Tiny Left Nut | Aug 7, 2007 4:16:54 PM
Mikey Kaus was the first blogger I read as well. It was interesting for awhile and then it became too predictable and annoyingly contrarian, regardless of the truth of the matter. Atrios and TPM were discovered and that was it.
I now read slate for Daniel Gross' excellent economic reporting. Kaplan is good on Pentagon matters and Hitchens is entertaining to watch as he stumbles and curses at everything around him.
oH Daliah Lithwick is good too.
Posted by: Northern Observer | Aug 7, 2007 4:20:08 PM
mickey doesn't have a commments section because he just likes to hear himself talk and because he hates democracy.
Posted by: Barack Obama | Aug 7, 2007 4:20:20 PM
You'd think that after facing a pretty public humiliation by refusing to debate Ezra on Bloggingheads, Kaus would quit attacking him*, but I guess, then he wouldn't be Mickey Kaus.
*For the record, I don't find anything wrong with criticizing people you disagree with, but if you participate in a medium (bloggingheads) that allows for discussion and debate, but refuse to debate person you frequently attack, well that's cowardly.
Posted by: Eric the Political Hack | Aug 7, 2007 4:24:19 PM
When a politician votes with the Radical Right more than 49% of the time he is no longer a Democrat much less a liberal. The DLC advocates triangulating with the Radical Right which requires Democrats to vote with the Radicals 50% of the time or more, and also to stiffarm the Democratic base. That's past the "end".
Cranky
This has absolutely nothing to do with clearing up the ambiguity over party labels. Zero. Hence my point. Everytime someone sees the word DLC they just blindly type in a random DLC sucks rant.That might make you feel better but it doesnt really clarify the underlying confusion among the different branches of our party.
Posted by: Phil | Aug 7, 2007 4:28:31 PM
To quasi-defend Mickey he does have a comments section of sorts -- "The Fray" at Slate which is something of an anachronism much like Mickey himself. Old-timers may recall that Instapundit got his start on "The Fray" -- and I even remember thinking that he wrote some interesting stuff.
I can't really say that about Mickey -- I know he had a reputation such a smart and nuanced thinker, but in all the years I've read his blogs (please don't ask my why!) about 90% of his writing can be summed up with "Welfare reform -- good! Unions -- bad! Immigration -- bad!" and most of the other 10% is Mickey indulging in kind of a grudge (John Kerry, Andrew Sullivan, the LA Times, Ezra Klein, etc)
Posted by: peep | Aug 7, 2007 4:33:19 PM
> That might make you feel better but it doesnt
> really clarify the underlying confusion
> among the different branches of our party.
For some odd reason this confusion only seems to affect the conservative branch of the Democratic Party.
Cranky
Posted by: Cranky Observer | Aug 7, 2007 4:44:36 PM
Peep -- I totally agree. The thing about Kaus that annoys me the most is that he almost never bothers to get off his ass and actually make an argument. He just assumes you agree with his preconceptions -- as you say, "Welfare reform -- good! Unions -- bad!" It's lazy, narcissistic, and maddeningly smug. Like you're supposed to be able to read his mind and automatically know why X is bad and Y is good.
Posted by: Kathy G. | Aug 7, 2007 4:45:46 PM
For some odd reason this confusion only seems to affect the conservative branch of the Democratic Party.
Are you trying to make a point?
Posted by: Phil | Aug 7, 2007 4:56:14 PM
I really wonder how much confusion there is in the party. Everyone likes to beat up on the DLC, but how much disagreement is there really between them and the Democratic left? Remember, the DLC was not pro Iraq invasion; it took no stance. It has long been in favor of a robust internationalist foreign policy. Which is exactly what Obama and every other candidate talks about.
There are really two issues that I can think of where the DLC and the left really disagree. One is trade, and on that the DLC has long favored incorporating labor and environmental standards in trade agreements so the disagreement is not nearly as wide as many think.
The other is tactics in elections, the old "appeal to the middle vs. mobilize the base" debate. Whatever. The 2006 midterms showed pretty clearly you need both, with the victories of people like Webb and Tenant who neutralized the values discussion by presenting themselves in the cultural mainstream (like the DLC favors) while promoting progressive policies.
It is important to note that Mickey is not even in tune with the DLC. He is far to the right of most DLCers. After all, the DLC has long since made its peace with unions (remember that big joint conference several years ago?)
Posted by: think twice | Aug 7, 2007 5:02:21 PM
My goodness, I've been quoted by Mickey Kaus.
Oddly, I no longer read Mickey Kaus. I prefer a site like Ezra's, because there is an ongoing dialogue between blogger and audience, and within the audience itself. I don't agree with everything Ezra writes, but I think he provides the example - one that I've tried to adopt as a new blogger myself - of being willing to learn from reader feedback. I thought that was the point of the new age of blogging. Kaus, I think, may have already outlived his usefulness, of he cannot adapt to that new reality.
Posted by: weboy | Aug 7, 2007 5:23:12 PM
Kaus...Kaus. didn't he used to have a blog or something back in the 90's?
Posted by: Dan F, | Aug 7, 2007 5:30:27 PM
From what I remember, the DLC pushed welfare reform, Mickey's pet project.
In his post on Klein, Kaus writes "It seems to me the consensus "root cause," if there is one, is the culture of fatherlessness and fecklessness that characterizes "ghetto poverty." Changing that culture was what welfare reform was all about."
Everyone knows what this is code for.
Hitchens still got it, no matter what the player-haters say.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2103926,00.html
Don't see Kaus writing something like that.
Posted by: Peter K. | Aug 7, 2007 5:40:32 PM
Yes, the DLC pushed welfare reform -- 13 years ago! But Mickey has moved to the right of the DLC long since.
Posted by: think twice | Aug 7, 2007 5:45:35 PM
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