Klein Versus Armey

If Time's whole "let's give crazy right-wing ex-politicians a spot on our political blog" experiment results in more of this sweet Joe Klein smackdown stuff in response, then I say it's all for the best. On some level, it's worth exposing the fact that Armey actually is every bit as intellectually shallow as he seems to be during brief television appearances. Anyone can look dumb on cable, but on a blog you have the opportunity to explain yourself at any length you like and Armey just . . . can't.

Comments

Wow. Good stuff.

Posted by Eric Martin | June 7, 2007 4:00 PM

Klein is consistently a strong advocate for liberalism... it's the liberals he can't seem to stand. This is about his third or fourth response to Armey and they're all pretty solid.

Posted by Steve | June 7, 2007 4:04 PM

I was under the impression that the first rule of publishing is to know your audience.

As the whole objectivity discourse continues to unravel, Time is one of those magazines pretending a) that it isn't and that there is this vast readership of Concerned Suburbanites reading Time and b) just in case a might be wrong that what Time's politically liberal readership really wants is to read "both sides of the issue".

I gather the first national magazine to figure out that the only bankable (political) audience without a print magazine of their own are the hundreds of thousands of people who read the dailykos every day will profit nicely.

Posted by Linus | June 7, 2007 4:11 PM

Klein is consistently a strong advocate for liberalism... it's the liberals he can't seem to stand

Nailed it.

Posted by Eric Martin | June 7, 2007 4:21 PM

Its almost like there is two Joe Kleins, the articulate defender of Liberalism who smacks down a fool like Armey and his evil twin who thinks anyone not paid by a major media outlet is a dirty hippie radical who must be ridiculed and treated as a threat.

Posted by Eric | June 7, 2007 4:31 PM

Wow,

I just waded through more of Armey's BS. That guy is either one of the stupidest fucking people alive to borrow a quote, or an absolutely disingenuious lying sack of shit. Though I suppose those aren't mutually exclusive

Posted by Eric | June 7, 2007 4:46 PM

My question is whether Time made Armey give up his big time lobbying gigs in order to get his blog. Somehow I doubt it.

Ok, maybe they aren't lobbying gigs in the Chamber of Commerce type, but they are basically Club for Growth foundations for hire.

Posted by Rob | June 7, 2007 7:54 PM

Dammit, I'm so conflicted about Joe Klein.. unlike many of the media heathers he seems genuinely intelligent and thoughtful when it comes to policy prescriptions, but on the other hand it seems like a life in the mists of the beltway has rendered him so reflexively hostile to criticism or even simple good faith convictions that he comes across as a dick, no pun intended. I think he's just a victim of the beltway culture - hard to expect a man to reform his business overnight when it's done him well for so long.

Posted by Tim P. | June 7, 2007 9:32 PM