Quantity Over Quality Since 2002

I was a little frightened when I heard that Hendrick Hertzberg was going to be blogging the YearlyKos Convention for The New Yorker. He's a much better writer than I am, and what better way for America's most prestigious weekly to wreak vengeance on The Atlantic for poaching Jeffrey Goldberg than to show me up.

But check out the results: a lousy two posts so far -- that's barely a blog! And that's my commitment to you, the reader. This site's writing may not be the best or the best spelled, but there will always be a lot of it.

UPDATE: Rick, Ezra, and I at lunch:

We're all MacBook users, it turns out.

Comments

Ah Quantity over Quality. Like cafeteria food.

Posted by Parmenides | August 3, 2007 10:47 AM

For someone like Hertzberg it probably takes a while to get used to the idea of writing without thinking. For someone like Andrew Sullivan, this was, of course, not an issue.

Posted by peep | August 3, 2007 11:01 AM

he has one of the better description's of Kos's m.o. that I've seen:

"a passion to push Democrats leftward without actually blowing winnable elections."

Posted by Glenn | August 3, 2007 11:01 AM

I'm sure Hedrick Hertzberg is totally crying in his beer over the loss of Jeff Goldberg. And to a magazine with such high standards that it gives a monthly column to Mark Steyn, no less!

Posted by Professor Booty | August 3, 2007 11:03 AM

No typos, though.

Posted by JP | August 3, 2007 11:15 AM

The writing really is very good though. But one question.

"The left, if I may use that radioactive word, sure has changed since “my day,” i.e., the nineteen-sixties and early seventies.... The stereotypical look then was rock roadie or medieval wizard for men, groupie or earth mother for women."

Medieval wizard? I don't remember seeing any of those on All in the Family reruns. Can any oldsters out there explain?

Also:

"On my bathroom wall I have a photograph taken at one of these underground-press convocations... And, sure enough, if you make allowances for a certain number of extravagant mustaches and batik prints, the crowd does look kind of normal, most of it. Except that three of the young women listening (somewhat skeptically, I have to admit) are stark naked."

Maybe the left has been regressing all this time after all.

Posted by JP | August 3, 2007 11:23 AM

Poaching Jeffrey Goldberg? The guy who wrote the New Yorker article linking Saddam to Al Qaeda? They should be thanking the Atlantic for being stupid enough to take him off their hands. (

Posted by Donald Johnson | August 3, 2007 11:28 AM

such high standards that it gives a monthly column to Mark Steyn, no less!

Steyn's not with us anymore.

Posted by Matthew Yglesias | August 3, 2007 11:34 AM

Ooooohhh!! A man that promises lots of bad spelling and unintentionally mangled grammar! Pass the popcorn!! Please, give us just one "nucular" whilst we await your next post.

Posted by steve duncan | August 3, 2007 11:45 AM

I always liked Steyn's stuff for the Atlantic, the show-biz obituaries. You had to skip anything that touched on politics, but he's really a good prose stylist, and that was a good format for him.

Posted by too many steves | August 3, 2007 11:47 AM

P.S. I here their's going to be a seminar on you're blog.

Posted by steve duncan | August 3, 2007 11:48 AM

"Medieval wizard? I don't remember seeing any of those on All in the Family reruns. Can any oldsters out there explain?"

Funny hat + long flowing robe with phosphorescent decals (mine was an army surplus raincoat three sizes too large) + hair and beard to the waist.

Moondog was a model. Check the galleries. Shawn Phillips. ZZ Top broke the mold.

Posted by bob mcmanus | August 3, 2007 12:44 PM

Matt to Hendrik:

"My mispellings outnumber your entire wordcount.

Bitch."

Posted by JRoth | August 3, 2007 12:45 PM

Keep shoveling it our way, Matt! God help me, I read every one.

Posted by Daddy Love | August 3, 2007 1:01 PM

Re "This site's writing may not be the best or the best spelled, but there will always be a lot of it. "
-------
I had a pony once that made a similar promise.

Posted by Don Williams | August 3, 2007 1:18 PM

Is that a Green Lantern t-shirt?

Posted by brian | August 3, 2007 1:40 PM

That looks like a godawful place to eat your lunch. I know there aren't a lot of options close to McCormick Place, but I hope you manage to get out of the building (and away from the laptop) for a meal at some point.

Posted by live | August 3, 2007 2:24 PM

(though Chinatown is right down the street)

Posted by live | August 3, 2007 2:26 PM

Ah yes. ZZ Top I'm familiar with. Thank you sir.

Posted by JP | August 3, 2007 2:48 PM

Couldn't MY dress up better? This is the time to look sharp.

Posted by nbt | August 3, 2007 2:50 PM

Another exciting picture of bloggers that puts my life as mortician to shame.

Posted by jerry | August 3, 2007 3:58 PM

Hey, isn't that the photo of the troops snubbing John Kerry?

Posted by Roger Ailes | August 4, 2007 12:29 AM

"I at lunch"?? "I at lunch"?? As in, "This is a photograph of I."?? Spelling ain't the only issue.

"Couldn't MY dress up better? This is the time to look sharp." Yglesias is the essence of "sharp." Anyone who wishes to "look sharp" need only consult him.

Posted by A. King | August 4, 2007 9:02 AM