Cliopatria Gladly Accepts Your Nomination ...

by Cliopatria

It being convention season and all that, the Washington Post is running a contest for your favorite political blog. It is now receiving nominations in ten categories. My colleagues and I would appreciate being nominated in any category you think is appropriate. Kirk Johnson's American Amnesia, Juan Cole's Informed Comment, and Oxblog are actively campaigning for support. But since there are fourteen of us and only a few of them, we're likely to kiss more hands and shake more babies between now and 27 September when the voting begins. Winners will be announced on 25 October.

My colleague, KC Johnson, rightly asks if the political conventions have become obsolete. Having said that, the Democrats did make the most of their non-event in Boston on its first night. The much-hyped blogging from the convention, on the other hand, doesn't meet expectations. The best of it is at Oxblog, TAP and TNR, but Derek Catsam and Andrew Sullivan do a good job of it from their television vantage.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Atrios has unveiled himself. Here's another picture of him with Kos, Matt Yglesias and other bloggers at the convention in Boston. He is Duncan B. Black and his doctorate is in economics from Brown (scroll down). Black/Atrios has held research or teaching positions at the London School of Economics, the Universite catholique de Louvain, the University of California, Irvine, and Bryn Mawr. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America. (Yes, it means his money comes from Soros, but so what?) Thanks to Tom Spencer and Kevin Drum for the tip.

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Richard Henry Morgan - 7/28/2004

I wish now I hadn't written that last sentence -- somebody's got to put a stop to this. I meant the archives thing in jest, and got a smack in return. Can we lay down the gloves?

Richard Henry Morgan - 7/28/2004

Actually, I was thinking of the San Francisco "archives". The fact that the Russian archives exist, as opposed to the San Francisco archives, means that Weinstein's citations stand a chance of actually pointing to evidence -- which is the point of a citation, and which in this case is a distinguishing feature. But what the hell, Ralph, take a few more shots at me. BTW, are you any closer to having met the Perry Miller standard yet?

Ralph E. Luker - 7/28/2004

Non-parallel, Richard. The Russian archives exist. They are locked, except to those who, like Weinstein's publisher, pay authorities there $100,000 for access. You and Weinstein hide behind Russian graft as an excuse for Weinstein's unprofessional conduct.

Richard Henry Morgan - 7/28/2004

That CAN be a problem. Rather like non-existent archives -- sorry, just couldn't resist the parallel of non-existence as a limitation.

Ralph E. Luker - 7/28/2004

Yah, because the other Duncan Black is dead.

Richard Henry Morgan - 7/28/2004

Makes sense. Can't imagine Duncan Black anywhere near Media Matters.

Ralph E. Luker - 7/27/2004

They are not the same person.

Richard Henry Morgan - 7/27/2004

Is there a distinction between Duncan Black, and Duncan B. Black? I remember from my days studying economics that Duncan Black was a very well-respected economist in the field of public choice theory. Just wondering.

Ralph E. Luker - 7/27/2004

No, Adam, I think that you are exactly right. It's a bit of a toss-up between Atrios and Instapundit as to which is the more anti-intellectual or unintellectual, at least, in tone. Maybe both of them know that posts on Barth and Derida or Fukuyama and Hardt and Negri will kill major traffic. They do both understand the marketplace and they play it very well. I looked over at RateMyProfessor.com at what some of Duncan Black's students had said about him as a teacher and the comments suggested that Atrios made a good decision to get out of the classroom.

Adam Kotsko - 7/27/2004

for whom Atrios's vast erudition seems to jar with the style of his blog? Plus, he's so anti-Catholic that it seems odd for him to have taught at a Catholic school. Maybe it's just a really good disguise -- and maybe that's how he manages to run the blog 24-7 and raise constant money for John Kerry.

Jonathan Dresner - 7/27/2004

The categories for the Post poll are terrible, at least for a non-political blog. It's got that beltway-insider frat-house quality.....

Oh, well. I nominated us (and a few other folks) anyway. Remind us when it's time to vote, Ralph.