Huffington's Blog Goes Live To Thwart the MSM; Read All About It on a Section Front-Page of the Washington Post

"The Establishment" is so against this tiny little rebel start-up that the most establishment paper in America consigns the news of its launch to page one of the Style section:

Pssst, did you hear? Arianna Huffington's new celebrity/grass-roots/pundit elite/progressive/whatever blog launches today. I'm informing you because, as the Huffers tell us, those evil, corporatist media meanies don't allow enough little voices to be heard. As Hollywood moonbat-turned-Huffington blogger Laurie David crowed: "The Huffington Post is going to balance the power out there that the media has had forever."

Hmmm. Now, where did I read David's statement? Oh, yeah, in the forever right-wing-controlled Washington Post. Which devoted its Style front-page to The Huffington Post and covered it ad nauseam. Like a gazillion of those other evil right-wing media outlets who keep stifling Arianna and her little people's voices.

Yeah, I remember when Ace of Spades got front-page coverage in the Washington Post... just after I broke the Guinness record for most egg-salad sandwhiches eaten in an hour (three! whoo-hoo!) and then nailed Miyam "Blossom" Bialyk.

Howie Kurtz wonders:

The best blogs, love 'em or hate 'em, have an unmistakable voice; this will be a cacophony of voices. It's an open question whether the scribblings of the rich and influential can be as compelling as those of previously obscure people who are now online stars.

I have a feeling the answer will be a qualified "Yes." You can parlay fame into pretty much anything. If Dr. Phil can write best-selling books, I have a feeling that Gwynneth Paltrow can master, sort of, the rather breezy and easy writing style of blogging.

I'm a moron and I managed it well enough.

Mixed feelings about all these high-profile Johnny-Come-Latelys to blogging... I'd hoped somewhere along the line that the media would try to co-opt blogging, but I was sort of hoping that that co-optation would involve crazy-blog money being stuffed into my dirty Aqualung pockets, rather than, say, Harry Shearer's.

High-profile media names certainly elevate this moronic hobby, but then, it might also be the death-knell of blogging. Something might be cool when it's underground, but when it goes mainstream (or rather, when the mainstream goes to it), it suddenly loses all that revolutionary cache.

Kind of like the "squeal like a pig" scene in Deliverance... after that, forcibly sodomizing Ned Beatty just seemed so damn passe. And until that point it had been one of my favorite rainy-day blues-beaters activities.

After that, I had to content myself with asking him to dress up like Otis from Superman and abusing him with mere verbal insults. Just not the same.

Paul tips me that I'm on "Huffie's" blogroll. Will I blogroll her in reciprocation?

I don't know.

When she finally learns how to say "Bill Clinton" rather than "Beeel Cleeenton," I'll think about it.

posted by Ace at 11:36 AM

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