UNCIVIL WAR….A few weeks ago, David Von Drehle of the Washington Post invited (liberal) Barbara O’Brien and (conservative) Betsy Newmark to tour Washington D.C. for a day and do in person what they usually do only on their blogs: argue with each other. The resulting article for the Post magazine is here, and Von Drehle puts the two bloggers in pretty august company:

A case could be made that the Federalist Papers were the greatest blog ever. Like many blogs, this was the creation of a group of like-minded activists (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay) and posted under a pseudonym (Publius). Short-lived but intense, Publius produced 85 blog items in defense of the new Constitution over a fervent half-year.

….Nor is there much new in the bitter tone of today’s discourse. Benjamin Franklin Bache, whose given names honored his famous grandfather, started an anti-Federalist paleo-blog in Philadelphia known as the Aurora. A favorite target of his invective was the sainted George Washington. “If you read the Aurora,” the great man complained, “you cannot but have perceived with what malignant industry and persevering falsehoods I am assailed in order to weaken, if not destroy, the confidence of the Public.”

Barbara’s take on the article is here. Betsy’s is here.