When you write eleven or twelve posts a day (most days), it can all become a blur in retrospect. But when I sat down this morning to try to identify some of my favorite posts in order to convince you this blog is kinda special, I got bogged down pretty fast in a self-referential stroll down memory lane, and pulled myself out before I started counting the typos. As with any blog, there were throwaways and items I might have written a lot better, but some keepers, too, and in general a deeper and more internally consistent approach than you’ll find in most other parts of the blogosphere.
Here are some personal favorites just from the first three months of 2013 that should give non-regular readers a flavor of how we roll here at PA:
* A January 25 takedown of Bobby Jindal’s “big speech” calling for a revival of the GOP with more of the same.
* A January 30 post prophesying that Benghazi! would become quasi-immortal for conservatives.
* A February 27 post tartly responding to the question of how long the South must be “discriminated against” with Voting Rights Act enforcement.
* A February 22 tribute to “Stupidity Week” in honor of the approaching appropriations sequester.
* A March 27 meditation on the insufferable self-pity of the Christian Right.
* A March 22 assessment of the value of the often-underestimated Medicaid program.
* A March 19 critique of the popular meme that “the states” somehow represent an alternative America instead of just a different level of governing.
* A March 12 commentary on Mississippi’s proud attachment to self-abasing economic development strategies and fried food.
There’s more, obviously, in the ensuing nine months, and lots more from our intrepid band of weekend and occasional bloggers (especially from Ryan Cooper, Kathleen Geier, Martin Longman and Paul Glastris). The bottom line is that you can follow political news via multiple blogs or aggregators or random samplings, but I daresay you won’t find too many places where it all comes together, in an informative and entertaining package of consistent content, like it does here at Political Animal.
And so for the last time, I’ll ask you to help keep this unique corner of online journalism with its long history and current vibrancy alive for another year with a tax-exempt donation. There’s all we produce online, not to mention one of the best-regarded political magazines in America, casting light on Washington’s doings and misdoings amidst a fog of spin and hype and superficial scribbling.
Thank you for your readership in 2013, and let’s hope together for a Happy new Year!
Here’s my old blogger’s personal anthem, and a pledge to keep on keeping on as long as possible:
