Comments on: Matt Stoller Will Brook No Tomfoolery

By: joshua.treviño.at » Blog Archive » ….And your enemies closer.

joshua.treviño.at » Blog Archive » ….And your enemies closer. — Thu, 10 May 2007 05:02:39 +0000

[...] Second is the astonishing sight of Matt Stoller as a listed guest of the Heritage Foundation, at an event to be held on Thursday, 10 May. The event is a promotion of the Open House Project, which seeks to exploit the areas “where the internet and Congressional procedures come together.” It’s a worthy goal, and the press conference for the release of its inaugural report did, in fact, feature House GOP Leader Boehner. It also kicked off with a personal note of thanks to Nancy Pelosi; and the OHP touts itself as a fulfillment of Pelosi’s vision. (That press conference video, by the bye, was uploaded by PoliticsTV, a pro-Democrat, left-wing outfit.) This is all vaguely unwise in itself, but it is the addition of Stoller that pushes things into farcical territory. It’s not merely that Stoller is routinely pompous, condescending, and dishonest in his public activities, nor that be believes “that the left is correct on most of the policy issues of our time; we’re smarter, fairer, more thoughtful, and more republican (little r) than the right-wing.” Even as Stoller gorges himself on hors d’oeuvres courtesy of Heritage’s donors tomorrow, keep in mind that when the tables are turned, he is not nearly so gracious to us and ours. My movement colleague Rob Bluey, who is heading up this event, is a good and generous man, who shows his better nature in inviting a left-wing hack to a right-wing institution. But when other right-wing institutions reach out to leftist luminaries, Stoller pitches a fit: exhibit A being his leadership of the successful campaign to force the cancellation of a Democratic debate on Fox News, the latter being part of the VRWC in Stoller’s mind. The difference between Fox, with its debatable advancement of the GOP, and Heritage, with its definite advancement of the GOP, is simple: Heritage helps advance the cause of one Matthew Stoller. [...]

By: Josh Trevino

Josh Trevino — Wed, 02 May 2007 03:45:12 +0000

Well, I’ve interacted with Stoller too. Treacher’s got it.

By: DBK

DBK — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 04:02:15 +0000

I don’t know why Matt would be annoyed by that email, but he’s a good guy. I’ve met him a few times, had him to the house once, and on at least one occasion I teased him on a web site He was always pleasant and gracious. Anyone who hasn’t indulged their personal pique on their web log at least once, please raise your hand.

Well, I didn’t see any hands go up, so I guess that’s all of us.

By: OXR

OXR — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:14:05 +0000

Gotcha, Todd, but c’mon: the MSM doesn’t get much less MS than Mother Jones.

Political bloggers on the left and right exist in large part to call out what they see as “ethical” problems in the MSM.

And when they’re not doing that, every so often they also fundraise for or are employed by political candidates. Schulman’s intentions might or might not be friendly (although, again: Mother Jones) but is it really “condescending” to bring the issue up?

By: Todd Zeigler

Todd Zeigler — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:51:34 +0000

I think the premise of the interview is what he is reacting too. The MSM loves to focus on what they see as “ethical” problems in the blogosphere. The whole premise is kind of condescending. Political bloggers on the left and right exist in large part to call out what they see as “ethical” problems in the MSM. Glass houses.

By: avoirdupois

avoirdupois — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:24:10 +0000

thank you, timothy, without your eloquent contribution i would have had no idea what conclusion to derive from this

By: Timothy

Timothy — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:44:16 +0000

Stoller = Douchebag

By: Jim Treacher

Jim Treacher — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:24:56 +0000

Maybe he’s just a jerk?