Out of nowhere in an interview with the NY Times (unless the interview was edited- *** Update *** it was, says so clearly at the bottom- guess I’m just not that interested in Mickey to make it that far), Mickey Kaus has a random spasm and attacks Ezra Klein’s integrity:
What does your mom think of your Senate bid?
She said, “I don’t want you moving all the way to Washington.” I told her, “Peg, I don’t think that will be a problem.” I call her by her first name. It’s a family affectation.
Your dad was a justice on the California Supreme Court.
He was a Democrat. Otto was probably more liberal than I am.
So are most Democratic bloggers.
Ezra Klein gets under my skin. He seems to spout the party line. I think he knows that it’s wrong but feels it’s his duty to fight the good cause.
Why do you discount the possibility he believes in what he’s saying?
That’s the other alternative — that he really believes it — but then he’s sort of gullible. You have to read his blog knowing that he’s a cheerleader, whereas a guy like Matt Yglesias is less of a cheerleader.
It has an almost Tourette’s like quality, doesn’t it? Out of nowhere, “EZRA KLEIN SUCKS!”
And the real funny part about it is that the interviewer doesn’t know why he hates Ezra, but we all do. Kaus hates Ezra because Mickey was not invited to join the Journolist email listserv, where center-left and left-leaning policy wonks and journalists and others could discuss politics and policy.
Basically, they thought Mickey could not be trusted and would blab private conversations publicly. And, to prove them wrong, the moment Mickey Kaus got hold of some of the private email conversations on Journolist, HE BLABBED THEM PUBLICLY and published them.
Pathetic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Does anyone read Mickey Kaus anymore? Not being tribal, but it seems to me he has steadily shrunk in influence over the last ten years. People only pay attention when he throws a tantrum. As Li’l Ezra has moved up in the Establishment, Kaus seems to be a relic. The Bruce Willis of the punditry.
norbizness
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Kaus is definitely one of those people who are being studied archeologically (here) or for some sort of nostalgic satiric purpose (LG&M).
Redshirt
Why is his Mom a topic of discussion? Basement dwelling Cheeto-Blogger monster, is he?
The Grand Panjandrum
Ezra is an unabashed liberal but his blogging has always been well documented and his arguments are very well thought out. You don’t have to agree with him to admire his understanding of the issues he writes about. Mickey probably hates it when a young guy like Ezra appears to be smarter and more straight forward than he is. Either that or Mickey had a bad day in the goat roping arena. Who knows?
norbizness
P.S. I didn’t know it was possible to spout the Democratic party line (see also: Will Rogers).
beltane
Perhaps a hack like Kaus can’t imagine that there are people out there who really believe what they say. In his mind, the lack of such cynicism makes one a gullible cheerleader. What a sad, corrupted wreck of a man he is.
D.N. Nation
Mickey Kaus, the liberal Instapundit loves. Hehindoozle!
PeakVT
Has Mickey come up with a campaign slogan yet? I suggest “A chicken in every pot and a goat in every bedroom.”
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
The Whispering Goat Fucker was interviewed? Why? Was there a story shortage in the Pet section or was someone doing some bad acid and while on a rush they decided that this was a good idea? Either way, who in the fuck cares to read drivel like that?
Peg? I thought that’s what he did to goats.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Fix’t.
MattF
Mickey who?
AhabTRuler
I have it from a reliable source that Mickey Kaus blows goats.
Captain Haddock
Wait, Mickey Kaus is still around? And Slate is still online???
Ash Wing League
Just what makes Mickey Kaus a liberal? Honestly, what liberal positions has the man ever taken in his columns?!
The only reason he even seems to be relevant nowadays is because he can call himself a ‘liberal’ (without explaining why) and then have various conservative blogs link to him and say, “See! Even the liberal Mickey Kaus agrees with our point of view!”
blackwaterdog
Ezra, Benen and you, John, are the only three bloggers i still read on a regular basis.
theylivebynight
Not to troll and not to defend a blowhard like Mickey Kaus, but I think there is an element of truth to his characterization of Klein.
eyepaddle
By the way, this is my favortie thread title is MONTHS. And, yes I mean that as a compliment. :)
Bulworth
Gotta love that condescending bit of Ezra’s supposedly being “gullible”. Really, Mickey? But your parroting of the Heritage Foundation’s tripe about welfare and Tom Tancredo’s immigration bile is really ingenious?
Tim Cooper
I never understood what attraction Kaus had to anyone. He’s always come across to me like some college newspaper hack who thinks the way to be “Interesting” is to intentionally misread and misinterpret what people say and then take a stand against it. He’s pretty much the poster child for what is wrong with Slate these days.
cleek
el soplador des cabras es amargo
flukebucket
@Redshirt:
I wondered the same thing. I don’t know shit about Mickey Kaus or goat blowing but I looked him up and he is 59 years old.
59 years old and somebody asks what your mother thinks of your future plans.
WTF?
Perry Como
You’re just sucking up to Ezra because he is following you on Twitter now.
Svensker
This is serious — the ONLY thing I know about Mickey Kaus is the goat-blowing stuff. What else does he do?
MBunge
I find the Ezra vs. Yglesias comparison to be insightful. Ezra is a liberal journalist who brings a lot of research and attention to detail to his blogging. Yglesias is really a conventional pundit who does way more “off the top of his head” bullshitting, which is very much in the Kaus tradition. What the Mickster is pissed off about is that Ezra’s raised the bar for professional blogging and Kaus can’t/doesn’t want to keep up.
Mike
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ash Wing League: my take has been that Kaus thought Clinton and the DLC were going to make the Dems into Republicans minus all that icky, embarrassing religiosity and angry white maleness. He’s just horrified that people believing in things like a social safety-net and a progressive tax code. But I stopped reading Slate years ago, and not even Josh Marshall links to him anymore, so my memory may be faulty.
Scott
I kinda think Kaus keeps a long, long list of all the people he hates because they are smarter, more influential, or more popular than he is.
Someday, he tells himself, someday, his boat will finally sail in, he’ll get elected Super-President, he’ll get the Best Pulitzer Ever, he’ll have sex with the Hottest Goat in Goat City, and then he’ll send out taunting e-mails to all of them, and they’ll all feel really awful about it.
OriGuy
I’ll bet they didn’t let him on the goat-blower listserv, either.
jibeaux
@cleek:
You know, this has a whole “misplaced French meets awkward babel fish translation” feel to it, but somehow it really, really, works.
If we’re going to go pop psychology on the motivations of people we don’t know, Mickey, I’m going to say that possibly your washed up ass is a little bit jealous of a guy who’s sharp as a tack and is a major force in punditry at the age of 25. Or maybe you’re just feeling a little rejected by the goats, and hey, that can happen in any long-term relationship, particularly with those species that have much shorter life spans.
John Emerson
Jesus, what’s the big deal about calling his wife by her name? Does he think that other couples call each other “Mr. Jones” and “Mrs. Jones”?
The guy seems to be losing it.
Miracle Max
Ezra has moved up to spots at the Washington Post and Newsweek, gets on TV, is good-looking, and gets laid regularly. Other than that he and Kaus are very similar.
John PM
@flukebucket:
Wow, 59 years old and more petulant and juvenille than someone half his age. Plus, he graduated from Harvard Law but has never practiced law. I will use him as yet another example in my working thesis that the Ivy Leagues are useless (first example, GWB).
Fergal
Took a look at Kausfiles today for the first time in about 10 years. He mentions Klein in like every second post he writes. I’d say it was an indirect way of expressing that he’s sexually obsessed with Klein, but I think such an interpretation is precluded by, y’know, the “goat” thing.
John PM
@John Emerson: He called his Mom by his first name, not his wife. I do not even know if he has a wife.
Kevin Phillips Bong
@John PM: I had another couple of data points for your thesis in my MFA classes at USC. Wouldn’t have trusted them to do much of anything.
Citizen_X
Closeted bestiality takes its toll.
canuckistani
Perhaps his mom is his wife. It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
ChrisB
I must not be aware of all internet traditions.
Immediately disliked Kaus. Never read him.
Who is he, the Lanny Davis of the blogging world?
(Judging from this thread I would guess that he’s a bleating heart liberal.)
slag
Hehe. I forgot about the Journolist contretemps. What John PM said. And “Tourettes-like quality” is an incredibly apt description. Transparently pathetic on every level.
Warren Terra
It’s true Klein and Yglesias have different styles and strengths, and Klein works harder, but I’ve read both at least 5 years and can’t think of an issue of politics or policy on which they disagreed.
Clambone
He makes $80,000+ for crapping out three posts a week? He used to make $90,000+? What the hell, people?
asiangrrlMN
@Ash Wing League: I gotta agree with you. He’s against amnesty for illegal immigrants. He’s against unions. He’s against the welfare system. Granted, if I made $90,000 a year, I might not be too concerned about the unions or the welfare system, either, but still. Is he doing it just to be contrarian? Then why not just be a fucking glibertarian and get it over with? What a WATB.
jibeaux
@canuckistani:
Maybe his wife is his mom AND a goat. It’s the love that really, really, really, dare not speak its fucked-up name.
Warren Terra
Theylivebynight, if you’re indeed trying not to troll, you’re doing it wrong. You really think Kaus’s smear has some truth to it?
If you think you have a case to make, do so. Don’t do a drive-by.
drew42
So according to Mickey “Balls-Deep in Goat” Kaus, the liberal spectrum of political thought runs all the way from Matt Yglesias to Ezra Klein (whose commentary is a bit risque for his tastes).
I picture Mickey sitting on a fainting couch, wearing a shawl and eating Wonder whitebread finger sandwiches during this interview. While a recording of Paul Harvey drones on in the background.
He’s probably still losing sleep over that whole Jay Leno / Conan O’Brien unpleasantness.
Scott de B.
No? Kaus has been beating the “kill health care reform” and “death panels!” drum for the last year now.
Lab Partner
Good Gawd I hope Kaus wins. So looking forward to referring to Kaus as the “distinguished Senator from Goat-blow“
Comrade Mary
Kaus has a face made for radio. Ezra, in addition to being smart and hardworking, has a face made for tv. In fact, he’s been on MSNBC at least three times this week. I wonder if Ezra’s sudden upsurge in bookings is part of the reason for Kaus’ petulance.
VJBinCT
As a matter of historical interest, how DID the ‘Mickey Kaus blows goats’ meme get started?
asiangrrlMN
@Scott de B.: Klein and Yglesias, not Kaus.
Perry Como
@VJBinCT: Someone found out that Mickey Kaus blew goats. Now prove me wrong.
Clambone
@ VJBinCT: Mickey Kaus spent months promoting sexual accusations against John Edwards and Hillary Clinton(1) before he knew they were true, based on reports in the National Enquirer. A lot of people thought that he was starting with the assumption that the rumors were true, and then affected concern or disgust with their denials, or lack of denials. It was a no-win situation for the accused.
The “Mickey Kaus blows goats” thing started as satire: people would rewrite his posts starting with the assumption that Mickey Kaus blew goats, and then affect to be terribly put off by his lack of response to the swirling rumors.
(1) People forget that he pimped the rumor that Hillary was having a lesbian affair with a staffer, but he did.
kc
Do you think that deep in his heart, Mickey Kaus knows that it’s wrong to blow goats?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Ash Wing League:
Ask the goats. They can tell you about a few of Mickey’s favorite positions.
eyepaddle
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Unless the positions involve wetsuits and “marital aids”–those are clearly conservative positions.
rapier
Kaus is an entertainer, like Rush. If liberals are too sincere about policy and sappy stuff and conservatives not sincere at all then Kaus splits the difference, which puts him squarely in the MSM camp but by accident he ended up a blogger. He tries to be funny and maybe he is sometimes. Oscar Wilde he is not.
Kaus is a player so he plays. A few tens of thousands more may get to know him from his little foray into politics, a good career move. That’s all. If by chance he is elected don’t expect to see him in a classroom reading My Pet Goat. He’s far to savvy for that.
Anticorium
@Clambone:
That’s the thing that gets me. He keeps making allegations, one of them turns out to be true, and suddenly he’s a prophet. You could have just as good a track record as Kaus if you’d spent years accusing every single Republican politician in the country who’d ever voted against same-sex marriage of hiding the fact that they’re gay.
Though, actually, you’d have a better track record, because Kaus was only right once, but you’d be right a whole bunch of times. Also, you would not have to respond to those damaging allegations involving goats.
pseudonymous in nc
The Google autocomplete on Safari for “mickey kaus”:
Thank you, internets.
Gregory
@The Grand Panjandrum:
Well, yeah, that’s probably what gets Kaus’, um, goat.
Nellcote
What party is Kaus affiliating with in his senate run?
eyepaddle
@pseudonymous in nc:
I checked that too.
Laughed my ass off, I did!
Redshirt
Will no one think of the goats? What did they do to be defamed so?
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@kc:
He’s trying to resuscitate the poor goats but he doesn’t know that they are just fainting goats. He scares them, they fall over and Mickey ‘inflates’ them and feels like a hero.
AhabTRuler
@pseudonymous in nc: What’s even better is that he sees that every time he enters his name into google.
Because you know he does.
bobbo
It’s obvious, people. Kaus has a big huge gay crush on Ezra. How can you not see that? Just because he gets most of his sexual satisfaction from goats doesn’t mean he doesn’t occasionally fantasize about blowing humans.
slippy
I read this article out loud. In my front yard, the goats shivered.
Origuy
@Nellcote: Democratic. He’s trying to primary Boxer from the right. NaGaHaPen.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Origuy:
The ad with the evil mutant sheep runs in CA, and all of a sudden Kaus wants in. I wonder why?
SFAW
Well, in college, he majored in Animal Husbandry.
Until they caught him at it.
[I think the original author was Tom Lehrer, many years ago. Who knew he was so prescient?]
dww44
When I first started dabbling in these internets a few years back, one of the first places I happened on was some kind of back and forth on Crooks and Liars between him, representing liberals, and Robert Wright, rpresenting the other side, as I recollect. Then I discovered him at Slate and after about a year or so, I figured out he was no friend of liberals and in fact he was rather off putting for any number of reasons. The way he went after John Edwards (not that Edwards didn’t bring this on himself) reminded me of a bulldog going after a bone.
theylivebynight
@Warren Terra:
Fair enough, even if a good portion of the comments on this site are nothing more than snark along the “Tell me where Rahm touched you” variety. My comment was pretty innocuous in comparison. Let me also preface this by saying I harbor an intense dislike for Kaus and like Klein quite a bit (though, not as much as I like, say, Tom Frank or Ken Silverstein). I should also add that I’m a casual, not religious reader of Klein so maybe I’m talking outta my ass. But I seem to recall Klein being less interested in criticizing the truly awful parts of the HCR bill than trying to rally support around it. Which, fine, is his prerogative, but there’s an element of “spout[ing] the party line.”
This is what I’m talking about:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/12/jane_hamshers_10_reaons_to_kil.html
It’s mostly very good, but, for example, points 4) and 8) have a glib, oh-well quality about them. Just a hint of Village. Maybe I look for a little more outrage in my pundits (hence my fondness for Frank and Silverstein), maybe I’m nitpicking.
sukabi
good grief, what a totally useless/worthless interview… I don’t know what was worse — the stupid questions with no follow up, or the totally information free answers.
And the NY Times really wonders why NO ONE reads them anymore??? You’d get more information out of a high school news article about who’s running for class president.
tazistanjen
The funniest part is I’m pretty sure Yglesias was the one who started the goat-blowing meme. Maybe Kaus doesn’t mind.
eb
Nothing new here. Check out this 2002 post.
Svensker
@dww44:
Let’s not talk about Mickey Kaus and going after bones in the same paragraph, if ya don’t mind.
master c
Althouse has the same meme today.-Ezra is a know nothing
a
err, no. Kaus says he dislikes Klein because Klein obediently spouts the party line.
And guess what? Kaus is right!
Asinistra
Kaus, like that other hack Halperin, has obvious Oedipal issues with renowned liberal dads they try to kill over and over again in their writings. It’s Freud 101.
Asinistra
Oh, and he calls mom Peg? I rest my case.
Comrade Kevin
@tazistanjen: Yes, indeed, here is an Yglesias post from 2007. The actual start is in a comment in another post of his, to which he links.
H E Karol
Is Kaus running on the I-Lieberman or the I-Goat Snorkeler line?
Mnemosyne
@Anticorium:
Hey, it worked for Drudge. Has that guy been right about anything since Lewinsky?
Cross&Anchor
I remember reading Kaus back in 2000 doing horserace bullshit about the 2000 election, as if it didn’t really matter who won. Yeah, policies don’t matter. Anyone with half a brain knew that Bush’s fiscal/taxation policies would be a disaster–but yeah, policies don’t matter.
I don’t know if he’s a hack, but he’s certainly irrelevant.
Klein has always gotten it that policies matter. For that reason, I’ve respected both him and Josh Marshall from the time they both first showed up on the blog scene. Smart and honest, I think–decent actually, in that they realize the consequences that decisions and policies have on actual people. (Same can be said for John Cole after he crossed over from the Sith lands.)
anon
The reason I pay no attention to you John, is because you were once a fanatical Republican and now you are a fanatical Democrat, and both kinds of fanaticism lead you to ignoring words in the interview like:
“INTERVIEW HAS BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED.”
Whatever dude. Blow harder.
glitterstucco
I’m just an amateur blog reader. I don’t follow Ezra Klein or this Mickey Kaus guy closely but even I have heard that Kaus was recently caught sucking and/or fucking a goat. I haven’t seen a NYTimes article about this (I might have missed it) but the googles turn up dozens of reliable sources that say, in short, that, yes, Mickey Kaus engages in beastiality, with goats. Once this comes out in the open, his Senate campaign is over. I’m sure he must have a plan for dealing it but I can’t think of anything he might do or say–other than coming clean and fucking a goat at a press conference–to tamp down the story. Voters are going to want to know how goat fucking will effect his public life. How can he possibly cast an impartial vote on anything involving goats or farm animals in general? (I know, David Vitter is still in office. However, wearing a diaper in a brothel doesn’t always reduce a politicians ability to block Democratic legislation. In fact, a wide range of Democratic politicians have blocked progressive policies while acting like babies around lobbyists.) Fucking a goat? I’ve heard that some of the goats he fucks are quite young. I’m not saying he fucks baby goats but I guess it would irresponsible not to speculate just how young these goats he fucks might be. Anyway, I just can’t see voters buying it. If the mainstream media isn’t going to examine Kaus closely, I guess the best we can do is make sure the Internets know that he fucks goats and, in some cases, I’ve heard, very young goats.
sukabi
@anon: I read the “condensed and edited” interview as published in the NY Times and it had absolutely NO USEFUL information in it at all, and in fact it appears that the entire reason the “article” was published was so Micky “Blows Goats” Kaus could take a swipe at Ezra Klein…
…which would be a really good reason, if you needed another one, to not read the NY Times.
And if you’re not paying attention to John, what the hell are you doing reading his blog?
craptractor
“I call her by her first name. It’s a family affectation.”
It’s fucking weird is what it is. This is one of the exceedingly few things on which I’m a traditionalist. Calling one’s parents by name has always seemed to me to represent some sort of unresolved teenage rebellion issue, like you wanna throw in your mom’s face that you’re an adult and exist on the same terms as her. (Which just seems fundamentally impossible until the day where someone gives birth to their own mom.)
Clark
Judging by Ezra’s post on TAPPED and his frequent visits to Maddow lately, it looks like Maddow’s been added to Journolist!
Batocchio
@craptractor:
Umm… Not a sweeping, negative snap judgment at all! I don’t know the dynamics in the Kaus family, and who initiated that practice. I called my dad by his first name most of the time while I was growing up, because that’s how he preferred it. It was his call. As a general rule, you address people how they want to be addressed, unless you want to show disrespect (which has its place, too). If Kaus’ mom doesn’t want to be called “Peg” and he calls her it anyway, you’ve got a point.
I’ve seen similar dynamics play out with teachers. At one high school I attended, we called all the teachers by their first names. (That was common at my college, too, although generally only if you knew the professors well.) At another high school where I taught, the convention was that students didn’t address teachers by their first names until after the students graduated. Some students really enjoyed making that switch, some couldn’t adjust (which was fine), and some teachers would get bummed out by the switch, which I found pretty funny.
SFAW
For example, my wife insists on being addressed as “She/You Who Must Be Obeyed”, and I damn sure better like it OR ELSE!
Oh, sorry, got off track there.
cleek
@anon:
JC’s a “fanatical Democrat” ?
wow. that doesn’t really leave a lot of room between “moderate Democrat” and “moderate Republican”, does it…
daryljfontaine
@drew42:
Best oblique “Cleveland Show” reference ever.
@glitterstucco:
You’re saying that Mickey Kaus allegedly molests kids?
D
Nellcote
@Origuy:
Yes, it does seem insane to go after Boxer that way. I wonder if he’s the front for corporate C.U.N.T. money.
Mickey Kaus
Of course the interview was edited. It says so at the bottom of the page. The Klein bit wasn’t as out-of-the-blue as it seems, though I forget what provoked it. cheers
Erik
Deborah Solomon is a cut & paste hack. The reason it says that it is “edited” at the bottom is because interviewees complained about the ridiculous treatment they got in that joke of a column.
No bearing one way or the other on this Mickey Kaus character. Deborah Solomon would make Jesus Christ look like L Ron Hubbard, but she might do it the other way round.
The Kids Are Alright
@Mickey Kaus:
The lack of goat-sperm in your bloodstream at the time? Or your lust for Ezra? Youth Wants to Know!
Karin
Yeah, Solomon is hacktastic. There have been many atrocities in her columns, going way back.