Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Congratulations to Steve Benen [and Ed Kilgore]

JC just let me know via email that long-time Political Animal Steve Benen has taken a job with The Rachel Maddow Show. If anyone deserves recognition for his tireless work, it is definitely Steve.

He announced the new gig last week on the old site. He didn't write an introductory post on the new one, but just got right to work. (Which comes as no surprise to his friends.) One of his co-bloggers, or possibly, his boss, did post a helpful notice, though, alerting Steve's long-time followers that The Maddow Blog would be adding a feed dedicated to Steve's posts.

The new Political Animal will be Ed Kilgore, who wrote one of the better self-introductions that I've ever seen.

I have to confess that my initial reaction to hearing about Steve's successor was, "Isn't he that centrist, eventheliberal[X] guy? As in, used to write for TNR, and so forth?" It seems as though my memory wasn't too far off, or perhaps more precisely, my memory of his image wasn't far off, and I'm encouraged by the way he dealt with that.

Congratulations to Steve and Ed.

P.S. If you're not familiar with Steve's blogging, his recent post about the latest effluvia from Grover Norquist is a good example of his style: honest reporting from a clear perspective. No Shape Of Earth: Views Differ headlines from him, and no Fair And Balanced™ bullshit, either.

P.P.S. Perhaps also helpful: Ed's words on the same event. And more generally, especially for those of the "there's no difference between the two parties" persuasion, a longer piece on the same creature.

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