Atrios: Top Ten Wankers of the Decade

I first started turning toward blogs as my main source during the early years of the Bush presidency, when it became increasingly difficult to find any liberal voices in the traditional media. The New York Times, which had participated with glee in the whole Whitewater mess during the Clinton presidency, now turned to carrying water for Dick Cheney — Judith Miller was not an aberration but the norm, as they decided during the run-up to the Iraq war that investigative journalism was not their cup of tea.

It turned out, however, that there were web sites which had accurate, well-written accounts of what was actually going on in the world, full of logic, research, and citation. Anyone who claims that “everyone” believed the fake intel on Iraq is either lying or ignorant of sites like The Smirking Chimp, which I just noticed is still going, although I haven’t been a regular reader in some time.

One of my favorite sites was (and remains) Eschaton, whose prime blogger, Atrios, is particularly excellent on economic issues and the high art of political snark. One of his snarkier categories was that of “Wanker of the Day” — a dishonor granted to particularly egregious offenders in the public arena who have a tendency to use punditry as onanism. Last week, Atrios completed his “Wanker of the Decade” list. Who did he choose?

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