Blog blog

This blog has hit the big time — Shane Richmond at Britain’s Telegraph newspaper mentions me in his blog-roundup column with regards to my Katrina piece (“a great blogger, by the way” — now there’s a money quote).

(And here I thought my numbers had doubled because of the penny-stacking link.)

Anyway, it’s always nice to have a professional journalist point to my work, and not being familiar with the Telegraph, I looked it up online. Wikipedia refers to it as a conservative newspaper, and, given the tenor of my thoughts on Katrina, it surprises me that I caught the interest of one of its columnists.  Now why would a conservative newspaper want to direct their readers to my blog, given the “strong words” I have for the Bush administration? 

I don’t know what it means exactly, but I like to think that, perhaps, “conservative” in the UK means, you know, actually conservative in one’s political views, which is the opposite of what it means in the US.  “Conservative” in the US means “espousing a conservative viewpoint while actually doing the exact opposite,” like declaring that the government needs to be smaller while making the government substantially larger, or decrying “tax and spend liberals” while wiping out a decade of economic growth and plunging the country into a debt that will take generations to pay back, or advocating “morality” and “family values” while looting the treasury, taking bribes from lobbyists, doling out patronage in the billions, preying on teenage boys and playing footsie in airport men’s rooms.  A conservative politician I can respect — what I can’t abide is a Republican politician.

(For the record, Mr. Richmond seems interested in the piece primarily for my confession that I get my news from blogs — which makes the tip o’ that hat even more intriguing — coming from a newspaper and all.)

(Wait a minute — Shane Richmond isn’t

, is he?)

UPDATE: It occurs to me that, in addition to being a nice mention, Mr. Richmond’s nod contains not a single untruth, distortion, misrepresentation or mean-spirited smear against me –making it unique among my experiences in print media.  A columnist in a “conservative” newspaper in the US would not be able to mention my Katrina piece without first characterizing me as “far-left blogger Todd Alcott” or “tinfoil-hat-wearing leftist blogger Todd Alcott” or even the milder “One-hit Hollywood hack screenwriter Todd Alcott.”  So the Telegraph is okay by me.

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Comments

6 Responses to “Blog blog”
  1. susumu says:

    Generally speaking British conservatives don’t have much time for the American right at all. I think they’re still smarting over the whole independence thing. They can still do sleaze and scandal pretty well – however they’re not in power at the moment so you don’t hear so much about it.

  2. laminator_x says:

    Wait, you had a hit?

    Damnit, there goes all the indie cred I was trying to farm by reading here!

  3. ndgmtlcd says:

    In the UK you’re a considered conservative not because of what you say or think but because of the schools you went to.

  4. teamwak says:

    Thanks for the name check 🙂

    I wish I wrote The Telegraph, lol; or The Torygraph as it is also called; mainly by the Labour supporting Gaurdian or Independant.

    I am regularily struck by the difference between the UK and US left and Right. I was brought up in a Conservative household, and have voted for them every election. Apparently in the US I should lean towards the GOP. Why does that make me want to commit ritual harikari?

    The big difference is religeon, of course. No-one calls on God in UK politics. Its not Gods will, or immoral – its just politics. Choose your side accordingly. Not that it doesnt get nasty; you just dont feel your soul is damned if your take the wrong side. Spereration of Church and State is surely one of the most important tennents of democracy? Oh dear!!!!

    *Big shout out to The Daily Telepgraph* – The one paper where the letters page all start “Sir”