Outside the Beltway

Some long-awaited cleanup is underway, so please excuse any wonkiness as the work gets done.

The Internet has given us many good things, but it’s also led to a decline in political discourse that we’d do well to reverse before it’s too late.

Megan McArdle cites an academic article someone disagrees with, proving she’s a dishonest hack.

There are some lessons for the blogosphere in this week’s Andrew Breitbart dust-up.

Andrew Breitbart is still patting himself on the back for a job well done in the Shirley Sherrod affair. In reality, he failed miserably.

Journalism and the New Media combined in a feeding frenzy yesterday and a woman lost her job. She probably shouldn’t have.

Andrew Sullivan is back from vacation and back obsessing over the birth of a two-year old kid in Alaska.

What can you learn about a blogger’s personality from his word choice?

Over at The Daily Dish, Dave Weigel hit the nail on the head in his criticism of Andrew Sullivan’s bizarre obsession with a two year-old infant.

For those readers who haven’t warmed up to the magazine layout of the front page, something more akin to the standard blog layout is one click away.

Why I didn’t talk to Dave Weigel before writing about him.

Congrats to Steve Clemons, whose “Washington Note” has been named one of TIME’s Best Blogs of 2010.

Markos Moulitsas gets a lesson in caveat emptor from his former pollster.

Rick Moran is noticing an odd pattern in political discourse.

Magazines routinely run great pieces by highly biased writers. Why can’t newspapers do the same?

Ezra Klein is shuttering JournoList.

Sharing your unvarnished thoughts on a listserv is just asking for trouble, as Dave Weigel is the latest to discover.

Daniel Larison and Reihan Salan have an intelligent discussion on the Internet, managing to persuade each other!