There are more than 80 nominations for best post. A number of blogs have received multiple nominations. For convenience, I have grouped the nominations by blog.
We have to somehow reduce the list below to about 7-10 finalists. I do not look forward to that prospect as there are a lot of great posts. Help us out by leaving a comment or sending an email letting us know which posts of 2003 were the very best of the best. Click "More" to see the list of nominees.
The 2003 nominees for the Koufax Award for Best Post are:
A Burst of Light by Ronn Taylor is nominated for Linda Fairstein, Lying Coward.
Alas, A Blog has multiple nominations. Those nominations include:
A Comment on Rape and "She Asked For It" by Pink Dream Poppies;Where are the Feminists? by Bean;
The Absent Fatso by Ampersand; and
Why does the Republican Party oppose banning late-term abortions? by Ampersand.
Are You Outraged is nominated for Matthew Holt’s post I Don’t Understand Republicans.
A Skeptical Blog by Dominion has two nominations including The Lawsuit Abuse Tax and The Myth of the Separation between Church and State!.
Aspasia by Jonathan Dworkin is nominated for his remembrance of Edward Said.
Body and Soul by Jeanne D’Arc has multiple nominations in this category. Her nominated posts are:
Resistance;
Mr. Byron Goes to Sacramento;Images of a Kinder, Gentler War;
A Long and Rambling Post about Women and War and
An untitled March 26, 2003 post about truths one can not tell an eight year old child.
Calpundit by Kevin Drum is nominated for The New Model Republican Party and for An Interview with Paul Krugman.
The Cogent Provacateur is nominated for Operation Desert Snipe.
Corante is nominated for Dana Blankenhorn ‘s Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
Corrente is nominated for Tresy’s The Chickenhawks Come Home to Roost.
Counterspin Central by Hesiod is nominated for The Agony of Defeat.
Crooked Timber received a nomination for for Ted Barlow’s MECHA post, entitled Stories.
Damfacrats has been nominated for Real Juju, Immense Speculation and Jeff Sessions is a Lying Jackass, which, if you have been paying attention, you already knew.
D-Squared Digest by Daniel Davies (now at Crooked Timber) has been nominated for The Economics of Pounds Canto 45, High Noon in Cancun and Log Books - an Impudent Suggestion.
Eschaton has been nominated for Atrios’ Preznit Give Me Turkee bit of whimsy as well as for a guest post by Thumb entitled Lovely.
Feministe is nominated for Ms. Lauren’s Whiteness, As I Know It.
First Draft by Tim Porter is nominated for Citizen’s Journalism.
The Head Heeb by Jonathan Edelstein is nominated for Torture, Drugs and Terror: a history, a comparison and a declaration and for Krio and the Courts.
Hullabaloo by Digby has received nominations for Friends In High Places, Ich Bin Ein Neoconer, and Virtual Democracy.
Ignatz by Sam Heldman, now, alas, on hiatus, is nominated for Beware the Untruths About the Estrada Nomination.
Informed Comment by Juan Cole is nominated for US Using Israeli Military to Train Special Ops to fight Iraqis.
The Infernal Press is nominated for How George W. Bush Won the 2004 Presidential Election by Sandeep S. Atwal.
Just a Bump in the Beltway by Melanie Mattson is nominated for Language, Religion, Politics.
Lady Sisyphus is nominated for So Great a Cloud of Witnesses.
Lady Who Loves Insects is nominated for her post entitled Sex.
Emma’s Late Night Thoughts is nominated for The Attractions of the Isms.
Liberal Oasis has a number of nominated posts including:
Is It Our Party Now?;It’s Not A Conspiracy If It’s All Out in the Open;
Do You Have To Be For the War to Win?;
Kip of Long Story; Short Pier has been nominated for Radio Free Portland.
Luz Paz is nominated for About Aztlan.
Making Light by Teresa Nielsen Hayden is nominated for The Fabric of the City.
Matthew Holt is nominated for Policy: Oh Canada.
MaxSpeak by Max Sawicky is nominated for UN-Tenable.
Nathan Newman is nominated for his post In Defense of Al Sharpton.
Needlenose by Swopa is nominated for Why the Passion Against Bush? and So, what was (is) this war about? (Part IV).
Notes on the Atrocities by Emma has been nominated for “Support the troops”—but why?, Symbolism, and Bush Said To Be Unconvincing As 'Real Self;' Will Be Played By Stand-In.
Open Source Politics is nominated for Susie Madrak’s A Matter of Trust.
Orcinus by David Neiwert is nominated for The Political and the Personal.
Pandagon has been nominated for Jesse Taylor’s Twenty Most Annoying Conservatives of 2003 (link broken, someone please help).
Pedantry has been nominated for A different kind of language policy and for Why Israel and Palestine are not morally equivalent.
Prometheus 6 has been nominated for Where We Stand.
See Why is nominated for the parody of Mark Medish’s Make Baghdad Pay.
Semi-Daily Journal by Brad DeLong is nominated for I Really Cannot Understand Why Anyone Would Do This.
SouthKnoxBubba is nominated for Voter's Guide to GOP Bizarro World Politics.
Steve Gilliard’s News Blog is nominated for his I’m A Fighting Liberal post from December 3, 2003 (no permanent links available, what’s up with that?).
The Talent Show is nominated for Bubbling Bliss & Beautiful Science.
Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall is nominated for Josh's interview with Amb. Joseph Wilson (pdf).
The Furious Spinner by Kim Antieau is nominated for Harvest of Women.
The Left Hook is nominated for The Lawless Bush Administration.
The Right Christians by Allen Brill is nominated for The Sources of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream.
The Road To Surfdom by Tim Dunlop is nominated for War Torn. Veilled4Allah is nominated for Muslims and Anti-Semitism. Whiskey Bar by Billmon has multiple nominations including:
Very, Very Happy by the Mighty Reason Man is very, very pleased to be nominated for My dislike of the French is independent of any facts about the world and for The Corner Unleashed
What a Tangled Web We Weave (the WMD quotes post);
The Shape of Things to Come (posted at Daily Kos);
Posted by Dwight Meredith at January 4, 2004 08:25 PM | TrackBackThis is the hardest category in the entire awards. It's gonna take me some time to pick out 'best' from 'extraordinary'.
Posted by: Cowboy Kahlil at January 5, 2004 03:11 AMThis one is hard, but I'm narrowing it down to these:
Alas, A Blog: A Comment on Rape and "She Asked For It" by Pink Dream Poppies;
Alas, A Blog: Why does the Republican Party oppose banning late-term abortions? by Ampersand.
A Skeptical Blog by Dominion: The Lawsuit Abuse Tax
A Skeptical Blog by Dominion:The Myth of the Separation between Church and State!
Calpundit by Kevin Drum: An Interview with Paul Krugman.
Hullabaloo by Digby: Ich Bin Ein Neoconer
Ignatz by Sam Heldman: Beware the Untruths About the Estrada Nomination.
Making Light by Teresa Nielsen Hayden: The Fabric of the City.
Orcinus by David Neiwert: The Political and the Personal.
Semi-Daily Journal by Brad DeLong: I Really Cannot Understand Why Anyone Would Do This.
Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall: Josh's interview with Amb. Joseph Wilson.
Very, Very Happy by the Mighty Reason Man: My dislike of the French is independent of any facts about the world
All of the posts are great - way beyond anything I myself could have written, but these are just a little better in my oppinion.
Please don't force me to choose between them....
Should've include http://www.thepoorman.net/ 's
"Shorter Right-Wing Punditry's Reaction to the Valerie Plame Affair: An Internal Dialogue"
(http://www.thepoorman.net/archives/2003_09.html)
Jester: I suspectthat you will see that the Poorman's post when we write up the Most Humorous Post category. If you wanted it in this category, all it took was a comment or email.
Posted by: dwight meredith at January 5, 2004 01:18 PMNeiwart, Orcinus: "The Political and the Personal"
Bilmon, Whiskey Bar: "Twilight of the Neocons"
Ampersand, Alas a Blog: "The Absent Fatso"
D’Arc, Body and Soul: "Images of a Kinder, Gentler War"
Pink Dream Poppies, Alas a Blog: "A Comment on Rape and "She Asked For It"
Posted by: Patriotboy at January 5, 2004 01:26 PMPandagon's top 20 most annoying conservatives can be found here.
http://www.pandagon.net/archives/00002229.htm#comments
Maybe I should have nominated something. My personal fave from Whiskey Bar was War Party, with all kinds of good historical tidbits from the last, oh, 400 years explaining everything from Christian fundamentalism to our current electoral map.
"Preznit give me Turkee"
How could I vote otherwise; it still makes me laugh out loud and it's still the best snark on the media - maybe ever.
Posted by: Charles2 at January 5, 2004 03:19 PMPicking out any single post from Billmon is tough. Even at eight nominations, he's probably still underrepresented!
Posted by: Swopa at January 5, 2004 03:31 PMThe Cogent Provacateur for Operation Desert Snipe. He nailed the WMD issue on APRIL 23, before it became a cause celebre. Despite all the writing that has taken place since, ODS is still the best work on the subject by ANYONE (blog or professional), that I've seen.
It is post that deserves to be called 'Magisterial.' (and, in fact, it was called Magisterial, by Jim Henley.
Oh yeah, and Atrios' Preznit Give me Turkey.
Posted by: pontificator at January 5, 2004 04:28 PMNathan Newman 'In Defense of Al Sharpton' for courage, clarity, and context. It's a lot harder and more thankless to take on the liberal arbiters of "respectable thought", particularly friends and colleagues, than it is to score points against the right. Bravo.
MaxSpeak 'UN-Tenable' for impact, timeliness, and saying what needed to be said no matter how little I wanted to hear it.
Body and Soul untitled March 26 (truths one cannot tell an eight-year-old child) for quality of writing and sanity in wartime.
Billmon 'War Party' speaks to me where I live, literally and figuratively. An example of the originality that makes Whiskey Bar so outstanding.
Choosing is agonizing; having so many nominees makes this category one that that really fulfils the purpose of the Koufax. I've enjoyed almost every nominated post so far... This post is bookmarked so I can get to them all eventually, but my 'winnowing' votes are those above.
Why of course Swopa's "Why the passion against George Bush" post, of course - not that I'm biased ;)
Posted by: Green Boy at January 5, 2004 05:47 PMthere are a lot of heavy hitters here, but glancing over these i see a few whose effect i am still feeling since the first time i read them:
1. what a tangled web we weave, by billmon;
2. where we stand, by prometheus6;
3. whiteness, as i know it, by ms. lauren.
they are all so very strong, though. emma goldman and jeanne d'arc are so consistently great it makes me think they should be considered for best blog overall.
Posted by: r@d@r at January 5, 2004 06:39 PMI hope that you will include Swopa in the final list.
http://www.needlenose.com/pMachineFree2.2.1/weblog.php?id=P156
But what if you were George Bush, a pampered son who had never had a hard job in his life, and who wanted nothing more from the Presidency than his father did -- to cruise through four or eight years with no discernible policy, no overriding ambition beyond rewarding your corporate backers, warming the chair in the Oval Office, and thinking to yourself, "Wow, I'm President"?Posted by: stonedown at January 5, 2004 07:19 PMThe answer is, if you were George Bush on September 11th, you were scared shitless. Even if not regarding your physical safety, you were scared because you suddenly had to be a President instead of just posing as one. But the only thing you were good at politically was endorsing platitudes -- you didn't have a sufficient grasp of policies to break down an issue and identify a path to follow.
Nathan Newman's post ...
... and Liberal Oasis "It's Not a conspiracy..."
Posted by: Dr. Damfa at January 5, 2004 07:20 PMI nominate A Matter of Trust by Susie Madrak on open Source Politics
Posted by: Ileana at January 5, 2004 09:30 PMMy 5 favorites from this list:
"About Aztlan" by Luz Paz
"Whiteness, as I Know It" by feministe
"Where We Stand" by Prometheus 6
"UN-tenable" by MaxSpeak
"Torture, Drugs and Terror" by the Head Heeb
In order to fully appreciate Atrios' "Preznit Give Me Turkee" post (@ 5:39 pm 12-04-03) first read his "Bigots Not Backing Down" post (@ 4:12 pm 12-04-03). Marcus should be nominated for a "Most Poignant" award.
Posted by: CMike at January 6, 2004 02:06 AM1. what a tangled web we weave, by billmon;
2. Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall is nominated for Josh's interview with Amb. Joseph Wilson
No vote yet, just a big ol' thanks to whoever nominated my "Bizarro World" post. Carry on...
Posted by: skb at January 6, 2004 10:26 AMMy own personal faves from this list, in no particular order:
Calpundit's Krugman interview
Making Light's The Fabric of the City
Crooked Timber's Stories
OSP's A Matter of Trust
P6's Where We Stand
Pandagon's 20 Most Annoying Conservatives of 2003
VVH's The Corner Unleashed
BTW, the link to the Talent Show post is broken.
Thanks Charles. The link is fixed now I hope.
Posted by: dwight meredith at January 6, 2004 01:05 PMGeez, I can't even begin to narrow it down - there are too many wonderful posts. Thanks, MB and Dwight, for doing all this work.
Posted by: Ampersand at January 6, 2004 02:42 PMI'll vote for Niewert's "The Politics and the Personal" first.
Then Ampersand's "Late-Term Abortions" post.
Open Source Politics and "Matter of Trust".
South Knox Bubba's "GOP Bizarro World" and
Whiskey Bar's Billmon and "WMD quotes".
Thanks for compiling all of this. That was a good list of thoughtful posts.
Posted by: Observer at January 6, 2004 10:28 PMAlas A Blog's "A Comment on Rape..."
Calpundit's interview with Krugman
Head Heeb's "Torture, Drugs, and Terror"
MaxSpeak's "UN-tenable"
Nathan Newman's "In Defense of Al Sharpton"
Orcinus's "The Political and the Personal"
Pedantry's "Why Israel and Palestine..."
Prometheus 6's "Where We Stand"
And, shamelessly fishing here, a vote for my own "Muslims and Anti-Semitism" ;-)
Posted by: Al-Muhajabah at January 6, 2004 11:07 PMMan, hard category.
Top Three
What Would Bobby Do?
The Political and the Personal.
un_tenable
CalPundit, "New Model Republican Party"
Billmon, "WMD quotes"
Lady Sisyphus, "so great a cloud of witnesses"
Billmon, "Dream Time"
Prometheus6, "Where We Stand"
David Niewert, "The Political and the Personal"
Amp, "The Absent Fatso"
Amp, " Why does the Republican Party oppose banning late-term abortions?"
Very Very Happy, "My dislike of the French..."
- D^2's High noon...
- Preznit
- Billmon's tangled web
Making Light by a nose, because the subject is close to my heart.
Damn, this is good stuff.
Posted by: julia at January 8, 2004 11:29 AMThe Right Christians for The Sources of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream
Pandagon for Jesse Taylor’s Twenty Most Annoying Conservatives of 2003
Semi-Daily Journal by Brad DeLong for I Really Cannot Understand Why Anyone Would Do This
Talking Points Memo for Josh Marshall's interview with Ambassador Joseph Wilson
Calpundit for An Interview with Paul Krugman
Atrios for Preznit Give me Turkee
Body and Soul: "Images of a Kinder, Gentler War"
Posted by: dublingal_ny at January 8, 2004 03:06 PMpresnit give me turkee.
funny as hell as sums up the state of our journalistic pathos better than any essay could ever do.
Posted by: Mark H at January 10, 2004 06:26 AMPandagon - 20 most annoying conservatives
Orcinus - political and personal
skb - bizarro GOP politics
Posted by: (: Tom :) at January 10, 2004 09:24 PMI'm going to enjoy reading some of the nominated posts as they are on blogs I don't visit regularly.
When I saw this category, the only post I remembered immediately was Neiwart's "The Political and the Personal." I've had it bookmarked since the day it appeared.
Posted by: Opus at January 11, 2004 02:51 AM- NeedleNose I read regularly so I'd have to give it to them.
- Preznit was pretty good too.
- Billmon's War Quotes.
David Niewert's The Political and the Personal.
Corrente: Tresy’s The Chickenhawks Come Home to Roost.
Posted by: Penny at January 12, 2004 07:30 PMBillmon's "A shape of things to come"
Posted by: kos at January 13, 2004 03:23 PMOrcinus: The Political and the Personal
Posted by: Jeff at January 16, 2004 12:36 PMCalpundit's The New Model Republican Party, and Orcinus's The Personal and the Political.
Posted by: Peter Horace at January 16, 2004 09:23 PM