This category is back by request of the readers. It honors those whose comments animate many of the lefty blogs. Indeed, the comments on many blogs are as interesting and lively as the main page. The nominees for the 2003 Koufax Award for Best Commentor are:
Agitpropre who posts at Crooked Timber, MaxSpeak, Poorman, Whiskey Bar and Oliver Willis
Baal Shem Ra, who says very smart things at Matt Yglesias
Conrad Barwa who posts at Head Heeb. See this thread for instance
Chris Bowers who comments at Daily Kos
cosmic grappler who posts at Cal Pundit, the Agitator, the Poorman and other splaces.
Demetrios who posts many places including Not Geniuses and Oliver Willis
David Ehrenstein who can often be found at Atrios
Dr. Pedant who comments at Calpundit, MaxSpeak, TalkLeft and other places
John M. Ford who posts at Electrolite, Making Light, and Neil Gaiman's Journal
The Ghost of Bill Hicks who comments at Pandagon, Whiskey Bar, Calpundit and other places
Hunter who appears to comment at Whiskey Bar, Fanatical Apathy and perhaps other places
John Isbell who comments in any number of places including Body and Soul and recently began posting at Open Source Politics
Donald Johnson who posts at many places including Body and Soul
MattB who comments at Matt Yglesias, Pandagon, Not Geniuses and other places
Steve Plonk who posts at South Knox Bubba, Classless Warfare and North Georgia Dogma among other places
praktile who comments at Calpundit, Matthew Ygelasias and elsewhere
Rea who posts nearly everywhere and whose comments about the law I find particularly insightful
Ikraam Saeed of Path of the Paddle who comments frequently at Yglesias and Calpundit
Stef who comments many places including at MedRants
T Chris who posts at Talk Left and other places
Thumb did an admirable job guesting for Atrios and comments there as well as at Calpundit and elsewhere. Thumb’s guest post at Hullabaloo entitled Are psychopaths running our government? was nominated for Best Post and through my mistake was not included on the list. My apologies to Thumb
Woot who is often on the comment board at Atrios.
Zizka, formerly of Vanity Site now posting at Seeing the Forest and who can be found commenting many places including at Atrios and Mathew Yglesias.
Posted by Dwight Meredith at January 12, 2004 01:13 PM | TrackBackThumb, with a bullet.
Posted by: Oliver at January 12, 2004 01:48 PMConrad Barwa and Ikram Saeed (who is also a frequent commenter on my blog). I'd previously nominated Danny Pinkus as well as Conrad - there's some of his work in the linked thread - and I'll renew that nomination at this time.
David Ehrenstein
Hunter
John Isbell
praktile
Rea
Thumb
Zizka
John M. Ford would be my prime nominee. Funny, sharp comments, which have occasionally been known to scan beautifully. Zizka and John Isbell too.
Posted by: Henry Farrell at January 12, 2004 05:24 PMI don't think I can make an informed decision, since I've not seen any of these people at Barefoot and Naked
Help me make an informed decision: Visit BAN and comment.
Posted by: Retrogrouch at January 12, 2004 05:33 PMgotta go with woot
Posted by: Mark H at January 12, 2004 05:34 PMI should add a vote for John Isbell as well.
Zizka, Rea, and John Isbell
Posted by: jackson at January 12, 2004 07:57 PMDonald Johnson
Conrad Barwa
praktike
Zizka
Ikraam Saeed
Steve Plonk
The Ghost of Bill Hicks
woot
Thumb
Posted by: surfk9 at January 13, 2004 10:47 AMLooks like I'll have to begin my campaign for next year. :)
Posted by: Linnaeus at January 13, 2004 12:00 PMNo Eric M, habitue of MaxSpeak and Tacitus among others? For shame!
Posted by: Jim Henley at January 13, 2004 12:01 PMNo Eric M, habitue of MaxSpeak and Tacitus among others?
They already have blogs. Isn't this category for those without their own blog to be recognized?
Posted by: ADM at January 13, 2004 12:37 PMChris Bowers' Empirical Cattle Call is not to be missed. The brother works hard at it!
Posted by: DavidNYC at January 13, 2004 12:58 PMRea and Ikraam Saeed.
Posted by: Jane at January 13, 2004 02:15 PMBy the way, for those of you who are interested, Chris just posted a very detailed explanation of the ECC here.
Posted by: DavidNYC at January 13, 2004 02:32 PMChris Bowers, for Empirical Cattle Call. Also for the concept of "materiality," which deserves to become part of the standard jargon in discussing campaigns.
-- Rick Robinson
Posted by: al-Fubar at January 13, 2004 02:33 PMChris Bowers! Hid ECC is awesome and he gave me great suggestions for the Dean VP survivor poll I did on dkos.
Posted by: samiam at January 13, 2004 06:01 PMThanks to the kind souls who nominated me. just a note--it's "praktike" with a "k" and I can also be found at www.americanfootprint.com.
My own sentimental nod goes to Matt Young--although he wasn't nominated--for the sheer wonder of it all.
But I have to give Chris Bowers his due for not only steadily driving the case for supporting liberal constituencies, but also for bringing cogent empirical arguments along for the ride.
Posted by: praktike at January 13, 2004 10:27 PMpraktike
Thumb
Zizka
W00T
Oh, and anonymous
Posted by: Patriotboy at January 14, 2004 02:42 AMMary Rosh
Posted by: John Lott at January 14, 2004 02:44 AMJohn Isbell
Posted by: Al-Muhajabah at January 16, 2004 06:19 AMConrad Barwa
Posted by: Ikram at January 18, 2004 11:03 PMJohn Isbell
Posted by: Trish Wilson at January 22, 2004 04:32 PMmay I ask, which commentor program are you using and or recommending?
In thanks,
Corinna