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Matt Yglesias (officially) joins the Sorosphere [Karl]

Matthew Yglesias announces he’s “Big Think Tank Matt”:

I recently accepted a new job at the Center for American Progress where I’ll be working with the team that puts together ThinkProgress, the Wonk Room, and the Progress Report. 

Contrary to what he posted, Yglesias has actually taken a job with the American Progress Action Fund (APAF) — which is not the same thing as the Center for American Progress (CAP), for tax reasons.  Donations to APAF are not tax-deductible, but donations to CAP are.  Is Ygelesias suggesting that a job at a 501(c)(4) organization (APAF) is being paid for with the tax-deductable funds given to a 501(c)(3) organization (CAP)? I doubt he is; it is far more likely that Yglesias was just sloppy, even on a topic he should know intimately.

(The difference between 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) groups also seems to have real-world effects that folks on the right like the Heritage Foundation should notice.  But I digress.)

Ramesh Ponnuru (echoing the error) suggests that Yglesias’s move will raise the IQ at the Center for American Progress.  Paraphrasing Robert Muldoon, it may also raise the IQ at The Atlantic.

89 Replies to “Matt Yglesias (officially) joins the Sorosphere [Karl]”

  1. AJB says:

    Ramesh Ponnuru (echoing the error) suggests that Yglesias’s move will raise the IQ at the Center for American Progress. Paraphrasing Robert Muldoon, it may also raise the IQ at The Atlantic.

    bcuz ther dum lol

  2. SevenEleventy says:

    Karl, wasn’t this the moron who thought it would have been better for America to remain part of the British Empire, or something to that effect?

  3. MayBee says:

    “Big Think Tank Matt”

    What is it about those lefty bloggers that treat people like children?

  4. Jeff G says:

    When Matt started blogging, he was still as senior at Harvard — and was a regular commenter on my site. In the time I was gone from the blogosphere, he upgraded his own site, got a gig with American Prospect, then the Atlantic, and now at a think tank.

    In short, he’s being paid handsomely for his political opinions.

    Conversely, I’ve been offered nothing, and have gotten nowhere. Hell, I can’t even get a column or a radio show on Pajamas Media. So let’s not sell Matt short, lest we completely destroy my self esteem.

  5. Carin says:

    But we don’t love him, Jeff.

  6. Carin says:

    OTOH, have you tried dressing up as a jihadist and see what that gets you?

  7. dre says:

    “I’ve been offered nothing, and have gotten nowhere. ”

    You need more BDS in your posts.

  8. Carin says:

    Yea, dre’s right. That shit sells.

  9. happyfeet says:

    He’s no Steve Kmetko, that’s for sure.

  10. Karl says:

    #2: Yes.

    #4: Get back to regular blogging for a while, then take the lucrative train to Brockville. As for being paid handsomely, we’ll see how quickly Yglesias gets out of the Flophouse.

  11. SevenEleventy says:

    Sorry Jeff, but his post on the Fourth of July was juvenile. I’ve read better from high school seniors.

  12. Jeff G says:

    I blame the dumbing down of the Amerikkkan mind.

  13. dre says:

    “When Matt started blogging, he was still as senior at Harvard — and was a regular commenter on my site. ….. he upgraded his own site, got a gig with American Prospect, then the Atlantic, and now at a think tank.”

    Matt the O! of the blogosphere.

  14. Karl says:

    Jeff, you really need to read the Flophouse piece. The pic is worth 1000 words, but the fact that his roomie Ackerman’s blog moved to Sorosland in April is pure coincidence, I’m sure.

  15. Karl says:

    dre:

    O!uch.

  16. Fletch says:

    Contrary to what he posted, Yglesias has actually taken a job with the American Progress Action Fund (APAF)

    …where “Big Think Tank Matt” will continually whine about the influence of “right-wing” money from Scaife, CATO, Boz(o)-ell,etc.- while sucking off George Soros and Peter Lewis every day for $80k/yr + benefits.

  17. Rick Ballard says:

    “Conversely, I’ve been offered nothing, and have gotten nowhere.”

    That’s odd. I thought that everyone who worked with Hollywood types make bundles from the association…

  18. dre says:

    I’m thinking that geezer Buchanan could kick the kid’s ass.

  19. urthshu says:

    BigThink TankMatt? Sounds like a good sockpuppet name…that thinks the BIG THINKS of course

  20. Jeff G says:

    I just read it, Karl.

    I’m officially retiring now.

  21. dre says:

    “Running against eggheads has been a longstanding conservative trope, but one gets the sense that in recent years it’s more and more come to play a corrosive role in preventing conservative politicians from engaging in any kind of serious thought.”

    I still think that Pat can kick the kid’s ass.

  22. If you retire again, where am I supposed to get discovered?

    I’ve been lurking and commenting here long enough to remember celluloid wisdom was here and all I ever got was a rejection letter from Penthouse Forum.

    And my wife once yelled at me because my kid’s Kindergarten teacher asked her why I used the word “cocksucker” so much on my blog.

  23. urthshu says:

    Seriously, Jeff? There’s never fame or fortune in promoting uncomfortable truth, man. Tending your garden, Voltaire-like, that’s really the essence.

  24. B Moe says:

    I just read it, Karl.

    I’m officially retiring now.

    Now you know how a musician feels watching American Idol.

  25. happyfeet says:

    It’s just that greasy Hungarian building infrastructure again. He’s the one that thinks we need a denazification process. No for real it’s what he said. There is no honor in sucking at the teat of a greasy Hungarian I don’t think.

  26. dre says:

    “a greasy Hungarian”

    As a Hunky-American I denounce you!

  27. happyfeet says:

    You’ve seen him, right? He’s got issues, he has to.

  28. happyfeet says:

    Have you had cow brains, dre? Hungarians eat cow brains. I know cause there was a restaurant … some Hortabagy thing … across the street from me that served cow brains. I never had any. It had been there forever but then it closed. I want to say it was called Lazlo’s Hortabagy. I would mostly just walk by and it was always really old people in there.

  29. dre says:

    “You’ve seen him, right? He’s got issues, he has to.”

    Yea sure change the debate to what paprika he uses. Nice try.

  30. happyfeet says:

    Hey now. I could very well be Hungarian myself. Well, if I put on a few pounds.

  31. happyfeet says:

    Hah. You know I’m kidding. I don’t know anything about Hungarians really. I’m provincial.

  32. dre says:

    “Have you had cow brains, dre? Hungarians eat cow brains.”

    Alex didn’t have it on the menu.
    http://tastyburgher.com/2006/09/29/jozsa-corner/

  33. happyfeet says:

    Oh. That makes me sad I didn’t really eat at that Hortabagy place while I had the chance.

  34. um, it’s never a good idea to eat brains, happyfeet.

    BECAUSE OF THE CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE!!

    prions are nasty.

  35. dre says:

    “Oh. That makes me sad I didn’t really eat at that Hortabagy place while I had the chance.”

    Alex on the roadside:

    “Alex has, in the past, sold hortobagy pies on the roadside at rush hour at his corner. Spicy meat pie sandwiches that were just fantastic. Some jerk probably called the city on him, though, because I haven’t seen him do it in a while. “

  36. ahem says:

    Jeff: You’re confusing Quality and Popularity. There are fashions in thought. Matt’s thoughts are very fashionable. One day, however, he”s going to look like a right as–along with the rest of the Left.

    The problem with payback, unfortunately, is that it never comes soon enough.

  37. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    Never won the Oscar for Best Director: Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorcese, Alfred Hitchcock.

    Did win the Oscar for Best Director: Kevin Costner.

  38. happyfeet says:

    oh. I was spelling hortobagy wrong. I think I’ll stop off at the Russian deli place on the way home though.

  39. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    Scorsese, dammit. I always get that wrong.

  40. dre says:

    “oh. I was spelling hortobagy wrong. I think I’ll stop off at the Russian deli place on the way home though.”

    First paprika now borscht. You keep dodging dialogue.

  41. Mr. Pink says:

    Comment by Fletch on 7/17 @ 4:25 pm #
    …where “Big Think Tank Matt” will continually whine about the influence of “right-wing” money from Scaife, CATO, Boz(o)-ell,etc.- while sucking off George Soros and Peter Lewis every day for $80k/yr + benefits.

    Only 80K? Wow that sucks for someone with over 6 years experience and a Harvard degree.

  42. The Lost Dog says:

    Comment by Jeff G on 7/17 @ 4:08 pm #

    When Matt started blogging, he was still as senior at Harvard — and was a regular commenter on my site. In the time I was gone from the blogosphere, he upgraded his own site, got a gig with American Prospect, then the Atlantic, and now at a think tank.

    In short, he’s being paid handsomely for his political opinions.

    Conversely, I’ve been offered nothing, and have gotten nowhere. Hell, I can’t even get a column or a radio show on Pajamas Media. So let’s not sell Matt short, lest we completely destroy my self esteem.

    Jeff,

    As soon as I win Powerball, you are on the payroll as The Boss!.

    Your logic skills and slightly (?) right of center mullings make you an untouchable in this new millennium. No money for anyone who remembers!

    BRAVO!, my friend.

  43. happyfeet says:

    I agree. Also I’m not the kind of person that will just go out and get a new favorite blogger. I know they like to call it the blogosphere but that I think of as the rest really.

    oh and I forgot I forgot my wallet so no crazy Russky foozle for me.

  44. The Lost Dog says:

    Comment by B Moe on 7/17 @ 5:17 pm #

    I just read it, Karl.

    I’m officially retiring now.

    Now you know how a musician feels watching American Idol.

    Ted Mack covered the whole schlemiel fifty years ago. Think Pat Boone here.

    But I do have to say that Miss Nevada, who was stripped of her title, is way hot.

    I bet she wasn’t let off the hook by Trump because she wouldn’t…you know…

    I know I would have insisted on it for her to retain her title… What good is power if you are afraid to excercise it? Especially when Miss Nevada is begging you for “mercy”?

    Did I spell shhlemiel right?

  45. alppuccino says:

    I bet she wasn’t let off the hook by Trump because she wouldn’t…you know…

    the “you know” involves Trump in some sort of state of undress. Which involves anyone within eyeshot being in some sort of state of giggling. I’m thinking Miss Nevada got it for giggling.

  46. dre says:

    “oh and I forgot I forgot my wallet so no crazy Russky foozle for me.”
    Oh borscht feces

  47. MarkJ says:

    This news immediately gave me a (gruesome) mental picture of Yglesias going through an Animal House-style fraternal rite of initiation with George Soros, armed with a giant paddle, in charge of it all:

    “Are you, Matthew, prepared to accept the bond of Obedient Progress?”

    “Sir, yes, sir!”

    “Assume the position.”

    *WHACK* “Thank you sir, may I have another?” *WHACK* “Thank you sir, may I have another?” *WHACK* “Yeooooowwww, THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?”

  48. Fletch says:

    Mr Pink-

    Only 80K? Wow that sucks for someone with over 6 years experience and a Harvard degree.

    I’m not aware of the “subject” of Matt’s degree…

    BTW, How much does saying, “one venti cappucino light frappe” actually pay in DC- or does Yglesias have other talents I’m unaware of?

  49. Bender Bending Rodriguez says:

    Never won the Oscar for Best Director: Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorcese, Alfred Hitchcock.

    “Scorcese won for The Depaaaaaaahted,” said Mr. Pedantic. Which actually makes your point better, not worse — see, it all comes around in the end.

  50. Mr. Pink says:

    I looked up his bio it said he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. No clue what his subject was but I hope it prepares him for kissing billionaire ass.

  51. sashal says:

    jeff, you are much more fun
    matt is boring.
    Check the average number of comments per post there. Rarely I have seen the number exceeding 40-50.
    Harvard my ass. We are better…

  52. geoffb says:

    “Big Think Tank Matt” comes very close to “Check out the big brain on Brett!”. A good ending is not in the works.

  53. JimK says:

    I always thought of him as some guy still living in his parents’ basement, after graduating from high school. At least his writing and ideas appeared to be at that level. Liberal think tanks will take anybody.

  54. happyfeet says:

    I only almost get that but it’s still very funny.

  55. happyfeet says:

    oh. #52 I mean.

  56. geoffb says:

    Thanks happyfeet. How you manage to be funny all the time is a mystery to me. But then humor is a mystery itself.

  57. Karl says:

    Can I have a bite of your Kahuna Burger?

  58. Karl says:

    Oh, I just scrolled up for Jeff’s retirement. Because having the hot wife and cute kid is such a drag compared to sitting on a couch in the dark with two scarily similar-lookin’ dweebs. And running into the blogosphere at the laundromat.

  59. geoffb says:

    Don’t forget that “tasty beverage”.

  60. Good Lt. says:

    You mean this tool?

    http://www.mererhetoric.com/images/yglesias_lg.jpg

    Yeah – intellectual leftwing POWERHOUSE there.

  61. Mr. Pink says:

    Is that him Good Lt.? I really do not find that picture funny in any way.

  62. MayBee says:

    I mean, Ezra titles posts “Big Media Me” and “Your World in Charts” and Jane Hamsher refers to her readers, even the grown men, as “pups”.

    I think if you talk baby talk to us, Jeff, you will take off.

  63. Starchunks Barrista says:

    Geoff B-

    Don’t forget that “tasty beverage”.

    If you don’t want a “venti cappucino light frappe”, I’m sure we can offer a a “highland Columbian” coffee bean freshly squeezed from the tapeworm infested asshole of a peasant still living a real “ca. 1740 A. D. lifestyle” in the 21st century while you’re buying a cheap imitation at a “Sonic drive-thru” in your “tricked out” 97 Hyundai with only a 120 watts pumping your boomer…

  64. happyfeet says:

    thank you geoffb. My new for real tasty beverage today was Diet Pepsi Jazz Caramel Cream. It was nothing to get excited about. It’s a diet cream soda for women 25-54 I think. You can tell cause of the emphasis on the low sodium. I have eleven left. It’s a diet cream soda is all. This kind of though is one of those ones you really have to either have over ice or you have to open it and let it breathe in the fridge for 10-15 minutes or you just taste fizz and none of the caramel nuances. Which are nothing to get excited about anyway. It’s a diet cream soda soda. I have eleven left.

  65. Karl says:

    Don’t forget that “tasty beverage”.

    That could be the orange soda… of the chartreuse!

  66. um… is there maybe some caffeine in there happyfeet? you don’t usually repeat yourself quite so much.

  67. happyfeet says:

    I know. I’m in an iterative place right now is all. Yes… that one does have caffeine which distinguishes it from Hansen’s otherwise better-tasting line of diet sodas aimed at the same target.

  68. happyfeet says:

    I guess there should be a link.

  69. so, I drink this when I drink anything fizzy. only the lime kind. just so you can judge me now. ;D

  70. happyfeet says:

    I will look for that. Oh. They’re the same people that make Shasta and Faygo. I tried Faygo the first time when I was in Jersey a couple months ago. A diet chocolate soda, kind of like Canfield’s but not as tasty.

  71. geoffb says:

    I’m not even sure what a “one venti cappucino light frappe” except a fancy term for what we here in “fly-over country” call coffee with cream.

    I was only here for the Sprite anyways. Or some Sweet Tea. Too late for coffee.

  72. Karl says:

    FAYGOPHOBE!!!

  73. happyfeet says:

    The name is all kinds of unfortunate really, but nobody said anything. It was mostly New Yorkers there so maybe they’ve seen it forever, but it was new to me.

  74. geoffb says:

    Faygo in Jersey? Faygo is out of Detroit, I didn’t think it made it that far. Lots of flavors.

  75. RTO Trainer says:

    I like this. Mostly for the L-Carnatine, which, as a separate supplement along with Lecithin and protein powder, has lead to a weight loss of 8 lbs.

  76. happyfeet says:

    In the 1950s, the Faygo Kid was a cartoon cowboy who appeared in Faygo advertisements. “Which way did he go, which way did he go, he went for Faygo” was the motto he sung.

    Marketing is a noble vocation. Marketing is a noble vocation. Marketing is a noble vocation.

  77. happyfeet says:

    Those are the best for real, RTO. Which is why they’re a lot expensive too really. I always get the blue one.

  78. geoffb says:

    Thanks for the laughs hf. Past midnite here and my bed is calling. My wife has put Muddy Waters on and that means bedtime.

  79. happyfeet says:

    Oh. There it is. Faygo Chocolate Creme Pie Soda. Meh. This one’s still best of genre I think.

  80. happyfeet says:

    Good night, geoffb. It’s already my Friday but I want to get up early too.

  81. RTO Trainer says:

    HF, you’re right. If you buy the 4 packs for $6 that works out to $12/gallon. Which would get me to work and back at least 3 times.

  82. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    Just don’t order an iced espresso in DC, if you know what’s good for you (h/t: Lileks).

  83. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    “Scorcese won for The Depaaaaaaahted,” said Mr. Pedantic.

    I don’t know whether to be embarrassed that I missed that, or pleased that my boycott of the Academy Awards seems to have been so effective. Thanks!

  84. Education Guy says:

    Good for Matt. You tell the truth Jeff, and the reward for that isn’t always so obvious. In fact the rewards often seem to be punishments. No good deed and all that.

  85. […] posted on this, of course, but I thought I’d letterbox it. Sociopath. See Liberty Street. I guess Soros digs that shit, though. Posted by Dan Collins @ 7:18 pm | Trackback SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Yglesias: And by […]

  86. TmjUtah says:

    There are fashions in thought. Matt’s thoughts are very fashionable. One day, however, he’’s going to look like a right as–along with the rest of the Left.

    When all these Leftists are packing paper scraps in the cracks of their barracks in one of the Socialist Workers’ Retraining camps scattered across what used to be Northern Canada, they’ll find their words in the dead copies of the New Yorker, the Atlantic, The Times, The Globe, and all the other media mouthpieces that urged GOVERNMENT TO TAKE STEPS…. they’ll find their words on features. Above the fold. Serialized in next months issue, and in partnership with “fill in other insular blue echo chamber with a press and an endowment” and those words will line up at night and just fucking laugh like maniacs , laugh like there’s no tomorrow, and pretty soon those bitter, sorry ass sonsabitches will hear the laughter… over the groans… even in the dead calm subzero cold of a moonless Saskatchewan forest.

    They’ll wish then they had the days where a poorly thought out tattoo or careless joke infected with race/class/or gender poison splashed back. They would certainly want another run at maybe not being quite so at the leading edge of the intellectual charge… nor the bloody, notched edge of the charge that kept the intellectuals on the field all those many times.

    I reckon when the Hungarian and his minions finally figure that they’ve got the deeds sewn up for what physical control they’ll need before all else, and have assumed control over the wants and proxies three levels removed to control any threat or future prize that isn’t literally in his name. The pundits, the activists, the O!rganizers of the Movement are all line crossers, window breakers, and can rationalize any act they desire to committ into a NECESSARY STEP to a BETTER FUTURE. By then, that is to say, the usefull idiots will have disestablsished whatever shaky power groupings that happened to be left; leaving only fecund ground for the implementation for the NEW Plan.

    Plans always gotta have energy, and energy comes from fertilizer. A plan …. treated like a plant… has a code and instructions. So the gardener gets to do all the talking. And the folks in the camps…by the by, they come into play eventually – their names even held up for praise or opprobrium.

    Often such events mark the last time those names will ever pass human lips or the printer’s template.

    It’s always thus, when the next utopia emerges. Can’t have peace, love, and plenty without bottomless basements calling out for shovels, lime, and TURN OUT THAT LIGHT!

    History. You may not be interested in it. It is most assuredly interested in all of us, and we will play our appropriate parts when the wheel turns to us.

    Have a great weekend, all.

  87. The Lost Dog says:

    Comment by Good Lt. on 7/17 @ 8:16 pm #

    You mean this tool?

    http://www.mererhetoric.com/images/yglesias_lg.jpg

    Yeah – intellectual leftwing POWERHOUSE there.

    Yeah, Lt.

    I’m sure this guy gets all the hot babes.

    And Jeff. No sweat. If you have to be like this guy to work for Soros, that makes you the winner. There is much more to life than kissing a meglomaniacal, fascist billionaire’s ass.

    ICK!

  88. […] Services Committee over the rookie Senator Obama, the establishment media or the sort of snot-nosed Soros hack who has himself photographed wearing “terrorist […]

  89. […] he joined the Sorosphere, I noted that “terrorist chic” blogger Matthew Yglesias seemed fuzzy on the identity of his employer.  He recently found out the hard way, via a […]

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