Too Much Karl…
…Not enough Jeff. I say that less often than I say, “Too much Dan, not enough Jeff,†but probably neither of them as often as I simply say to myself, “Hey, where the hell is Jeff?â€Â
Seriously, the site just isn’t the same without Jeff, and, frankly, not even half as interesting.
He brings up some very good points I think. Go read the comments, too!
The comparison with Jay Tea kind of pisses me off, though. That’s just mean. Although I think this was pretty cool.
The comparison with Jay Tea kind of pisses me off, though.
I should probably feel guilty about that, shouldn’t I? Sorry.
Anyway, in the comments, Enoch_Root makes a good case for the writers and comment hordes here.
Dan Collins brings the noise! I do miss Jeff, though. He truly had a deep understanding of bacon.
Yeah, but Enoch’s my brother.
None of those links work for me. I’ve never heard of this Zombyboy before.
Zombyboy, I didn’t see an Enoch Root comment. Perhaps elsewhere?
Jeff will come back when he’s damn good and ready. Personally, I find negativism towards the (unpaid) guest posters counterproductive. I would offer only appreciation for their labors. The trolls do a fine enough job with their scorn without raillery from supposedly friendly railbirds.
I mean . . . just because I’m glib and facile doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. *sniff*
If you cut me, do I not bleed? If you give me too much beer, do I not puke? If I whack off, do I not spooge?
Perhaps zomby could throw his rattle on the floor. Then Jeff would surely return and the guest posters would be properly shamed.
mtt–
His point was really that he misses Jeff. We all do.
I can understand how I might not be everybody’s cup of Jay Tea.
I’ve never heard of this Zombyboy before
Well, yeah, there’s no real reason for you to have heard of me before. Sad for me, really.
Yeah, but Enoch’s my brother.
Still trying to decide if this is a joke or not…
Zombyboy, I didn’t see an Enoch Root comment. Perhaps elsewhere?
Actually, there are two now and one nishi.
Jeff will come back when he’s damn good and ready. Personally, I find negativism towards the (unpaid) guest posters counterproductive. I would offer only appreciation for their labors. The trolls do a fine enough job with their scorn without raillery from supposedly friendly railbirds.
Fair enough, but understand that it wasn’t just complaining about them (I can’t say there wasn’t an element of that and it probably wasn’t very polite–but, as complaints go, what I said was pretty gentle) I was simply trying to note that Protein Wisdom is hardly the place that it used to be. Without Jeff’s voice, it’s just another group blog, albeit one with extra blood, beer, puke, and spooge.
Which isn’t necessarily a positive thing in my book and goes far in explaining why Dan isn’t my “cup of Jay Tea.” If Dan’s to your taste, that’s fine but his writing isn’t what had me reading Protein Wisdom before I first started blogging.
Perhaps zomby could throw his rattle on the floor. Then Jeff would surely return and the guest posters would be properly shamed.
Take it how you want and think of me what you will–doesn’t really matter much–but understand this: PW isn’t the same without Jeff and I find myself coming by less and less as time goes by. It doesn’t seem particularly childish to note that the site has changed and not entirely for the better. That’s just my opinion; take it for what it’s worth.
And, reading through the comments that were left on my (admittedly small) site, I don’t think I’m alone.
Oh, come on! It used to have just as much spooge!
It’s not a zero sum game I don’t think. It’s more an all that is necessary for the triumph of evil game I think. That’s not a fun game really, but deal me in I guess.
Well, if I thought the guest posters were pushing out Jeff, than I’d be one of the first to start escorting them to the door.
But, I was under the impression the the guest posters were here to keep it alive up until Jeff could post again. So, currently, PW w/o the guest posters would simply be a blank page.
So, the guest posters are the HOPE and CHANGYNESS of a future with Jeff back.
I ruminate and daydream about where Jeff went. I’m hoping he turns up on Wrestling Reality, as explanantion for his absence. He returns, crowned with laurel , oatmeal genuflecting to the shapely gun-turrets that have returned to pepper and harrass us with wit.
Dan: FWIW, if one had to be compared to a Wizbang contributor, it could have been worse.
Much, much worse.
Dan has a flavor, I’ve aquired a taste for his posting-style and would go looking for it now, even if it weren’t here. He’s a Darcy to my inner blog-reading Bennet.
Thanks, Sarah! At least I’m not a Collins!
Where’s Witheld?
Karl is a fine writer and a first class political news summarizer and analyst. His posts are always long on content and short on rhetoric. Dan is the life blood of the blog in Jeff’s absence, his concern for its welfare is plainly evident.
And M(r)s. Click is also a great writer.
I think I chimed in early that none of these guys is Jeff. Obviously. I mean, no one says this much anymore because it’s so water-is-wet obvious.
Which isn’t to say that none of this stuff is any good. I do skip over a lot of Dan’s posts, but I don’t skip over a lot, too. Dan posts a lot. Water is wet. Karl’s stuff I read about 50% of; that 50% that interests me, and he frequently does freakin’ yeoman’s work dragging out and summarizing information that otherwise gets short shrift in the media. If Karl had done the background research for Greenwald’s book, it’d be way over on the serious-reading end of the bookish spectrum, instead of where it is on the political-equivalent-of-a-Jack-Chick-tract end.
Rather like Ann Coulter really, only without Ann’s arid sense of humor.
Which isn’t to say that any of Greenwald’s claims are factually supportable, mind you. Different topic, though.
Honestly, while I’m grateful to Dan and Karl and other contributors for stringing us along (on second read, that doesn’t quite capture the delivered value, but it’s got a certain understated humor, so I’ll keep it) while we’re waiting in heartbroken angst for Jeff to make a reappearance, I don’t actually expect Jeff to return to blogging at his former level of intensity, so I’ve come to accept that this may be the way of things at PW for a considerable time.
I still cry into my pillow every night, though.
Plus with Jeff gone the theocons are taking over the site. Which is just sad, or something.
Theocons and motties. Or, is it theocon motties.
zomby, I’m sure you’re a smart guy. You read Jeff after all. I’m just not sure that pissing on Karl and Dan is tantamount to making a good case for why Jeff should return. As Naftali avers, Dan’s dedication to the site and Jeff’s return is profoundly endearing. And Karl’s analysis of the election has been extremely edifying.
As Enoch_Root alluded in the comments on your site, there is a community here that coalesced around Jeff’s Jeffiness. That community is of itself a source of considerable value. I think of BJ and JD as like the two old curmudgeons from the Muppet Show. And happyfeet is like some kind of over-the-top self-deprecating sage. I often think of MayBee as our conscience. You’ve got Robin, the know-it-all who mostly does know it all. There’s Rob Crawford, who is rarely without a kloo(gnome). RTO and Major John provide the genuine guts of the foreign policy conjectures around here. Darleen is a veritable M80 who I consider a foil for my social libertarianism. Alppucino, Slartibartfast, Jeffersonian and Ric Locke all kind of melt together in my mind as the razor wit and cutting insight gang.
I should have realized before I started extolling the virtues of this community that I couldn’t do so with any brevity and avoid leaving out a considerable number of important contributors. I don’t comment as often as I’d like, but I read this blog daily. I sometimes read it on my phone while I’m sitting in the waiting room at client’s offices. I’ve checked the status of threads in between meetings. I read it on my laptop in bed some nights to the occasional dismay of my wife.
It will be so much the better when Jeff returns, but this site is as much about what he’s catalyzed as it is about his presence. IMHO. But hey zombyboy, I’ll try reading your site now too; a site I wouldn’t have even known about were it not for PW.
Are Enoch and Dan really brothers?
A curmudgeon. I am not sure what that is, but clearly mac is a racist.
PW for me is like a really good college class. The lectures from the professor are important, but it’s the conversation among the classmates that keep me coming back.
JD, you know: Statler and Waldorf.
Why do we always come here.
I guess we’ll never know.
It’s like some kind of torture,
to have to watch the show.
…at least that’s the one-two punch y’all give the trolls. I mean it with the best of intentions.
JD TWP – if we are, then Dan’s teh Gay one. Agreed?
My only problem with Dan is that he’s such a
faggotbloody scot, is all.and the poems. and Blackwater but not Dade County. or
He can be an honorary scot, anyway. I think he’s a wild irish rose but who knows what lurks in the family woodpile. Maybe some of those questionable ginger genes.
And I had better be recognized for my bacon links.
Well, shit. I didn’t even merit a name check as a commenter. Sniff…
kelly: Welcome to the club.
In the midst of the angst, please don’t forget the horde of lurkers (and occasional commenters)that frequent this blog. The absence of Jeff is, for me, eclipsed by the quality of guest posters that stepped up. So simply have patience, people, the man WILL return. Meantime, thanks to all for the good work.
if we are, then Dan’s teh Gay one. Agreed?
You are killing me.
mac – I am going to assume good intentions, though I have never been compared favorably to a fucking MUPPET before.
Maybe, but I’ve always preferred sausage links.
Malaclypse…I always thought of JD to be more like Beaker. But Statler and Waldorf are perfect analogies to JD and BJ.
I think we all agree, that we miss Jeff terribly. This site will always be about Jeff as his is a unique voice full of intellectual heft, crazy whack humor and good old fashioned well written prose. Nobody, that I have ever read (blog wise) has the whole package like Jeff. I appreciate Karl and Dan, though. I, too, check back every day to see if Jeff has posted, and while I am usually disappointed when he hasn’t, Karl and Dan (and others) do a good job of keeping me interested. I’m a very occasional commenter, but the regulars are fantastic. Well, most of them.
piffle
Have you ever been compared favorably to a celibate muppet?