It Doesn't Take Much to Make Jonah Goldberg Happy

Jonah Goldberg, in his Liberal Fascism blog, links to an editorial that glancingly refers to him and his book. There's no quote, but the article discusses a few instances of what the anonymous author considers "wine and cheese thuggery" by liberals, such as discussion of reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine and mailings done by someone who used to work for MoveOn.org, and speculation that the Bush administration would be prosecuted for committing crimes. The editorial is so partisan that I looked up the website of the Examiner, the on-line paper carrying the article.

It's owned by Clarity Media Group, which is owned or controlled by Philip Anschutz, "an American businessman and supporter of conservative causes," according to Wikipedia. He also has an interest in Walden Media which produced The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a movie very much supported by conservatives for its "Christian values." (The Christ figure dies and comes back to kill his enemy with his bare claws, which seems to be more popular with the conservative set than Jesus' actual attitude.)

And who is the editorialist? It could be anyone.

Clarity Media is adopting a pay-per-page view strategy for Examiner newspaper
blogs. Gawker.com reported that bloggers coined "examiners" will receive
anywhere from $2.50 to $10.00 for every 1,000 page views. The blogs will cover
25 categories in 60 cities. In a call out for participants, the newspaper chain
said "examiners" will be the "backbone" of Examiner.com. "An Examiner is someone
in a local market who enjoys informing others about subjects they love. ... They
are magazine writers, bloggers, housewives, Ph.Ds, college students and others.
... Together they form a pool of credible knowledge that has become a local
guide to a city through their expertise."The Examiner.com is looking for people
who can write "concise" and "relevant" posts about three lines long. So far some
of the topics listed include arts & entertainment, bars & clubs, games,
health, jobs, and spirituality.

So Jonah links to an article written by a bored housewife* or broke student for a couple of dollars, paid for by a wingnut welfare billionaire. Why doesn't he just stop people on the street and ask them to love him like his mother never could?


*Not that there's anything wrong with that. I am a bored housewife doing the same thing, just for free. Although I doubt Anschutz would give me any money for my opinion, unless I decided to rent myself out to talk about Bill Clinton's blow jobs, as Jonah Goldberg did.