That is a nice picture, although it's so book-jackety that it seems a little bogus.
I'm glad he's back at one blog; I found his TPM Cafe blog less interesting, and I suspect that it was because he was trying to keep it sober and professional sounding rather than just writing whatever the hell.
I'm a little worried about the change. If it's good for him professionally, that's obviously the only thing that matters. But I can see the humorless prigs who read his TPM blog (includes me) infesting the comments to his less serious posts at the new place. That would be a shame.
Also, no one has asked the important question: Is it good for America?
10: So it was. Really, very good. I'm kind of in denial about the impending war with Iran -- they can't seriously be planning to attack Iran, can they? What with?
Maybe it's serious, but I can't really believe it.
10: So it was. Really, very good. I'm kind of in denial about the impending war with Iran -- they can't seriously be planning to attack Iran, can they? What with?
I think the idea is that once the "flat daddies" are introduced, they will be expanded from military households into every household, and then the non-flat daddies will be abducted and forced into military service. If the wife notices, great, we'll send him back in a couple years. If not, even better, he can defend her freedom by attacking Iran instead of whatever cowardly thing he was going to do instead.
I guess the alternate plan would be to get a bunch of poor children and convince them that they will get into a heaven full of candy and toys if they serve as cannon fodder. That worked for Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.
Currently, he is on leave working on his as-yet untitled book about the Democratic Party's search for a post-9/11 foreign policy that will be published by John Wiley & Sons sometime after he finishes writing it.
Sweet indeed. I think we should devote the thread to obnoxious yet compelling title suggestions.
Howzabout not killing people and breaking stuff? Does that work for you?
Well, my first thought was how his advance compared with the huge advance given to Peter Beinart. And than I knew what the title of Yglesias' book should be --- The Bad Fight.
22: Ooo! I don't have the first half of the title, but the part after the colon should be "[Whatever]: Designing a Foreign Policy for a World Without Ponies".
We need thoughtful books about policy that are directed at curious young people, not another book that nobody reads except boring wonks whose opinions are already set in stone. I recommend "LOL WTF D00D: A Careful Consideration of the Bush Doctine"
I suspect, however, that his book will be dealt with unfairly. The grown ups who rule the world cannot stand intelligent smart people unless they are being: (a) earnest or (b) self-effacing. (I don't mean that Matt's writing isn't self-effacing; rather, that he is not going to write a book about how people his age suck.)
I remember an encounter Matt had with George Packer about the Iraq war in which Packer, in essence, said: "I won't have something your age telling me I'm wrong."
I liked Timothy Burke's formulation of a liberal hawk or neoconservative mask over a more brutal face, and I would do some variation on that, were I coming up with titles for a book about Iraq.
That was only a year and a half ago, standpipe. Quite right that this blog return to its official mission as the Saiselgy Appreciation Club of America. If only he could spell correctly.
47 works, as long the publisher can be convinced that the overlap between foreign policy wonks and Suzanne Vega fans is far greater than commonly assumed.
And I thought I looked queeny when I didn't shave.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 11:49 AM
MY might embrace your suggestion.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 11:49 AM
This actually seems like a picture of someone writerly.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 11:50 AM
He really has gained weight.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 11:58 AM
Yglesias is just doing this to ruin my awesome theory.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 11:59 AM
That is a nice picture, although it's so book-jackety that it seems a little bogus.
I'm glad he's back at one blog; I found his TPM Cafe blog less interesting, and I suspect that it was because he was trying to keep it sober and professional sounding rather than just writing whatever the hell.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:01 PM
Yes, his chi was dissipating in the three-blog format.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:02 PM
It does have the issue that the comments aren't consolidated.
Posted by joe o | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:04 PM
I was hoping that you'd link to that awesome picture of Yglesias in a keffiyah.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:09 PM
Also, this post of his today was very good.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:09 PM
I'm a little worried about the change. If it's good for him professionally, that's obviously the only thing that matters. But I can see the humorless prigs who read his TPM blog (includes me) infesting the comments to his less serious posts at the new place. That would be a shame.
Also, no one has asked the important question: Is it good for America?
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:15 PM
10: So it was. Really, very good. I'm kind of in denial about the impending war with Iran -- they can't seriously be planning to attack Iran, can they? What with?
Maybe it's serious, but I can't really believe it.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:17 PM
10
I agree, that post is good. It is a good picture too.
Posted by Anonymous | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:22 PM
10: So it was. Really, very good. I'm kind of in denial about the impending war with Iran -- they can't seriously be planning to attack Iran, can they? What with?
I think the idea is that once the "flat daddies" are introduced, they will be expanded from military households into every household, and then the non-flat daddies will be abducted and forced into military service. If the wife notices, great, we'll send him back in a couple years. If not, even better, he can defend her freedom by attacking Iran instead of whatever cowardly thing he was going to do instead.
I guess the alternate plan would be to get a bunch of poor children and convince them that they will get into a heaven full of candy and toys if they serve as cannon fodder. That worked for Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:28 PM
10 -- yep, it's a good'un as LB and "" have affirmed. I, like LB, can't believe this is happening.
Posted by Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:29 PM
This gotta suck pretty bad for Marshall. Probably a bigger deal for him than MY.
Posted by David Weman | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:33 PM
Well, apart from the book thing being a big deal for MY. VEry well deserved.
Posted by David Weman | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:36 PM
What book deal? (Sweet. And well-deserved.)
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:38 PM
Read the linked bio.
Seriously, *very* well deserved.
Posted by David Weman | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:40 PM
Sweet indeed. I think we should devote the thread to obnoxious yet compelling title suggestions.
Howzabout not killing people and breaking stuff? Does that work for you?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:45 PM
Well, my first thought was how his advance compared with the huge advance given to Peter Beinart. And than I knew what the title of Yglesias' book should be --- The Bad Fight.
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:50 PM
"And A Pony"
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:53 PM
21: That's an odd first thought.
Title: How Not To Win Friends By Killing People
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:53 PM
23: It was my second thought. And I like "And a Pony."
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:55 PM
22: Ooo! I don't have the first half of the title, but the part after the colon should be "[Whatever]: Designing a Foreign Policy for a World Without Ponies".
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:56 PM
A Supposedly Justified Invasion We Should Never Do Again
Posted by Felix | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:57 PM
Well, assuming we think advances are based on sales projections rather than moral or aesthetic merit, I repeat that it's an odd first thought.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 12:59 PM
Fuck the War Hippies, and The Pony They Rode In On
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:00 PM
We need thoughtful books about policy that are directed at curious young people, not another book that nobody reads except boring wonks whose opinions are already set in stone. I recommend "LOL WTF D00D: A Careful Consideration of the Bush Doctine"
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:00 PM
The bit before the colon should of course be Unshitting the Bed.
Posted by Nakku | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:01 PM
27: I was lying. It really wasn't my first thought -- probably my fifth or sixth.
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:07 PM
"LOL WTF D00D: A Careful Consideration of the Bush Doctine"
Awesome.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:09 PM
Or even "A Serious Consideration of the Bush Doctrine"? (But yes, awesome.)
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:17 PM
I prefer "A Sober Consideration".
Posted by Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:18 PM
Yeah for our boy Matt! Well deserved.
I suspect, however, that his book will be dealt with unfairly. The grown ups who rule the world cannot stand intelligent smart people unless they are being: (a) earnest or (b) self-effacing. (I don't mean that Matt's writing isn't self-effacing; rather, that he is not going to write a book about how people his age suck.)
I remember an encounter Matt had with George Packer about the Iraq war in which Packer, in essence, said: "I won't have something your age telling me I'm wrong."
Posted by pjs | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:21 PM
You just know his next book is going to be "Fuck The Trees: The Miracle of Slash and Burn" or something.
Posted by gswift | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:27 PM
My congratulations to Matt, whom I've been reading since he was a cherub.
Posted by standpipe b | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:29 PM
Yes, congrats.
I liked Timothy Burke's formulation of a liberal hawk or neoconservative mask over a more brutal face, and I would do some variation on that, were I coming up with titles for a book about Iraq.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:39 PM
That was only a year and a half ago, standpipe. Quite right that this blog return to its official mission as the Saiselgy Appreciation Club of America. If only he could spell correctly.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:40 PM
Which I'm apparently not doing. Coming up with titles for a book on Iraq.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:43 PM
Burke kind of illustrates why I like 'serious'.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:48 PM
Since the book isn't actually about Iraq, Strength without Stupidity?
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:51 PM
Since the book isn't actually about Iraq, Strength without Stupidity?
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:54 PM
double posting--now is that a very serious way to comport oneself?
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:55 PM
Plan B: Just In Case The Rapture Doesn't Take Care Of Everything For Us
Posted by Felix | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 1:57 PM
Yeah, I mean post-Iraq foreign policy.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:06 PM
My Name is Luka: The Democratic Party and Foreign Policy
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:10 PM
One of the working titles is much cleverer than anything suggested here. You are all pwned.
Posted by Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:14 PM
That was the assumption. After all, this is the Saisegly fan club -- we have high expectations.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:16 PM
Mugged by Reality: The Failure of Neoconservative Foreign Policy
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:21 PM
I don't think there can be pwnage unless we hear this "working" title.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:22 PM
48: I find it impossible to believe that it is better than "LOL WTF D00D: A Careful Consideration of the Bush Doctine."
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:22 PM
52: I actually think it would be better if "Doctrine" was spelled right.
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:36 PM
The Bad Fight: Why Weak-Kneed Appeasement -- And Only Weak-Kneed Appeasement -- Can Win The War on Terror.
Sadly, the publishing people didn't go for it.
Posted by Wehttam Saiselgy | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:38 PM
The Democratic Party and Foreign Policy: What's the Deak?
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:45 PM
Is that some kind of meta-comment?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:47 PM
Ooh I thought of another one!
"Grotesque And Incomprehensible: Why We Neither Want Nor Need You On That Wall"
(the cover photo being Bush in the flight suit)
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:47 PM
56 - Of course.
Posted by Becks | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:52 PM
Muddle Accomplished
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 2:57 PM
29 is better, Sausagely.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:02 PM
Red Rove-r, Red Rove-r, Bring the Troops Back Over
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:13 PM
That was only a year and a half ago, standpipe.
Dear God.
Posted by standpipe b | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:14 PM
53: That's the inimitable Saisegly touch.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:14 PM
How To Fix The Mess We're Leaving In ____
The blank can be filled in at the last minute, at point of retail.
Posted by Felix | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:18 PM
alas appease Iran Iraq a cut-and-run foreign policy in the wake of the bush administration
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:37 PM
47 works, as long the publisher can be convinced that the overlap between foreign policy wonks and Suzanne Vega fans is far greater than commonly assumed.
Posted by Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:38 PM
So Pre-emptive it ain't Pre-emptive: The Bush Doctrine
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:51 PM
Only 33 comments more to 100!
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 3:51 PM
War by Other Means: The Role of Politics, Diplomacy, and Policing in the Fight Against Terrorism
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 4:05 PM
65: very nice.
Posted by Matt F | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 5:52 PM
68 -- I think that would only really work with the Unfogged-reading portion of the market.
Posted by Clownæsthesiologist | Link to this comment | 08-30-06 6:34 PM
The Mineshaft Gap: Deterrence and Delusion in the Post-Cold War World
Posted by ajay | Link to this comment | 08-31-06 10:06 AM
That's right! We can't have a mineshaft gap!!! Do you know how many Iranian blogs are being started every day?
Posted by Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 08-31-06 10:21 AM