What's wrong with this picture: a young, prominent, liberal blogger gets a respectable and highly-coveted position with a leading, leftwing magazine, and for some reason, can't shake himself from the vulgarity and vitriol prevalent in his past writing?
Such appears to be the case for Ezra Klein, a virtual rising star in the liberal blogosphere, who despite being on the staff of The American Prospect, still feels the need to drop an f-bomb now and again while attacking one of the nation's leading television journalists.
As reported by new blogger Unpopular Front (vulgarity warning!):
Last night [Klein] said this about the moderation of the Democrat debate on MSNBC:
It's almost impossible for me to convey the damage Tim Russert and Brian Williams are doing to the republic this evening. So far, the questioning has gone something like: "Hillary, are you a racist?" "Barack, are you a scary black man who will continually remind us that we are racists?" "Senator Obama, why are you such a dick?" "Senator Clinton, would you like to comment on Senator Obama's past drug use?" "Senator Obama, you say you want to move us forward, but your press people have released documents mentioning Hillary Clinton. Please explain."
Sadly, Klein didn't stop there, for according to multiple sources including Unpopular Front and the liberal Wonkette, he later posted on the short-message blogging service called "Twitter,":
f*** tim russert. f*** him with a spiky acid-tipped d***.
Klein has since locked his "Twitter" page such that unregistered members can no longer view his vulgarity-laden threat. However, the curious can see it at UF and Wonkette with his picture proudly displayed.
Speaking of Wonkette, ever fascinated with vulgarity themselves, they seem thrilled with Klein's expletives, especially those not being deleted:
Famous-for-DC American Prospect blogger Ezra Klein usually keeps it clean on his lefty blog, but on his Twitter micro-blogging side project, he's just another sick fucking Wonketteer.
Is this really the future of journalism as we know it?
As Wonkette's founder Ana Marie Cox is now the editor of Time.com, it sadly appears so.
With that in mind, can you imagine such potty mouths being employed by leading conservative publications?
Yes, that was rhetorical.
