The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Israeli Jets Hit Convoy in Syria; Also, People Are Mean to Matt Lewis on Twitter

Posted on | January 30, 2013 | 17 Comments

Big stories have been breaking all day:

So you’ll forgive me if I got so busy that I forgot to blog about the most important news today: Matt Lewis has given up on Twitter!

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment it happened — but at some point, Twitter became a dark place.
It’s a lot like the transformation of the 1960s. It started out being about free love, sharing ideas, and changing the world, but somehow we ended up being more about Altamont and Charles Manson.
Somewhere along the line, our optimism faded.
Once everyone was on Twitter, everyone’s problems were on Twitter. The early adopters might have been tech-utopians, but the succeeding waves were angry cynics and partisan cranks who used the technology to make the world even louder and worse than it was before Twitter.

Hmmm. This happened “at some point,” perhaps shortly after Lewis decided to call Michelle Malkin “execrable,” maybe?

Just a wild guess there.

What gets into people’s heads to make them do stupid stuff like that? Damned if I know. Of course, I’ve done stupid stuff before, but . . .

This is one of those things that defy explanation. It’s permissible to disagree with Michelle Malkin, but to lump her into the same category of odium with someone she hates? And then to write a Daily Caller item calling Ben Howe a troll? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Never mind your motives. How does it look? Petty and narcissistic, and also as if maybe you’re suffering from testosterone deficiency.

Maybe I’ve become so used to being dissed, snubbed, screwed over, backstabbed, stalked, harassed and defamed that I consider it routine. Maybe I should object to it more often than I do. But in the long run, you’re either on the team or you’re not, and if you’re going to be on the team, there are some irritations you just have to learn to put up with, as a necessary condition of membership. Meanwhile . . .

Israeli jets strike convoy along Syrian border
— CNN

SYRIA CONFIRMS ISRAELI JETS
BOMBED MILITARY SITE
— Associated Press

Arms Shipment Was Target as
Israel Bombed Syria, U.S. Says
— New York Times

This could actually be more important than “why we can’t have nice things,” but don’t tell that to Matt Lewis. You might hurt his feelings.

Category: Matt Lewis

Comments

17 Responses to “Israeli Jets Hit Convoy in Syria; Also, People Are Mean to Matt Lewis on Twitter”

  1. Gerard Vanderleun
    January 30th, 2013 @ 7:16 pm

    I’d tell him to sack up but lo he is sackless.

  2. robertstacymccain
    January 30th, 2013 @ 7:51 pm

    I dunno. I think he just lost perspective.
    If you go back to September, when Lewis incomprehensibly lashed out at Malkin, what was the context? Obama was beginning to open up a big lead over Romney in the polls. So Lewis (like a lot of Republicans at the time) was feeling kind of cranky and, as occasionally happens in such a situation, he lashed out.
    Had Lewis been irritated at Malkin for other reasons before then? I don’t know. But the timing seems significant, looking back now.
    After Malkin fans swarmed Lewis, he doubled-down and looked even worse in the process. So then he brooded a while until, about three weeks ago, decided to whack Ben Howe.
    As I say, I’ve done stupid things before, but it seems like Matt has gotten himself wedged into a bad place, and can’t figure out how to extricate himself from this self-made “prison,” as he calls it.

  3. rosalie
    January 30th, 2013 @ 7:51 pm

    Here’s where one of those old sayings come in handy: He can dish it out but he can’t take it.

  4. jsn2
    January 30th, 2013 @ 8:15 pm

    IMHO Lewis = IWIAM

  5. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    January 30th, 2013 @ 8:22 pm

    Highway of Death II? Be still my heart!

  6. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    January 30th, 2013 @ 8:24 pm

    “I’ve done stupid things before…”

    Did you make up with Jonah?

  7. Finrod Felagund
    January 30th, 2013 @ 8:38 pm

    (to Matt) Spare me the sob story; I was on the Internet before September 1993, aka Eternal September or the September That Never Ended. Back before then, the bulk of the newcomers on the Internet showed up in September with the new college freshmen getting online for the first time, and a lot of them had to get nettiquette pounded into them the hard way (nothing like getting 100 pieces of email in an afternoon all telling you you’re an idiot). Then AOL let its zombie horde onto the Internet and it never was the same after that.

  8. Bob Belvedere
    January 30th, 2013 @ 9:31 pm

    Matt who???

  9. Adjoran
    January 30th, 2013 @ 10:30 pm

    Look, one thing conservatives have to be able to do is recognize the weasels among our own. Oh, we’re pretty good about running off the Duke Cunninghams and Larry Craigs when we catch them actually doing something illegal, which is more than the left ever did for Ted Kennedy, but we tolerate the weasels for far too long. We put up with Kathleen Parker and David Frum for years because . . . why, again? The signs were there all the time, we just had to open our eyes.

    As long as we tolerate the weasels like Lewis and Friedersdorf, who shall we blame?

  10. McGehee
    January 30th, 2013 @ 11:18 pm

    “Idiot Wrapped In A Moron.” I may have to steal that.

  11. Adjoran
    January 30th, 2013 @ 11:49 pm

    He’s the geeky looking guy you scroll past between Kaus and Treacher when you go slumming at the Daily Caller.

  12. wordygirl
    January 31st, 2013 @ 12:16 am

    Petty and narcissistic, and suffering from testosterone deficiency. Yep, that pretty much describes Matt Lewis. He was definitely one of the reasons I gave up on the Daily Caller. The only reason to stay was Treacher, and I do miss his writing.

  13. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    January 31st, 2013 @ 2:28 am

    I am pretty sure Bob Menendez wants a very busy news cycle…for whatever the statute of limitations is.

  14. Bob Belvedere
    January 31st, 2013 @ 7:21 am

    The Daily Caller???

  15. Bob Belvedere
    January 31st, 2013 @ 7:23 am

    Treacher’s notorious in these parts because of his trolling here for Tucky Carlson when he published a vile post on Sarah Palin, featuring Mike Tyson.

  16. Quartermaster
    January 31st, 2013 @ 8:47 am

    Any reason why he should?

  17. PhillyCon
    January 31st, 2013 @ 10:45 am

    Petty and narcissistic, and also as if maybe you’re suffering from testosterone deficiency.

    Holy crap! That’s one of the best written lines. Seriously, that was some fine writing.