Political Wire recently interviewed Ana Marie Cox, a self-described "pretend journalist and political junkie" who edits Wonkette, a relatively new weblog focusing on gossip, rumor and the lighter side of politics.
PW: Why start a political weblog? What do you hope to accomplish with Wonkette?
AMC: A political weblog because that's the only weblog job I was offered. My personal and now infrequently updated blog was more idiosyncratic, as befitting something I did mainly for my own amusement. I wrote as much about literature and television as I did politics, but the Gawker Media Empire wasn't looking for TV critic. (And no one there can read. Shhhhh.) I suspect Nick Denton just wanted to hire someone who wasn't Josh Marshall. I am not Josh Marshall. (Though I once visited Princeton.)
PW: Does the site have any particular political bias? Are you a Democrat, Republican, something else?
AMC: I have said before that I am a big fat commie pinko, which is a bit of an exaggeration but may inoculate me somewhat against the obvious presence of liberal bias on the site. That said, I am hardly soft on my fellow lefties. And, interestingly, any one joke about the Democrats (such as this one) will always get me much more hate mail (usually of the "you are a part of the vast right wing lie machine" variety) than any one joke about Bush (such as this one). Clearly, liberals are the bigger pussies.
PW: What would be the ideal story for you to cover this election season?
AMC: From my employer's perspective, the ideal story is one that people get obsessed with or are titillated by enough that they need updates, like, every 10 minutes. We got a lot of traffic from the Kerry Sex non-story, for instance. But I find that sort of thing a little boring. (How exciting could sex with John Kerry specifically be, anyway? You think he says "Bring... it... on..." like that at the, uh, moment of truth as it were?) I'm personally much more entertained by the absurd minutia of politics: Scott McClellan's almost Rain Man-like ability to stay on point. The Deaniacs using their blog as a booty call medium. Almost every aspect of Dennis Kucinich's campaign.
But this is really a a trick question. I don't cover any stories. I am a media vampire who does no original reporting... or hardly any. I'd prefer to do none at all. In any case, all I need in order to have a post for Wonkette is for someone in politics to say or do something ill-advised or ridiculous. This happens at least 10 times a day, so I'm covered.
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