You are great

As it is Friday, and conservatives have generally stopped baying for my blood (my column Wednesday was picked up by realpolitics.com, which opened me up to the disgust of a whole new audience), I have a compliment to share with you faithful Reg-ulators. It echoes something that I have said in the past but it is nice to have it said by someone on the outside.

It comes from a friend in the Philadelphia area who is the managing editor of a string of local weeklies. He writes a humor column too, and for many years past we have critiqued each other's work. We have become great mates but we always tell each other the truth - funny as heck, mildly amusing, confused, lame, too clever by half etc. - which really helps.

I told him about the furor about the column (which he didn't like much) and told him how I had written about it on this blog, which he then checked out. This is what he said about you guys:

"Your Reg-ulators on the blog oftentimes have what I'd call productive and intelligent debates. Not always, of course, but for the most part, I think you attract the more intelligent types from both sides of the aisle. And I continue to be impressed with the traffic you attract. I would think the bosses would be happy for that."

Ah, the bosses, who knows what makes them happy?

In commenting about my last post, Rover Fido Spot III (you are all great but some of you are going to the dogs) challenged me to "pony up some answers" concerning the distress of the newspaper industry. Actually, I did that last February in a column.

If you click on the link to that column, you will see that I was all for meeting readers and getting out of the ivory tower. So I perked up at a recent suggestion by mugsy: "Maybe someday we can have our own beer and pizza summit. Maybe we can even count our host Reg in, I hear tell he's looked a few good beers in the eye and hasn't flinched." (What? Me, Your Honor?)

Yes, this seemed to me like a grand idea but I fear that the ever-wise ciejai subsequently got it right:

"A summit of Reg-ulators would I think sabotage our efforts. Our assessment of each other's ideas and opinions is independent of physical realities. Tall, short, thin, plump, well-heeled or poor makes no difference here. In the best of our chats, we have a wide-ranging exchange which Reg kicks off with his comments. Then we pick up the ball and take it where we will. I tend to be loquacious when I drink and that can be a bad thing. This forum forces me to be precise and to edit. ..."

I tend to be loquacious too, whether drinking or not. So, this is my long way of saying that I will be eating pizza and drinking beer on my own this weekend but I wish you all well.