Luskin’s Krugman-baiting—though more or less a hobby, while he works as an investment consultant—is the latest incarnation of an old tradition, dating back to the days of that great Colonial pundit Thomas Paine, who was hounded relentlessly by William Cobbett, a.k.a. Peter Porcupine, in the Porcupine’s Gazette. The bird-dogging game abated over time, but it has been revived in the internet era, with the proliferation of nitpicking bloggers, or what you might call “blalkers.†/(
Ben McGrath in the New Yorker)<p>***I can't imagine a circumstance under which I would call anyone a "blalker." I can't even pronounce it.***<p>[ November 10, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]</p>