Actually the article is an encomium for Baltimore's Democratic Mayor Walter O'Malley, who has recently had his ups and downs. On the down side he has taken fire for his speech at the National Press Club where he compared the Bush budget cuts to 9/11. On the up side he has gotten a lot of mileage out of the fact that rumors circulating to the effect that he was carrying on an extramarital affair have been traced to a friend and associate of Maryland's Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich. It is widely assumed that O'Malley will challenge Ehrlich in the next gubenatorial election so Mr. Mayor and his supporters are playing the situation for all they can, launching volley after volley of outraged denunciation against Ehrlich and his associates. Rodrick's column is in this vein. It depicts Mayor O'Malley and his wife standing strong against a storm of rumor and innuendo. I'll let him carry it from here. He writes:
As they stood there - O'Malley, taking time out from one of the toughest jobs in America, his wife, taking time off from her job as a District Court judge - one imagined thousands of bloggers blogging away, through the day and through the night, putting time and energy into political chat and gossip, but never really doing anything of consequence.
The Internet is wonderful, but it has created a vast diaspora of the unengaged, the isolated and the cynical. These are not people interested in building bridges or communities. They are about tearing down, and trashing anyone they don't like on some petty, personal level. They are the other side.
Here's the article in full. Enjoy!
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