Journolism

I've had a chance now to read some of the excerpts from the "Journolist" that have been shared thus far over at the Daily Caller website. You can read all you want over there at this link. A few observations:

• If you're looking for some sort of smoking gun that proves a conspiracy against conservatives, you really won't find it. That's not surprising, since just about every conspiracy theory I've ever encountered doesn't hold up to scrutiny. I think it's fair to say that some of the Journolist participants are in the mood to conspire, but it doesn't appear that anything ever comes from it.
• Some of the quotes are pretty nasty -- one participant, a gentleman by the name of Spencer Ackerman, seems to be a truly repellent fellow. He suggests the following (profanity alert): "Let’s just throw Ledeen against a wall. Or, pace Dr. Alterman, throw him through a plate glass window. I’ll bet a little spot of violence would shut him right the fuck up, as with most bullies." I apologize for leaving the F-bomb in there, but I'd prefer not to bowlderize him. And "Dr. Alterman" is similarly charming, with a bon mot that includes the F-bomb, the term "retards" and a form of entertainment popular especially in the American South.
• Then again, before reading the excerpts, I'd never heard of Spencer Ackerman. There doesn't appear to be any reason to think about him now that he's entered my consciousness. His boasts seem like those of a guy who is desperate to be part of the "in-crowd" and tries to get attention by saying outrageous things.
• As for the profanity and the crudeness of the ideas expressed, I heard worse things said about people on the playground at St. Mary's back in the 1970s. And maybe that's the most disappointing part of what we've seen so far from the Journolist excerpts -- these aren't especially deep thinking people. You really get a junior high school vibe from a lot of the excerpts. There's a lot of emotionalism and silliness, huge chunks of early adolescent emoting. There's nothing wrong with getting emotional, especially when you get something you've desired, but some of the reaction is pretty cringeworthy, especially this excerpt from someone named Alyssa Rosenberg, who is labeled as a "government executive":

I’ve gotta be all non-partisan on GovExec, so I hope you’ll all indulge me a minute here. On Monday night in Manassas, the band warming up the crowd before Obama arrived played “I Need You To Survive.” I think the core lyrics are pretty good statement of principles for progressives, especially going forward from a victory like this one:

It is his will, that every need be supplied.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.

Whose will, exactly? It's not a happy thing to find out that your betters are so, well, lacking in nuance I guess?