Blogstars

The Washington Post has a 2,700 word feature on Bull Moose blogger Marshall Wittman. It begins with his apparent fame as a quote machine for the mainstream media.

Wittmann, 52, is a pundit, a Washington sage. As they say in the news biz, he gives good quote. It's a rare talent and it makes him very popular with reporters but not so popular with other quotemeisters, who see his name everywhere and experience a form of angst that is unique to Washington -- "quote envy." Which happens to be a term coined by Marshall Wittmann.

"The fact that he coined the phrase 'quote envy' shows why he gives people quote envy -- they could never come up with that phrase," says Kate O'Beirne, Washington editor of the National Review and a pretty fair quotemeister herself.

I look at the 'Moose from time to time, although his "New Democrat" sensibilities are just a little too DLC for me. Good for him on the massive profile, although it seems odd that the piece is built around his mainstream media influence, rather than his impact in the blogosphere.

In the same edition, the WaPo devotes significant space to what it calls "Wonkette's Sex Change," about the changing roster over at the Washington, D.C. gossip site.

Blogs! They're the new oat bran.