RG Ratcliffe wrote this, and several of my blog brethren responded to it (some of us pretty irritated, some of us less so). A couple on our side even shot their pots at us (but one of them apologized for reacting in haste).
Then Rick Noriega got on the phone with us -- not me, again -- and also got online over here and explained the context of the remarks. And apologized for making them.
Oh, and RG responded to our response. All the while -- over the past 36 hours or so -- I was busy with business and preparing for our fall vacation. So all I managed to do was dash off a note to the Noriega campaign Sunday afternoon, to which I received an almost immediate and satisfactory response. So I missed the whole thing, dammit.
But I do have time for a condensed version of the brouhaha, so here's the abridged Ratcliffe:
I allowed my good name and respected reputation to be used like a dishrag by an operative of the Mikal Watts campaign, but if I were to admit that, then I would lose the remaining shredded tatters of my credibility .... therefore, I'll laugh the whole thing off by accusing bloggers of being thin-skinned while reframing my article as a service to the readers of the the Chronic and the Express-Snooze, which are legion compared to those DFHs who blog in their underwear.
Oh yes, and also in dedicated service to the unwashed masses who haven't yet grasped the intricacies of the "Internets" and how it is used for political organizing.
Don't be prickly about the criticism, RG. It's just part of the game.
