Laura Billings' comments about Fraters Libertas yesterday resulted in a flood of reader reaction. But, before I continue, let me properly prepare for this topic by peeling off my skin tight Jordache jeans.
Ahhhhh, that's the stuff. Much better. Phhhew.
Where were we again?
Oh yes, Laura Billings. First off, regarding Laura's claims about having 10 different false stories about her circulating about on the Internet, a commentator on Mitch Berg's site had this reaction:
I tried a bit of Billings fact checking on Google. Wasted an hour and could find nothing to back her claims. When I read the piece, my antenae stood at attention. Could she be making some of this stuff up?
Short answer - yes, she could be making it up, and probably is. Maybe it was intended as satire, but her claims of being accused on the Internet of things such as being in a committed lesbian relationship or being married to Joe Soucheray (which, come to think of it, could be the same story), are not verifiable.
Our Newspaper Newlyweds stuff exists of course, and she rightly characterized that. But, as of yesterday, Fraters Libertas didn't show up until page 19 of her Google name search. Some blog called The Fat Guy is even ahead of us, and he's from Texas and wrote about her once. Our rank is a minor outrage given our local ties and the wall-to-wall coverage we provide. So I turn to our fine blogger friends for help in this regard. Remember what you did for Rudy Boschwitz and Expose the Ink Stained Wanker and link our Laura Billings stuff today!
My guess is that she didn't stumble upon the Newspaper Newlyweds in some diligent act of column research (which is wholly inconsistent with her established work habits). Instead she noticed the Plain Layne article on page 1 of her own paper, saw Mitch Berg's name and blog referenced, and she found us through him and made everything else up. Which once again proves, it pays to pay Mitch Berg to get on his blog roll. (Contact him today, operators are standing by.)
Next up, Jim writes in to insightfully parse Ms. Billings' statement:
Notice the Clintonian nature of the Billings denial of her husband's vast estate. She denies only being the "sole heir" to her husband's fortune. A quick review of the Newspaper Newlyweds archives reveals no such assertion made by Fraters Libertas. On the contrary, the very first episode centers on the existence of a love child produced of Nick and Laura.
Why is it so hard for them to admit their vast wealth? Kerry and Dayton prove that even multimillionaires can pretend to be populists in touch with the concerns of the little guy.
It's true Jim, Laura Billings, Nick Coleman, Kerry and Dayton all play the common man game when they're on stage. But none of these folks are interested in revealing the real nature of their wealth (see the refusal of Theresa Heinz-Kerry in releasing her tax records as an example of this.) It just doesn't look good when you're claiming to be a class warrior.
What does look good is the Golden Girl, who chimes in all the way from Colorado:
Do you guys actually write withering and anonymous social commentary IN your underpants? Cool. It never occurred to me to get out the magic marker and scrawl "John Kerry, get bent. Anon." on my Victoria's Secret tags.
(Great, now I have the little Underpants Gnome song from South Park playing in my head...Gotta go to work, work all day....)
As a matter of fact GG, that is how Fraters Libertas began all those years ago. Withering, anonymous social commentary written inside of the Elder's underwear. Sure, he's a popular guy and back then, he got around. And the folks at his dry cleaners became avid readers and big fans. But that distribution model proved to be a little too restrictive for his ambitions (complete domination of all opinion in the Twin Cities).
So, as his confidence increased and his skills improved, the Elder moved from withering social commentary in his underwear to blistering satirical comments in his dress shirts, then to topical limericks in his hat bands, and then finally to the Web site you know and love.
For dedicated fans of the site, I'm proud to announce that the Elder will soon be offering commemorative editions of the first issues of Fraters Libertas, in their original format. It's the perfect gift for the blog reader in your life and they make great stocking stuffers.
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