Infinite Monkeys

Best drinking. Both sides.

Well, the Great American Experiment at RedBlueAmerica.com is coming to an end, at least in its present form. (The site isn't going dark, it's just not going to have moderators or topics or my bloggy wisdom.) We made a great go of it, but our backers at Scripps wanted to see a much higher return on their investment than anyone could have possibly delivered in less than five months. That's OK. I'm disappointed, but I have nothing but praise for the endeavor and for the great people I had the honor of working with. And it truly was an honor.

John Temple, the editor and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, had a great idea with RedBlueAmerica.com: Best thinking. Both sides. He believed -- correctly, I remain convinced -- that there is an audience for a political and cultural forum where readers can get news and opinion and discuss issues with gusto but without rancor. I'm eternally grateful to John, to Linda Sease at Scripps who helped found the site, to Vince Carroll at the Rocky for his advice early on, to my teammates Allen Klosowski and John Stancliffe, and to my intern and assistant Chuck Johnson, who has a great future ahead of him. It was a good run. Too short, but damn good.

My co-moderator at RedBlueAmerica, Joel Mathis, has become a close friend over the past few months and I expect he'll be joining the Monkeys soon. (He also plans to blog here. Bookmark it.) Joel is a little worried that he would be a token liberal, but I keep telling him that his excellent taste in single-malt scotch makes him a perfect fit here. Besides, with Monkey Robb missing in action, we'll need a whisky drinker who can take a principled anti-war line. Zaius needs a good sparring partner, too.

As I am an incurable optimist, it isn't too tough to see the silver lining in all this. The good news is I'll be able to devote greater time, attention and effort to The Summer of Rum Gin. And under the circumstances, I expect to be drinking quite a bit.

Posted by Ben at May 8, 2008 12:26 PM