Sorry, Nick. This is not Powerline.

Sorry, Nick.

I guessed I missed out on all the fun this morning. Up early to post my column and the David Strom interview, I took a quick nap and awakened to a dozen or so emails alerting me that Nick Coleman was going after me, along with Pioneer Press Opinion Page Associate Editor Mark Yost and the Taxpayer's League's Strom, on his morning radio show.

[By the way, Nick, the blog etiquette, and journalistically ethical thing to do, is when you rip someone you link to the post that you’re ripping so your readers have the opportunity to judge the truth of the matter for themselves -- you do trust the intelligence of your listeners/readers, right?]

From what I’ve heard, it was Nick’s usually mix of name-calling, attacking where people live (yes, Nick, I have been to Strom’s house in a North Minneapolis neighborhood, a couple of blocks from where Lucile’s Kitchen used to be), mocking people’s looks and well, a note from Paul (aka Nihilist in Golf Pants) pretty well sums up my mail --

A rather viscious attack by Coleman this morning on the three of you, particularly Mr. Yost. My favorite moment: Coleman lecturing Yost on St. Paul values (a typical provincial Minnesota moronic attitude - no one from anywhere else can understand what makes us so friggin' special), he says "Yost is from . . . (extremely long pause as I expect to hear New York City) Somewhere else!"

Also, having dinner at someone's house apparently represents a severe conflict of interest. He made the point several times:"These people eat at each other's houses, they drink beer together. You see how this works!"

Mr. Kettle then ripped Yost for being a divorced dad, said Strom was a proponent of regressive taxes to build a Twins stadium, and admitted that he had no idea whether Westover had visited at anyone's house.

Mercifully, I got to work around 7:20 and missed the end of the rant.

Chad “the Elder” from Fraters wrote --

There have been a couple of not so subtle references about you guys being "more than friends", delivered in the childish manner that is Coleman's trademark. He also talked about Strom wearing lederhosen, which I assume is some sort of veiled Nazi ref.

I suppose that Nick got the “more than friends” idea from my ideological stance opposing Sen. Bachmann’s Defense of Marriage Amendment, but because a lot of my conservative friends are in favor of the amendment, I suppose I shouldn't really criticize Nick for his little gay-bashing.

Ben writes --

"Hobby columnist" Craig has a new nickname: "Craig Worstever" and The Pioneer Press is now the "Vichy newspaper" for collaboration with Nazis like Yost and Westover.

If Nick had bothered to read the interview with Strom that apparently has him so ticked off -- or perhaps he has; it wouldn’t be the first time he ignored and misrepresented written statements -- he’d have read a pretty sharp analysis of the philosophy of Nazi and Communist “statists” and Strom's position as an "individualist." Now, argue with Strom’s position if you think it wrong, but don’t misrepresent it and then argue with the misrepresentation. One might call Strom many things, but “Nazi” is not one of them.

Robin, the Power Liberal, noted that Coleman thought it a "breach of ethics" that I wrote a column on Strom. At least that elevates the discussion somewhat. I assume that’s because Strom and I both hang out at Keegan’s on Thursday nights and attend some of the same parties. Gosh, come to think of it, we’ve even been on the same trivia team a couple times.

Nick, if you want to frame that discussion, I’ll be glad to have it.

But sorry, Nick. This is not Powerline. I have neither the time, nor the inclination, nor the legal wherewithall to get into a pissing match over personal insults. If you want to pose some serious questions for debate, you’re more than welcome. Otherwise, well . . . sorry, but you’ll just have to find another back to play monkey on.

Update: Mark Yost writes that he has received three phone calls, two from the same guy. My site traffic today is running better than double what it normally does. I guess Nick does have a lot of influence.