Law Dork

Wonkette. In Drag?

So, The Wall Street Journal broke the story about changes at Wonkette and The Washington Post dutifully reported it this morning on C1:

Ana Marie Cox, the writer who made Washington politics irresistibly naughty, is giving up her job as a full-time, pajama-clad blogger to become a full-time, pajama-clad author. Cox, who just signed a contract for her second book, will hand off the political Web site to David Lat, the lawyer who secretly penned Underneath Their Robes, an irreverent blog about the judiciary world.

What's more, Althouse posted on the topic as well. With that, my "three blogging women whose names begin with A" -- Ann Althouse, Ana Marie Cox, and Article III Groupie -- have found their way together once again. Ha.

David and Ana do have similar voices in their writing, and I can think of no one better suited to take over the reins at Wonkette than he. (It certainly is better than the other options we've seen through trial runs of guest bloggers who shabbily trip over the terrain of D.C. whilst trying to fill Ms. Cox's shoes.)

I do have a question, though: What's it say that one of the most popular female bloggers (as I believe Ms. Cox is) is leaving her site in the hands of the blogging equivalent of a very talented drag queen?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy drag as much as the next -- well, you get it. And I adore A3G as David's ingenious creation. But there's something about the reality of Ana Marie Cox as "Wonkette" -- and what it meant at the time Wonkette came along in early 2004 -- that makes such a transition seem odd. A D.C. wonk, a policy wonk was immediately feminized with the "ette" -- but then Ana let us know that she was not just any woman and that Wonkette would be, if nothing else, memorable. Part of the fun of reading Ana's words was the constant question in the back of everyone's mind: How much of this is show and how much is actually Ana?

In that light, though, maybe it makes sense that as Wonkette moves on, she'll take an even further leap -- from Ms. Cox to the mind of Mr. Lat. My best to him, and let's just hope D.C.'s politico's are ready for A3G to spread her wit and wisdom (and fashion sense) to all three branches of government in our nation's capital!

[UPDATE: TalkLeft disappointedly notes the change of the main writer at the site from an unabashed liberal to an equally unabashed conservative. Perhaps that's the reason that two people were hired to be taking over for Ms. Cox? According to the Post, Alex Pareene, "a 20-year-old dropout from New York University, . . . will co-edit the site."]

Posted by Chris at January 4, 2006 05:51 PM | TrackBack