Kausfiles has a nice post* on the Andrew Sullivan/Tapped catfight over the latter's online traffic claims (they were severely overinflated). He notes Tapped's savage attack on Sullivan, and provides a link to Sullivan's retort, which is too good not to repeat:
HOW IS THE AMERICAN PROSPECT LIKE WORLDCOM? You've probably read lots of articles in the American Prospect, bemoaning big CEOs fiddling numbers, inflating profits, engaging in all sorts of creative accounting. Well, Bob Kuttner's online magazine should know. In the Columbia Journalism Review, they claimed 450,000 unique visitors a month. Amazing traffic. Eric Alterman, always alert to factual accuracy, pointed out that this showed the hegemony of the Left on the web. Well, after the equivalent of a blogger SEC investigation, they've finally released their amended report. Their actual unique visitors for June was 161,025 - a little over a third of their previous claim. In classic fashion, they don't admit their error; they don't apologize; they barely explain; they release the news the day before July 4. More spin. And I thought Chris Mooney was a straight-up kind of guy. These guys fibbed about something as basic as their web stats. And you're going to trust them on the economy?
Mrowr. I'm looking forward to seeing Tapped's reply (if they come up with one).
*Kausfiles doesn't use permalinks (one of the reasons I normally won't link to him); the post in question is from Tuesday. Scroll down to read it.
posted on July 05, 2002 09:58 AM
