Farewell, Wonkette

A blogger bemoans the new cocky, Cox-free Wonkette.

Published February 1, 2006 4:04PM (EST)

Yesterday DC Media Girl noted that James Wolcott has removed Wonkette from his blog roll, and says that she's about to do the same. Original Wonkette blogger Ana Marie Cox has left, you see, for greener pastures. She has been replaced by two men, David Lat and Alex Pareene. And DC Media Girl has got something to say about it.

"I just have one question for Nick Denton," she writes. "Was it really not possible to hire a woman to be Ana's replacement? In the greater galaxy of talent, was there not one female who could have filled her sassy shoes? And in case youre wondering, no, I wouldnt have been interested. I'm no longer willing to accept being paid slave wages in exchange for getting invited to the right parties. But I'm sure that somewhere in the Denton stable is a grossly underpaid gal with a fresh voice who would have been a perfect fit."

I have not read the new Wonkette carefully (nor was I an every day reader when Cox wrote it), so I can't speak to the changes in voice. A brief scan tells me that Lat and Pareene are funny and astute, and if they were the absolute best candidates for the job, so be it. But it does seem sort of ... excessive, in a world filled to the brim with male political bloggers, to replace the most recognizable woman out there (and aggravatingly, one of the only chicks to score a regular seat on the pundit couches during the 2004 election) with two -- two! -- more dudes.


By Rebecca Traister

Rebecca Traister writes for Salon. She is the author of "Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women" (Free Press). Follow @rtraister on Twitter.

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