usually when one think of an activist, one thinks of someone who is highly ideological and devoted to a particalar narrow cause or agenda. But Josh is a moderate DLC Democrat who rarely resorts to the type of shrill unholy madness espoused by most activists

Not to quibble with your point about Josh Marshall, that he’s good at what he does and that it’s valuable. I agree. I do want to take issue with the quote above because I think it exemplifies a common and not particularly helpful method for signaling moderation. When people want to identify themselves as moderate and reasonable it’s often assumed that the way to do it is by bashing some stereotypical “activists” who if they did not exist would have to be invented for just such a purpose. I don’t deny that there are some people who are both annoying and activists, but there are also annoying people who insist that their opinions are those of mainstream America and thus undeniably moderate.

Just to clarify in case we may have a modest misunderstanding in terminology. As you point out, there is moderation in style and moderation in the policies advocated. The two are not synonymous.

"Shrill unholy madness" is part of the mantra of The Order of the Shrill. The Order's continued growth has been a story we at chez Nadezhda have followed closely from the Order's earliest days. We even provided nominations for two of the Order's earliest members, who were found worthy.

Unfortunately, the Order's arcane and occult language is one we find ourselves using from time to time, almost inadvertently without recalling that it is a somewhat foreign tongue for the uninitiated.

So praktike should have indicated its provenance. Perhaps a TM sign? Or at least a link somewhere?

In any event, "shrill unholy madness," depending on context, is sometimes a badge of honor, not a warning to head for the exits because an annoying bore is about to capture you in a corner for the rest of the evening.

As I understand Prak's hat tip to Marshall, he's saying that Josh has been able to attract attention and have an impact, directly and indirectly, on how a lot of people outside the blogosphere are talking and thinking about the domestic political issue currently top on the President's agenda. It's the sort of ability to help frame the debate that influential print journalists at the big-name papers strive mightily to exercise through the power of their affiliation with those papers.

Josh is producing it himself by using the blogosphere is a distinctive fashion. It's a moderate style -- which could be used by someone other than Josh who is not a moderate in the "center versus strong left or right" sense of the term. But Josh's style is one he's made his own that no one yet seems to have been able to replicate.

You are certainly correct that a tedious tendency to scream "I'm right and everybody else is wrong" is not the monopoly of activists nor of any given part of the political spectrum. Though left and right are increasingly questionable ways of understanding the orientation of US politics, those who characterize themselves as being in the center are as capable of anyone of the behavior you deplored.

Many thanks. Though I'd say that Josh is generally moderate in tone and centrist in policy orientation. I think it's unique to be "crusading from the center" so effectively, which is why I mentioned it.

As for shrill unholy madness, I have no comment on anything that may or may not involve The Order's sacred rites and rituals.