Let me start back by thanking my three friends and colleagues who sat in for me here at TPM during my ten day absence: Spencer Ackerman, John Judis and Ruy Teixeira. Everybody takes a slightly different approach to this medium. And I couldn’t have been happier about what each of them did with the site. I hope you enjoyed their work as much as I did. If the trickle of email I got while I was away was any measure, you did indeed.
(I was able to get online here and there from abroad, so I managed to see most of what got posted. Actually, it was an odd, wholly unaccustomed and somehow deeply relaxing feeling to be able to type in the TPM address to see if anything new had been posted.)
A special thanks too to my out-going assistant, Zander Dryer, who handled all the logistics of the site in my absence as well as working with the guest hosts to make sure everything went smoothly.
As you must know by now Spencer (IRAQ’d) and Ruy (DonkeyRising) both have their own blogs. And John has a new book out The Folly of Empire. John’s book isn’t quite out yet I don’t think — I think a couple weeks. But I strongly recommend it to you on the basis of my knowledge of the author and recent discussions with him of this topic.
In any case, a sincere thanks to each of them and to you (the readership of this site) as well — readership held up remarkably well during my absence. Their efforts and your readership helped make my time away relaxing, contented and refreshing.
