By way of blogads, of all places, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, in quoting former carpetbaggerreporter and current Washington Monthly megablogger Steve Benen (he of Essex, Vermont), labeled him “The Smartest Politics Blogger in the Country” to her national viewership.

Way cool. This should be an excuse for me to repost the embarrassing rock-and-roll-guy picture from his past that I found on his Facebook page, but I’ll spare him. Instead we’ll show the more respectable one to the right (it’s respectable because he’s standing next to a gen-yoo-ine Vermont state Senator).