A few hours later, we were at the bar at the Hotel Durant, where AK was staying. My friend was coming out of the men’s room, which was right next to the elevator. As AK was bending down to pick up his luggage, my friend stumbled and knocked him into the elevator.

My friend reads blogs. I think the connection is pretty clear.

Remember, he was put on the 9th Circuit when he was 35 (something that won’t happen again with the increased scrutiny). No real prior experience - just appointments.

He is out of touch.

Kozinski’s comments, and the other anti-blog comments in this thread, could just as easily have been directed at many mainstream media opinion columnists.

That is true.
I like many blogs, and I go to them to read the opinions of those bloggers just as I may ask certain friends about their opinions.
I think bloggers that want to create a movement -to be something more than their own voice - are the bloggers that make the blogosphere look silly.
Before I ever get too outraged when someone puts down bloggers, I think of Kos and Greenwald and I say “yeah, I can see how you’d come to that opinion”.

Judge Kozinski and I supported opposite sides in the battle over whether to adopt Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1, which allows parties to cite to unpublished and non-precedential federal appellate court rulings. He was quite personally invested in efforts to defeat that rule, but ultimately the rule change was approved. He and I also disagree over whether the Ninth Circuit should be divided. But, the person who can best explain whether and, if so, why Judge Kozinski doesn’t like this blog (or me or my opinions on issues) isn’t me.

Of course, to the extent that I do publicly express opinions on controversial issues (which isn’t often, and typically those issues are controversial only among fellow law geeks), and some people think less of me as a result, that’s a risk that I’ve knowingly and willingly taken. So, there are certainly no regrets here.

At the end of the day, it’s not the medium that matters; it’s the author and the content. Self-indulgent MSM claptrap is just as bad as self-indulgent blogger claptrap, except the former reaches more people.

And just as an aside, as Pat has noted, Howard Bashman is the last person you can criticize as self-important or grandiose. He provides an invaluable service by compiling the most significant appellate law stories of the day in a famously terse, concise style, without any commentary. I think that Kozinski singled out Bashman is a big hint that Kozinski was kidding.

“According to Zogby, 75% of Americans believe X.”

“A new poll from Rasmussen indicates 56% of registered voters say Y.”

“This just in: 41% of likely votes think Z.”

Yet… while the elites prize the opinions of a thousand faceless individuals (randomly sampled and displaying no discernible expertise other than the ability to breathe air), these same elites denigrate any single voice from that sample group who would dare to speak out on his or her own behalf.

Now if I remember my math correctly (it’s been a while), when the value of an integer is zero, doesn’t a thousand times that integer also equal zero? We’re clueless idiots individually, but when we’re polled as a mob, then we evince great wisdom?

Don’t think so.