Adios Lee Siegel, anti-blogger and sockpuppeteer

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The guy who coined the term "blogofascism" to describe left-wing bloggers who didn't like him (and who called him "wanker"--gasp!) got fired from The New Republic for sockpuppetry. Here's TNR's apology:

After an investigation, The New Republic has determined that the comments in our Talkback section defending Lee Siegel's articles and blog under the username "sprezzatura" were produced with Siegel's participation. We deeply regret misleading our readers. Lee Siegel's blog will no longer be published by TNR, and he has been suspended from writing for the magazine.

Franklin Foer
Editor, The New Republic

Massive gloating can be heard from all the "blogofascists" whom Mr. Siegel attacked: Kos has it on the front page, Atrios has it. And of course I'm gloating too. The folks in the comments section of the Kos post are digging up examples of Siegel's sock puppetry. It's hilarious. Here's a sample of Lee Siegel (pretending to be someone else) defending Lee Siegel:
How angry people get when a powerful critic says he doesn't like their favorite show! Like little babies. Such fragile egos. Siegel accuses Stewart of a "pandering puerility" and he gets an onslaught of puerile responses from the insecure herd of independent minds. I'm well within Stewart's target group, and I think he's about as funny as a wet towel in a locker room. Siegel is brave, brilliant, and wittier than Stewart will ever be. Take that, you bunch of immature, abusive sheep.
[emphasis mine.] Unfortunately, it looks like TNR has removed much of Lee Siegel's stuff. But I'm sure the Google Cache and other bloggers have kept records. I just saw the thread where Siegel's sockpuppetry was discovered here, in the Google cache. Commenters on Kos also have it. Only one thing to say: Bwahahahahah!

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