| Subject: Chat with Erik Kain |
| From: Erik Kain <erik.kain@gmail.com> |
1:40 AM me: howdy, niece NR piece
1:42 AM by which I meant "nice," I assume
Erik: thanks!
I was glad they ran it
1:43 AM me: I am too, I'm not a huge fan of their editorial direction
at any rate, apologies for bothering you, but wanted to ask you something and saw you were online
1:44 AM we discussed Project PM briefly a while back
Erik: sure
1:45 AM me: at any rate, we've made some progress
the fellow who did the McChrystal story, Michael Hastings, is one of ours
and last week
I was contacted by a producer
1:46 AM who himself is rather wealthy
and is in the process of raising tens of millions
in order to found a new cable outlet
apparently he's been following my work on PM
and wants to promote it
while also putting me in partial charge of the outlet
1:47 AM so, long story short
I need some conservatives
because we don't want this to be a liberal outlet
1:48 AM but I and most others I'm dealing with are uncomfortable, to say the least, dealing with social conservatives
and my understanding is that you're very competent, erudite, intellectually honest
1:49 AM so, of course, nothing is solidified at this point in terms of the cable outlet
1:50 AM but if such a thing were to come about, would you be interested in being involved?
Erik: definitely
1:51 AM me: anyway, give it some though and let me know, I'll also e-mail you some other materials which will give you a better sense of what we're doing with the original blogging network itself
Erik: obviously we'd need to get into further detail but I'm certainly interested
me: certainly
Erik: (you had me at erudite...)
me: I'm still in very early talks with this fellow, but I've had my people look into him
1:52 AM and he's definitely capable of delivering what he's promising in terms of funds
and also, based on my conversations with him, is unhappy with the media system as it stands today
also
1:53 AM Erik: a sane position
me: if you know of any other economic or foreign policy conservatives of particular competence
please let me know
I'm up to my ears in liberals
1:54 AM Erik: My friend Mark Thompson said he might be working with you
though he's been busy lately
me: I don't recall the name, is he a blogger?
Erik: Blogs with me at The League of Ordinary Gentlemen
Erik: if you're not reading that blog, you might take a look. We founded it with the sole purpose of increasing sane dialogue
me: okay, sorry, I've been corresponding with hundreds of people lately and my memory is already shot from drugs and alcohol
Erik: I understand entirely
me: could you have him e-mail my lawyer Clark Robinson at robsinsonchicago@gmail.com?
Erik: it's possible others at The League would be interested
me: and if he has any questions, he can also get in touch with me
Erik: I'll shoot him an email tomorrow - would you mind putting that in an email to me?
me: certainly, I'll go ahead and send you something now
Erik: thanks
Erik: and don't discount social conservatives entirely - it's not the social conservatism that's the problem, it's often the approach taken. We were tentative about adding social conservatives to the mix at The League, but two of our writers - David Shaengold and Matt Schmitz - are both social conservatives but also extremely willing to have open, honest, amicable dialogue with people on all sides
Erik: that's sadly something often missing from that side of the right, but it's not missing altogether
me: Understood, although I should note that my concern with them is not "closed-mindedness," as it is so often put
me: in fact, I don't consider them more destructive than many of the far-left people with whom I corroborate
me: and we'll also be closing off our system to, say, the Daily Kos sorts
me: at any rate, I would be happy to take a look at the work of those folks if you believe them to be valuable
Erik: take a gander in any case, i'm not sure they'd have a ton of time one way or another, but I can't say either way. Anyways, let's chat more tomorrow or the next day. I'm off for now. Thanks again.
me: Thank you, enjoy the week