The Mirror

BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith: ‘I Wasn’t Above Kissing A Bit Of Ass’

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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It’s not often that journalists actually admit to sucking up. It’s almost always the case that they just do it — like breathing — and then they carry on like it’s nothing.

In an ode to conservative writer Andrew Sullivan, who announced Wednesday that he’s leaving the blogosphere to think, read slowly, write a book and hang out with his parents and husband,  BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith reminisced about his days of blogging alongside Sullivan and other greats like Talking Points Memo‘s Josh Marshall.

Smith’s lengthy first-person essay about how he got into blogging has a romantic air to it. Think Gone With The Wind or As the World Turns. He was absolutely in awe of the bloggers who came before them and fully admits he fed off them. They were, as he calls them, his “assignment editors” and sat in his head when he contemplated posts.

With his sites on Marshall, he knew just how to score.

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Smith went on to admit how thrilled he was when he lost his virginity and got his first email returned from Sullivan.

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Smith declared Sullivan’s departure from the blogosphere as a “final punctuation to the era” of blogs.

He couldn’t help but give him one last kiss goodbye.

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