The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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Personal Information

Website
http://michaelwolraich.com
Biography

Michael Wolraich co-founded this little blog with a few friends back in 2008. After spending far too much time toying with internet trolls, he decided to become a writer because “writer” sounds cooler than “software freelancer” and way cooler than “founder of some blog that you’ve never heard of, and OK Zoomer, do you even know what a blog is?”

Under the naive impression that one can earn a living by writing books, Wolraich set about writing a book, and lo and behold, a publisher agreed to publish it. Indeed, as of 2025, with dagblog.com mere moments away from permanent hibernation, Wolraich has published three whole books, some of which have even been reviewed, nay praised, by respectable newspapers that start with the word “The.”

Wolraich has also published pieces at various highfalutin media outlets like Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, TIME Magazine, New York Magazine, CNN.com, Reuters, and Talking Points Memo—the blog that inspired the whole dagblog thing in the first place, so you can blame Josh Marshall for all that has happened since.

Wolraich is also the computer genius who maintains (or rather maintained) dagblog’s state-of-the-art software, but he denies responsibility for technical glitches and advises users to “quit sniveling.” In his spare time, Wolraich raises peach mold and performs live impressions of the law of gravity while referring to himself in the third person.

Anyway, here are the books, in case you’re curious. Please consider purchasing several thousand copies of each. (Warning, the last one is a mouthful. Alas, Wolraich did not get to choose the title.)

THE BISHOP AND THE BUTTERFLY: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age (Union Square & Co., 2024, Edgar Allen Poe Award finalist)

UNREASONABLE MEN: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)

BLOWING SMOKE: Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Christmas, and Turn Junior into a Raging Homosexual (Da Capo Press, 2010)

Author

Michael Wolraich is a regular contributor to CNN.com. He began blogging about politics as a popular contributor to Talking Points Memo Café. In 2008, Wolraich founded dagblog.com, which offers a mix of political commentary, satire, and vigorous repartee.

Wolraich grew up in Iowa and now lives in New York City.

Excerpt

Excerpt from Blowing Smoke:

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BREAKING: A New Look for Dagblog

Just two years after dagblog.com exploded into the blogosphere, the brash new political blog that has been rampaging across the interwebs and carving up politicians like a chainsaw through macaroni is finally getting a new look.

Genghis, the technological visionary behind the blog, announced the redesign at a packed news conference in midtown Manhattan Thursday evening.

"We call it Theme 281," he told the hushed audience. "It's sleek. It's chic. It's slippery when wet. It has a lot of gray, I mean a lot of gray."

Topics: 
Potpourri
Michael Wolraich's picture

I'm Not a Witch Either: Christine O'Donnell Is Not the Youest of the You

I'm not a witch. I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you.

-- Christine O'Donnell, Republican for Senate

I'm not a witch either. Like Christine O'Donnell, I'm you. Indeed, I'm much more you than Ms. O'Donnell. I'm so you that if you weren't you, you would think that I was you. In fact, the only thing holding me back from actually being you is you, if you get my meaning.

Topics: 
Politics
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Amazon Now Shipping Blowing Smoke

Wednesday, 9/29/2010. According to sources, Amazon.com has begun shipping first copies of Blowing Smoke, the long-awaited political nonfiction book by Michael Wolraich, a.k.a. Genghis. While there are no confirmed cases of customers receiving the book, political analysts predict that it may reach homes and offices across America as early at October 1.

Topics: 
Politics
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Moderating First Time Bloggers

Just a quick note. Due to evil spammers, we are now moderating all posts by first-time dagblog contributors. Those of you who have already posted here have privileges and will not be affected.

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BREAKING: Early Draft of Republicans Pledge to America Released

Who said that Republicans have no plan? They just released a bold 21-page manifesto called "Pledge to America" that promises extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich and repeal the Democrats' health care plan among other revolutionary initiatives that will transform the country back to exactly the way it was two years ago.

Topics: 
Politics
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

How to Publish Your Blog on Facebook

Soon after we launched dagblog, I decided that I wanted to publish my writing on facebook to share it with my friends and family. That's not as easy as you might think. You can import your posts into Facebook notes using an RSS feed, but Facebook changes the formatting, and readers can't see the comments from the blog. Other methods I tried couldn't handle multi-author blogs and would publish every dagblog post without even indicating who wrote it.

Topics: 
Potpourri
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Update on Importing TPM Cafe Posts to Dagblog

Longtime readers may have noticed that dagblog is running a bit sluggish lately. The plodding performance is an unfortunate consequence of my having imported a massive stack of blog posts from Talking Points Memo Cafe. Actually, the problem is not the posts themselves but the comments hanging off of them. The 54,544 comments that have made their new home in our database are gumming up the works.

Topics: 
Potpourri
Michael Wolraich's picture

Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert Go to Washington: We Must Stop Them!

I've just been informed that notorious funnyman Jon Stewart and his subversive sidekick Stephen Colbert are organizing a protest march in Washington DC on October 30th. The pretense of the protest is a parody of Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor demonstration last month, but we all know what this is really about. Stewart and Colbert planned this "protest" in order to proselytize a perverse and poisonous doctrine that they call comedy.

Topics: 
Politics
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Import Your TPM Cafe Posts to dagblog

Dear TPM Cafe refugees,

TPM has generously created a feature to let you export your old Cafe posts along with all the comments. If you would like to migrate your posts to dagblog, please follow these steps:

Topics: 
Potpourri
Michael Wolraich's picture

What's the Matter with Delaware? What Christine O'Donnell's Victory Means for America's Future

Almost one year ago, I wrote a post titled What's the Matter with New York? about the fierce battle between moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava and fringe conservative Doug Hoffman to represent New York's 23rd congressional district. Scozzafava dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democratic candidate, who prevailed in the election.

Topics: 
Politics
Series: 
Persecution Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Lost in Boehner Land

At last, Democrats launched their counterattack. For two years, Republicans have joyfully demonized President Obama, his wife, his daughters, his pastor, his staff, his casual acquaintances, and various socialist subversives running amok in Washington. The only Obama associate to escape withering defamation has been his dog Bo.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Reader Blogs

Dear TPM refugees, web surfers, and other assorted riffraff,

I returned from vacation last night and was happy to find a surge of activity from new members and friends from TPM Cafe. Welcome all to dagblog.com.

Topics: 
Potpourri
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Newbie Appreciation

I just want to write in to express gratitude to the new immigrants from TPM Cafe for all the great material you've contributed over the past few days. Dagblog really came alive this week. I hope that you've enjoyed the experience and that you continue to write and comment here. For those who have just stopped by to check out the scene, I encourage you to crosspost here and see how you like it.

Topics: 
Potpourri
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The Future of Islamophobia

The furor over the Islamic center near Ground Zero has led many to conclude that the right wing has rediscovered its passion for Muslim-bashing, and some predict more to come. But what strikes me most about the recent outburst of Islamophobia is its exceptionality. Nine years after 9/11, the once preeminent obsession of American foreign policy and Republican politics had been all but forgotten. Even the attempted bombing of Times Square failed to generate much rage from the right.

Topics: 
Politics
Series: 
Persecution Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Colorado Primaries: For Whom the Bullhorn Tolls

Some Democrats have cheered the success of right-wing extremists in the Colorado primaries yesterdays. They have a point.

Topics: 
Politics
Series: 
Persecution Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Why Did California Shooter Target the Tides Foundation?

Late Saturday night, the California Highway Patrol stopped 45-year-old Byron Williams as he sped towards San Francisco. Wearing a bullet proof vest and armed with three guns, Williams opened fire on the officers. After a 12-minute firefight, CHP troopers subdued and arrested Williams.

Topics: 
Politics
Series: 
Persecution Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

An Update on the Book Formerly Known as How Bill O'Reilly Saved Christmas

In response to the relentless demands of millions of adoring readers, I've decided that it's time to break my media silence about the status of the book.

After an eight-month effort that has been simultaneously grueling and exhilarating, the book is nearly finished. I completed the manuscript at the end of June and have been racing through the revisions since then. In a few weeks, it will be all over but the rhapsodic reviews. The book is still on schedule to come out in mid-October.

Topics: 
Politics
Personal
Series: 
Persecution Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

I Am Israel, Hear Me Kvetch!

Call me Israel. I am not a large man; I survive by wit and grit. I am a good man, and I fear no one.

Do not judge me. My childhood was a nightmare grimmer than you, who grew up in comfort and security, could ever imagine.

Topics: 
Humor & Satire
World Affairs

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