The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
Michael Wolraich's picture

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)

Michael Wolraich's picture

Breaking Up with New York City

When we last left our hero, he was pitifully angsting about whether to leave his home of New York City. Many readers have demanded to know what he decided. OK, no one has actually demanded, but that won't stop him from sharing, nor from referring to himself in the third person.

Topics: 
Personal
Michael Wolraich's picture

Woody Harrelson Invokes Zombie Defense

After breaking the camera of an aggressive paparazzo who was photographing him with his daughter, Woody Harrelson explained that he mistook the photographer for a zombie:

"I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland,' in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character. With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie."

Topics: 
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

BREAKING: First Dog

Under relentless media pressure after weeks of foot-dragging, the Obama Administration finally selected a nominee for a top government post: First Dog.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Bankers Want Out of Bailout Conditions

Banks are chafing under Federal bailout terms, according to today's New York Times. Fearing that they will be forced to sell off toxic assets and curtail executive compensation, some banks are trying to return bailout money. But there's a catch. In order to receive the bailout loans, the banks had to grant the Federal Government stock warrants. The warrants give the Federal Government the option to buy stock in the company at a specified price.

Topics: 
Politics
Business
Michael Wolraich's picture

Obama Must Stop Bowing!

You've no doubt seen the video in which Obama bowed meekly before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia:

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Earth Hour is the New Black

Happy Earth Hour, everyone! In a gesture of appreciation for our beautiful planet, which if all goes according to plan will slowly simmer to death sometime this century, dagblog is joining the stampede of environmentally concerned municipalities and other organizations turning the lights off major landmarks for one hour this evening.

Topics: 
Potpourri
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Don't Raise the Barricades

A recent World Bank study indicates a disturbing rise in trade protectionism around the world in response to the economic crisis. Here are a few examples:

Topics: 
Politics
Business
Michael Wolraich's picture

At What Cost Justice?

No, I am not referring to bankers. I'm speaking of the International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war crimes charges. Bashir is a force of evil in the world. His leadership has directly contributed to the suffering, murder, and genocide of millions. He deserves the most severe penalties we can in good conscience apply.

Topics: 
Social Justice
World Affairs
Michael Wolraich's picture

Congress Shows Backbone on AIG Bonuses

Congratulations to the august members of the House of Representatives. You just saved America $148.5M. Of course, after countless hours of wrangling with the Senate, that will surely be reduced by half. And then, there will be the lawsuits challenging the bill-of-attainder tax on a particular company--a really, really, really bad company which deserves to be disemboweled and which we would definitely do if that pesky economic depression weren't in the way.

Topics: 
Politics
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China: Tiger on a Leash

As the U.S. sinks deeper into recession and China gorges itself on ever greater quantities of American debt, you will start to hear about the "Chinese model" and the end of American hegemony. Yet China remains tethered by a stiff leash which will ultimately choke the charging tiger once it runs out slack: its government.

Topics: 
Politics
Business
Michael Wolraich's picture

Loose

There are moments in life, in some lives, in my life, when one becomes unmoored. Something or someone cuts the bond between anchor and ship, and the sailor is cast adrift. Perhaps a violent squall snaps the tether; perhaps a villain slashes it in the night; perhaps you sever it yourself in a drunken flourish of enthusiasm or at a tranquil moment of lucidity; perhaps you simply wake up one morning and find that you've drifted out to sea.

Topics: 
Personal
Michael Wolraich's picture

Help Wanted: De Facto Leader of the Republican Party

Seeking qualified candidates for leadership role with a top American political party who will:

Topics: 
Politics
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Stumble Stumble

StumbleUpon is a search engine of sorts that works on the "let what you're looking for find you" principle. It takes Google's "I feel lucky" concept to new heights. Instead of typing in what you're searching for, you just click the big "Stumble" button, and the site serves up pages that it thinks you want to see.

Topics: 
Technology
Michael Wolraich's picture

The House That George Built - The Movie

Last week, I wrote a piece called This is the House That George Built. TheraP at TPM suggested that I make a video. This is the video.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

This is the house that George built!

This is the house that George built!
These are men who lie in the house that George built.
This is the war that killed the men
That lie in the house that George built.

This is the fraud that started the war
That killed the men that lie in the house that George built.
This is the Dick that contrived the fraud
That started the war that killed the men
That lie in the house that George built.

Topics: 
Politics
Michael Wolraich's picture

Get Yer Hot D-Bills Here!

Loyal readers have been anxiously following dagblog.com's financial troubles in this difficult economy. On Tuesday, after dagblog's appeals for federal assistance were rebuffed, I sadly announced that all the other members of the dagblog team would have to be let go.

Topics: 
Business
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

The Essence of Dag

Brought to you by wordle.net. I like the big Bush falling off the bottom...

Topics: 
Potpourri
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George Bush Not the Worst President Ever

Defying expectations and confounding the critics one last time, George W. Bush is not the worst president ever according to C-Span's Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership. Bush beat out Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding, William Henry Harrison, Franklin D. Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan to place a respectable 36th out of 42.

Topics: 
Politics
Humor & Satire
Michael Wolraich's picture

Roland Burris, the gift that keeps on giving...

Senator Roland Burris (D) speaks...

Jan 5, sworn affidavit:

There was not any contact between myself or any of my representatives with Governor Blagojevich or any of his representatives regarding my appointment to the United States Senate.

Contact counter: 0

Jan 8, sworn testimony:

Topics: 
Politics

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