Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Mike Knapp, Just Say No to Bloggers

Poor Mike Knapp. Montgomery County’s current Council President really stepped in it this time. He did the worst thing imaginable with another blogger: he acknowledged his existence and did what he wanted. Oh boy, now it’s never going to end.

Do you remember the annoying kid in the back of the class who wouldn’t shut up? You know, the one who made faces, sat on top of his desk and wouldn’t stay put? Now I’m not admitting that that was me, but I understand the mentality. The purpose is to get attention. And if you acknowledge the foolishness, you’ll get more of it. (Just ask my wife.)

So a Germantown blogger, a constituent of Mr. Knapp’s, challenged the Council President about his blog. “Johno95” said:

Mike Knapp, county council member for District 2, has a blog now. (His district includes Germantown and surrounding areas.) But he likes Germantown best, I suppose.

You would think he’d be busy doing his 9-5 job, but instead he’s busy blogging. I am going to list him in my blogroll. But I am not above trying blackmail. Unless he mentions what he had to eat for breakfast (a typical David Burd question) in his next blog entry, I am removing this link. I want his blog to be casual. I want Mike to let his hair down. After all, he’s a Democrat.

Mike, go ahead and blog to this blog, if you want to answer my breakfast question.
So what does Mr. Knapp do? He tells him what he wants to know! The Council President begins his latest blog post by saying:

Well. I've been called out by some bloggers for not being informal enough. It would seem that some in the blogsphere want to really know what's really going on behind the scenes -- so far behind the scenes, in fact, that apparently my breakfast choices are of interest to some. So, here goes...
And then he tells us just about everything. Every detail of each day of the week, except for a few related to basic bodily functions. Now I know quite a few of our readers might want to be on the County Council someday. Well, read this poor guy’s schedule and then see if you really want to do it. When does he have time to swill beers with the guys? How about watching a Redskins game? Or chasing away transgender opponents from grocery stores? Nope, fuhgeddaboutit. Mr. Knapp doesn’t even have time to post; he averages one or two posts a month.

So remember the kid who shot a spitball at you from behind? If you turned around and gave him a look, you knew what you were going to get: another spitball. It won’t end here. Next they’ll want to know his waist size. Or his 40-yard-dash time. Or his vertical leap. I could throw in a few other things, but this is a family blog.

Mr. Knapp, we know you were trying to be a good guy. But take some advice from a former classroom troublemaker. Don’t respond to the bloggers. After all, it’s not like anyone reads these blogs, right?