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Monday 28 April 2008

While I knew that the Founding Fathers were fond of cloaking their political commentary with pseudonyms, “Infamous Scribblers” filled in the detail by providing their bewildering variety. Hamilton like to employ a nom de plume that revealed what he regarded as his philosophical roots in classical Rome: Publius, Pacificus, Cattalus, Horatius and Philo Camillus, for example. Newspaper publisher Benjamin Franklin displayed a mastery of evocative names such as Silence Dogood, Alice Addertongue, Fanny Mournful, Obadiah Plainman and the delightful Busy Body. The champion in terms of sheer numbers appears to be John Adams, whose 25 or so pen names included Populus, An American, A Son of Liberty and the vaguely Wrestlemaniacal “Vindex the Avenger”. Instapundit, Atrios and Daily Kos — eat your heart out. Founding Fathers were bloggers

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