By RegoPark
Contributing Writer

Apparently we have been discovered by Gawker, who has reprinted and linked Matt Drudge quotes from the DrudgeBlog Quiz (along with others from other sources). And yes, he’s uttered even funnier indiscretions.

At least some of you find the “Matt Drudge Ignores Me” running gag amusing, which I’ve found dumb but innocuous enough, in which Jessica Coen sends repeated IMs to Matt ranging from “Happy Hannukah” to “Did you get that photo taken at Glamour Shots?” As I recall, she also reprints bogus “Drudge sighting” rumors in which he allegedly walked around in public in New York with an unattractive woman. Whatever.

Most of the Drudge quotes are funny. I do take exception at presenting the second phrase, from 1998, for us to “enjoy”:

“I was a stutterer. I had a twitch inside all the time—a lot of raw energy. I was lonely…I still am.”

There is nothing funny, fair or classy about rubbing loneliness or personal development issues in someone’s face. Of all the archives I’ve accumulated on Drudge, I have never seen any evidence of him being malicious. Indiscreet, careless, and stupid sometimes, yes. (That’s why he’s a pet project of mine — he’s a fascinating PR case study.)

When I posted that quote, along with others in the DrudgeBlog quiz, I was trying to get participants to really think about how much they know about Matt Drudge. The assembled sentences are the literary equivalent of a police lineup. I wasn’t inviting anyone to make fun of the “lonely” quote, as I’m sure anyone who read it understands.

But it seems to me — sorry, hold on, gotta fish that burr out of my buttocks here…

…that Gawker’s “Quotable Drudge” was in a less than honorable context and suggests that we ought to get a chuckle out of Drudge complaining of loneliness.

I’m critical and teasing of Matt when it’s called for, but when you get past the hype and the crap and the layers upon layers of media interpretation, he’s actually someone worth paying attention to. And certainly worth a modicum of respect, dignity and compassion.