More recently, at a cocktail party in Washington the day after the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, Alterman, a columnist for The Nation and author of the Altercation blog on the Media Matters Website, entered into a nasty quarrel with Time magazine blogger Ana Marie Cox about which of them was the better liberal — one of those disputes that was so vicious because so little was at stake. Now, fresh off that scandal, he was cuffed and taken downtown after deploying his argumentative zeal on one of the organizers of the private party, then on the police officer who was summoned to escort him out, and then on the officer’s supervisor, according to the varied and multiplying blogosphere accounts. Luckily, Alterman had the 30 bucks necessary to bail himself out, and a court date was set for later this month. Today, he’s vowing to fight the charges to the death, or at least till everyone loses interest, whichever comes first. Meantime, we’ll be lining up a bed at Promises. —Lloyd Grove
Columnist/Author Released After Being Arrested in Spin Room [Political Ticker/CNN]