WELCOME, NOW WALK THE PLANK:

Dear Reader,

You might not understand the need for another political blog. But the day is still young. By three o'clock this afternoon, you will have hit refresh for the third time at Talking Points Memo, followed every Gawker link back to the New York Post, and read all the Romenesko letters. Even worse, you have vowed to stop reading The Corner after John Podhoretz announced his suspension of posting. In a few hours, you will be on your knees pleading with the gods of the Internet for just one more pretext for procrastination. And at that moment of existential angst, when you are convinced that you can't continue, you'll remember the advent of The Plank and will begin reciting prayers of thanksgiving. We can't promise always to be the most incisive or funniest blog. But, dammit, we know how to waste your time.

The New Republic has done its fair share to invent and reinvent opinion journalism in this country. And we've had our share of success in the blogosphere. But blogs, like TV shows, can't (or perhaps shouldn't) live forever. So, we're trying to mix up the lineup. You can expect The Plank to satisfy your procrastination jones about six times a day--and a few times more when we can gloat over the jailing of political enemies.

To all our ideological fellow travelers--the 35 of you who agreed with our editorial stances on Joe Lieberman, the war, and gay marriage--we sadly won't provide you with the neo-liberal paleo-hawkish version of The Corner. Nor will The Plank be anywhere near the official online voice of the magazine, but rather the reflection of its primary authors (Michael Crowley and Jason Zengerle) and their occasional collaborators on the staff. In other words, our fellow writers and editors at the magazine shouldn't be held accountable for The Plank's idiocies.

--The Plank