THE BEUTLER FILES: 30 CENT EDITION

Cross-posted from Blog P.I.

The biggest news in the District's blogging circles yesterday had nothing to do with John McCain's campaign shakeup or Barack Obama's rhetorical shift centerward but the inexplicable shooting of one of liberal blogging's up-and-comers, Brian Beutler.

Early in the day I'd seen Dave Weigel's IM message reading "Brian Beutler for Batman/Mayor" but did not understand the context. Hours later the news broke beyond his close friends, and thankfully along with it that he is hospitalized at Washington Hospital Center and should recover.

The blog tributes flowed in, bringing with it a wave of complaints about the relative safety of Northwest Washington. Megan McArdle started with "I just found out a friend of mine got shot three times in the stomach last night in my neighborhood during a mugging," and though vowing to delete any opportunistic comments about District v. Heller, she couldn't avoid addressing public safety:

When DC does try to "do something", it's something stupid and quasi-fascist like locking down neighborhoods instead of putting more cops on the beat and using the advanced police tactics that are now the norm in every other city. From what I know, Fenty seems like a better mayor than DC's previous disasters, but the city government remains corrupt and incompetent. No one should have to spend their lives feeling this afraid.

The American Spectator's J.P. Freire concurred:

I can only echo Megan's thoughts about the state of crime (and crime-fighting) in this city -- it reminds me of the needless and violent murder of the New York Times's David Rosenbaum, who was left unaided, ailing on the sidewalk, ignored in his death. There's an illusion of safety in this city, conveyed by the economic development and the swollen demographics familiar from college. But we're not on college campuses where things feel safe (and are sometimes very much not). We're in a city, a particularly criminal one.

John Aravosis offered more details on the neighborhood in question:

The neighborhood he was shot in, like a 5 minute walk from me, has an ongoing gang war on the very corner he was shot. It's been going on for years. And years. And years. But DC is such an inept city, that all we hear about is how fighting crime is hard work. Sound familiar? I've looked at condos right next to where he was shot. $400,000 for a one bedroom. I laugh when I see places like that, because I know there's a gang war going on about 100 feet away. And now this would be our second mugging-shooting we've had in the last month or so.

And I'm pretty much in agreement with all of this. I was once the victim of random violence myself, albeit of a much less serious nature: more than a year ago I was struck in the head by an unseen assailant at about 3:00 a.m. on a side-street just above Florida Avenue. It wasn't a mugging; I just kept walking, hoping that no sudden movements would pay off, and there was no follow-up attack.

I'm pretty sure it was done on a dare or for the thrill, likely both. And it shook me from my complacency, at least for awhile. Shortly after, I moved one neighborhood over -- to approximately three blocks north of where Beutler was shot on Wednesday morning.

But it wasn't all (understandable) hand-wringing about the state of the city. Nicknaming Beutler "30 Cent" after the projectile-prone rapper, Dave Weigel reported:

Collaboration began on a lengthy list of "Brian Beutler Facts," inspired by the (now surely played out) list of oddball stories of Chuck Norris. Sample entries: "Lance Armstrong wears a Brian Beutler bracelet." "The active ingredient in Levitra is Brian Beutler." "Meatloaf would do that for Brian Beutler."

And Julian Sanchez followed up:

Brian Beutler is awesome. If you read his phenomenal reporting, count yourself lucky. If you know him, count yourself even luckier. (2) You can add your wishes for a speedy recovery at the first link. I'm not the praying sort, but if you are, it couldn't do any harm.

I echo those sentiments.

When Beutler first moved to town a few years ago, we had a brief jocular exchange on a post at my personal blog, The Washington Canard, also titled "The Beutler Files".

Since then I haven't met Beutler in person, but in this small world of Washington bloggers, we share more than a few acquaintances. And as you may have already noticed, we share a last name (if not the pronunciation thereof).

There's room in this town for the both of us, and let's hope it stays that way for a long time to come.

Labels: Beutler, DC, News

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posted by WWB at 6:33 PM |