Dollars to donuts says you'll be back.

What? What?

You start with the Bare Faced Go-Away Bird, then it turns out you're going away...

I need to lay down.

But, but, but..... what will happen to "What Hilzoy said!" if you quit?

NOOOOOOO!!!!!

My first, more selfish response to your retirement is "oh no! Who will help me understand these issues?"

But my second response is to thank you for your time and effort in working through some of these issues.

My third response, however, is still "oh no!"

Here I was hoping you'd go the other way and start a solo blog. You will be missed a great deal but thank you for the time and effort you put into this.

P

Hilzoy, I can't tell you how very much I appreciated the way you were able to analyze and discuss issues. I wish I had a fraction of your ability. Have a good time in Rwanda, and take plenty of pictures. You might show us some when you get back.

Good on you,

Texas Ag

I'll ditto what Ben JB said. "Oh no!" You are one of the most insightful voices on the web, and your voice will be sorely missed.

Best of luck in finding your Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird.

Hilzoy, you've been a wonderful blogger -- writer, thinker, dialoguer, activist and commenter. Have a great vacation, and we will try to keep the insanity to manageable levels.

Thanks for your tremendous insights. They will be missed. But move on, you must. I wish you the best of success in whatever comes next.

Holy carp.

Hilzoy you've made Political Animal a more interesting place. One I check several times a day. I'll continue to check in regularly but your perspective will be missed. Good luck to you in whatever you do and of course if you catch the Bare-Faced Go-Away bird on camera please be sure to post.

Damn. Your insights and reasoned tone will be greatly missed.

Best of everything to you, Hilzoy. You'll be missed. Maybe you can guest-blog once in a while?

Have a fab vacation, don't forget to take sunscreen and a good hat!

I am really going to miss your sharp insights and distinctive perspective.

Have a wonderful trip! I'm sure this next stage of your life will be amazing. Who knows? You may even want to blog about it at some point . . .

Hilzoy, thank you for your great blogging. Best wishes!

Have a good time, get some rest, and RETHINK this decision! You are terrific, smart, have a different perspective. Maybe cut back to once lollapalooza post a week. Get even more profound. Think about it. But leave the computer home. Get a break.

I can't begin to say how much you'll be missed, Hilzoy. I hope you will still contribute the occasional guest post.

Oh, and was said above, hope to see some of those pics from your vacation.

What a downer. You'll be missed, but I hope you know that your contribution toward improving the discourse has been immense for just one person.

Best wishes and I hope you enjoy your trip.

Thanks for helping us all through these difficult times; we'll miss you. Have fun - Rwanda won't know what hit it.

That is what ObWi represented to me, too. An island of sanity in a country gone mad, one of the few. Thank you.
I will miss you.

I'm heartbroken. I'll REALLY miss your posts. I live on BoingBoing but you and Steve begin and end my day. Be careful, amiga.

Awww, too bad.

Hilzoy was the best part of this place, in my opinion (no offense to Mr. Benen, just horses for courses).

Hilzoy was one of the few bloggers I've encountered (along with Digby) kept the focus on the human repercussions of the politics. Others slip so often into talking and acting like it is a game. (It's both of course, a game with grave consequences, and both kinds of analysis are helpful probably).

Political decisions can hurt and kill people. Hilzoy helped keep focus and priority on the immediate costs.

One of the more disappointing features of the world-gone-mad Hilzoy described (circa 2003) was LIBERAL writers, in newspapers and blogs, supporting the wars against Arabs. (We already knew Republicans were belligerent assholes, so weren't as surprised). There were only a few voices who were consistent in calling out the obvious bullshit for what it was. The big name liberal bloggers failed there, and they've mostly gone on to join the mainstream media. Their (initially) instinctive anti-Arab biases and ridiculous judgment didn't hinder their advancement. (Coincidence?)

Anyway, thanks for the focus on the soul, and good luck in Rwanda Ms. Hilzoy.

Cheers Mate! and thanks...

Three things:
1. I hope you're right.
2. Have a wonderful trip.
3. Share your bird list when you get back.

Thanks and good luck.

Just today I was paraphrasing your point from yesterday's post "STOP" - referring to the temptation by some left bloggers to go after the white firefighter in the "reverse discrimination" case. You set a good example, taking the moral high ground when it's so tempting to sling mud.

I too like to engage with people who don't agree with me, but unlike you, I didn't focus my energies as you have on stopping the insanity. I agree that the madness has subsided for the time, but for the rest of my life will understand how easily good people can be duped by the corrupt.

Thanks for doing more than your part.

You are so wrong.

The invective and madness are still both there, just confined for the moment to a smaller portion of the populace.

Unfortunately the US -- particularly the right -- owe too much allegiance to their President with too little critical facility. The same problems of stability and law hang in the balance.

Enjoy your vacation. Then return to the fray.

Thank you for all you've done Hilzoy. Your voice will be sorely missed. (Good luck tracking the Bare-faced Go Away Bird. Hope you get a pic!)

Heeyyy, not fair!!!

You were probably the only one to blog about foreign affairs. I enjoyed it alot.

Please, you can't retire from blogging now, especially with your upcoming trip to Rwanda.

But at any rate, I'm sure if you continue to blog at your leisure while in Rwanda, it would be most welcome.

This will probably be the best trip in your life. I have an aunt that have traveled the world over - she says her African trip is the best, second is Russia, then China.

BTW, I don't know how easy it is now with travel restrictions, but my aunt told me that some of the people on the same flight brought in some can food from the U.S. for their own palates.

This is deeply saddening. Your explorations and clear, level-headed readings of the overlapping of moral philosophy and politics, policy, and their representation in the media will be sorely missed. If I could have my way, your cogent and astute posts would take the place of any Frank Rich or David Brooks column. The world would be much better off!

Good for you. Enjoy yourself and, if we don't run across one another again, have a great life!

Don't leave yet... Palin's become a policy wonk!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302852.html

via TPM...

Best to you, Hilzoy. You'll be missed.

The vitriol has subsided so you believe your work is done? R U Kidding? Sounds like a Palin to me. If we take back all the nice things we said about you, will you stay? In any event, you will be missed. And I sure hope Steve doesn't get jealous and start having thoughts of retirement just yet.

Agree with so many of the commentators above, thanks for all you've done here and at ObWi. But I do agree notther as well. The madness of 2002 is still there and are now very much part of the mainstream. They need to be watched and called out.

Now you've made me sad Hilzoy. It is rare to have a smart blogger who takes the time to write the nuances of topics and issues that so often hold the truth, or closest to it. You are one of those and will be missed, at least by me. But I understand this;

The main reason I started blogging, besides the fact that I thought it would be fun, was that starting sometime in 2002, I thought that my country had gone insane.

It is what got me interested in politics and blogging also. I used to avoid politics at all costs, but red flags sprung up everywhere during the 2000 campaign, when GWB scared the bejeebers out of me, and later made those fears realized by his actins.

But do what you need to for you and good luck.

Thank you for all the great work, H. I've really enjoyed your stuff here. Benen does the hits really well, but your deep album cuts filled a lot of space. Have fun.

I've always appreciated your posts, you'll be missed. Is the madness over? I'm not so sure. Seems to me it's smaller but higher proof.

You'll be sorely missed. Thanks for all the great thoughts.

Hilzoy, have a nice life, in the very best sense of the term. You deserve it. At the very least, take a nice long break, and try to do all the stuff you've put off doing for the better part of a decade. The politics will still be here when you return, as politics always is and will be.

Aloha.

Y'know, you and I probably agree about only one thing, one thing only.

And that thing is the integrity of your argument, whatever it is.

I read somewhere recently that Chuck Coulson, former Nixon hatchet guy, last I looked up-to-the-minute who-am-I-really guy, described integrity nautically:

(paraphased) The captain of the ship, before leaving port, asked the guy-at-arms (or whatever), "Do we have integrity?"

By that, he meant not just the bridge, or the staterooms, or the engine rooms, or the living quarters. He meant every frickin seal on that ship.

Because every single one matters. On a ship, the integrity of a seal can mean the difference between life and death for the entire crew.

I haven't read all that much of your stuff. But I think everything I've read seems to have passed this test. And though it may not seem like it, this stuff matters just as much as on a ship, maybe more.

So have FUN. Bon voyage, and all that. And good luck.

And as to the Integrity, keep it up, I know you will.

Me too.

It's the only way through.

Good luck to Hilzoy! I got involved for much the same reasons you did -- more focused on getting the Democratic party to do it's job -- but now that I'm in, I feel like it's part of my my life and it's going to take a rehab program to get me off of it.

Enjoy Ruwanda. I have enjoyed your posts and especially your late hours. Hard to find fresh material at 2AM!

That's odd. My sense is the country is getting MORE insane, not less.

Hope you come back.

Have an excellent time in Rwanda, Hilzoy. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your measured, thoughtful, well-researched blog entries. I stumbled upon this site relatively recently, but you quickly became one of my 'must-read' bloggers. I will miss you when you retire, but I am grateful to have read you at all.

Hilzoy - I will miss your voice, your passion, your insight, your clarity. Losing your blogging is like losing a friend. You know best down which road your life and work should lead you. May that road rise to meet you.

I hope one day you'll decide to make a blogging - or some other medium of political, social, cultural and philosophical commentary - comeback, and I hope that day comes sooner rather than later. All good fortune and happiness to you.

I just had to add that I agree with stvwlf about the country becoming more insane, but at least there are more people willing to speak up about it.

Book! Book! Book!

Hilzoy,

Thank you for your work. I'll miss you.

Matthew

See you later, hope you have a good life.

Delurking to say, I hope you'll be back someday. You've been one of the best.

(Also, Muriel Spark wrote a short story called "The Go-Away Bird," although it was set in South Africa, not Rwanda.)

No! Don't go away! You're one of, if not the, best bloggers out there.

Well, if you feel it's for the best I will try to learn to live without you. But you will be very much missed.

As Rwanda celebrates The Year of the Gorilla, we salute a Gorilla Among Bloggers.

Cheers, and keep turning out more students like Michele Obama and Sonia Sotomayor!

Thank you, Hilzoy for all of your wonderful posting over the years. You have been one of the most thoughtful, insightful bloggers, and you have always given me something to think about.

Your contributions will be sorely missed. Writing of the kind of quality you have offered to us is rare.

Thanks.

So long, and thanks for exposing all the fishiness.

Nobody's going to be able to do that quite as you have.

(Oh, and I'm with the ones who fear the madness is not only not reduced, but ramping up. I understand that in certain kinds of forest terrain, there can be fire moldering under the earth surface with no apparent sign, until it suddenly bursts forth in a conflagration. I'm very afraid this might be what's happening now. We can't afford to forget that the Publicans, their media (and it's almost all theirs), and those corporate interests under threat from Obama's policies -- and there'd be a lot of those -- would all benefit, or at least expect to, from a resurgence of the crazy. If the economy worsens -- or even fails to improve, or improves but doesn't do so fast enough, or with a more equitable distribution of the benefits.... All I can say is, keep your towel handy. Wish you a safe trip.)

Of course, I wish you all the best, but I have to say, the work of gaining back our national sanity really has only just begun. The threat that we could experience a full-blown relapse has in no way receded. Your voice has been important and influential, and I believe it would continue to be so. But, you know best what is right for you. If this decision sticks, you will be missed.

Fair winds and following seas to you.

I tend to think it's always best to quit blogging (or anything else) in an explosion of bile, if you can manage one, but different strokes, I guess. Enjoy Rwanda.

1) Ah crap.

2) You are one of the wisest voices I've ever had the pleasure to read anywhere. Best wishes to you in all that you do and thank you.

3) ????

4) Profit!

I feel bereft but very, very grateful for these years of savoring these gifts of your sanity, Hilzoy. Thank you so much for helping us through.

Hilzoy,

Please at least post periodically, you have great insight. I would ask you to ponder: why is it that madness ensued? Perhaps it was because in the not madness, people didn't argue or stand up for things that are true. If we won, we need to lead, not go plant tomatoes.

kthxbye.

whew... thought it was Steve for a minute :). just kidding. one canadian will miss you very much.

Hi, Hilzoy, thanks for your great blogging about legal and constitutional issues. I've learned a lot.

Never fear. Just when you think you've retired from blogging for good, you'll begin again. It's a tough habit to break.

So if we amp up the invective, will you return?

I hope you reconsider. You're my favorite blogger.

Make that another Canadian who'll miss you. You have a distinct voice. And I mean that in the best way. As others have said, I've really appreciated your ability to humanize issues and to draw the connections that aren't always so readily seen.

You can certainly go or stay, whatever you choose, but the ostensible reason you give -- that the madness is over -- is as wrong as wrong can be. I can't fathom how you come to that conclusion.

Good luck, Godspeed and thank you for bringing the best commentary imaginable into my part of the world. You will be sorely missed, and I hope that you will be struck by blogger's itch once you return to the insanity of the US politics.

I will miss reading your posts, but I wish you the best.

Thanks for your insight, your wit, and most of all your caring.

Hilzoy, I'm going to miss your thoughtful and (sorry to use a suddenly overused word, but) empathetic posts. You may have been blogging for five years, but I only found my way over to Obsidian Wings a few months before you joined Steve as one of the frontpagers here, so I feel like you're heading offstage just as I'm getting to know you.

Thanks for sharing your eloquent voice with us for as long as you have. And enjoy your return to normal life, whatever the heck that is anyway.

I am very sorry to see you are leaving. The blogosphere will be far less sane without you, Hilzoy. When you let go, Digby will be holding up the entire Serious Analysis by Women section all alone.

Thank you for everything you've taught me, and have a great vacation. At least let us know if you see that bird!

Recycle yourself.

Please?

Dang. We will miss you, for your sanity and clear writing. And humane treatment of others.
Blogging is work, harder work than most realize (and I once wrote for a newspaper).
I'm tearing up now.

Hilzoy,

You brought us felicity of expression in the midst of madness. You taught us to fish.

As E.T. said, "Ouch."

I'm so sorry to see that you won't be blogging anymore, as you are my favorite voice on the blogosphere.

Damn it, Hilzoy, you're one of the best. I'm happy for you, believe me, but this is a huge loss for the liberal blogosphere. You're one of the most insightful and incisive bloggers out there. Your perspective, not to mention your incredible knowledge, have been utterly invaluable. When it comes to the ethical and moral questions, I don't think there's anyone who's done more to help us come to grips with the really tough issues, who's made us really think. And you did it with a wicked sense of humor.

Good luck to you. And if the madness returns, I hope you will as well.

Hasta luego, amiga. Salud.

Crikey! That said, thank you for sharing your reason and your passion. We have all been enriched. Bon voyage.

take care. thanks.

Your voide will be sorely missed, hilzoy, and I truly hope that you find something else to inspire a return to blogging, even if it isn't about politics.

That said, I rarely disagree with you, but the madness certainly isn't over. The movement conservatism in general, and the Republican Party in particular, is as crazy as ever -- it's crazier -- it's just no longer in power. Despite the so-called "liberal media"'s best efforts to give intellectually dishonest Republicans an national platform to argue in bad faith, the American people -- if not Congressional Democrats -- have chosen to believe their lyin' eyes instead. And it's obvious by now that being out of power is causing the Republican Party to embrace its crazy element all the tighter.

You've been a remarkable voice of honesty and sanity. Enjoy your retirement, and please forgive my selfishness in hoping that it'll be short-lived.

This is clearly a personal and well thought-out decision, but I'm truly sorry to learn of it.

You are a rare voice of reason and civility, and the national discourse needs many more like you.

I thank you profoundly for your service to the nation and the national dialogue. I am confident that you will find a way to continue to contribute to our long campaign to serve the ideals that this country declared 233 years ago.

All best wishes.

In the past the phrase "The Best and the Brightest" has been tarnished, but, you, Ms Hilzoy, are indeed The Best and the Brightest in it's original sense. You will be sorely missed.

Thank you, also, for your support of General Clark. Had only more been with you, 2004 might have turned out far differently.

Cheerio, Hilzoy. Blogsylvania is better for you having been a part of it. Best of luck in future and we'll see you when you get back from Rawanda.

I started reading this post and initially thought it was some kind of April Fools' joke and then I realized it's July. :( Your voice will be missed. Happy travels and say hello to Billmon for us.

Good luck, Hilzoy. We'll miss you.

Good luck, Hilzoy. I always enjoyed reading your posts and your insight will be badly missed.

We'll miss your voice, Hilzoy. Don't be a stranger....come back and talk with us sometimes!

calvin was contemplating, just the other day, about what motivated bloggers and kept them so over time. It was obvious that many needed an outlet during the Crazy Years, but now what?

The high quality of writing that appears here everyday doesn't come without taking a toll. On many things and at different levels.

It is a real tribute to this site that the quality of writing has been sustained for such a long time. A truly amazing feat.

I've only disagreed with Hilzoy once. Which means that day in and day out over these years, my thoughts and feelings have been validated by an outstanding mind and in a very articulate way. Much better than I could have possibly hoped for.

Thank you for being you and for sharing yourself so passionately and wholeheartedly.

Don't go! We still need you.

Good luck, Hilzoy. But we'll miss you - after all, America is still crazy.

Hilzoy,
Your voice will be sorely missed!
Thank you for helping to shine a light on the stupidity of the last 8+ years.
I wish you nothing but the best...

Bare-Faced-Go-Away Bird - Ach, and vas ist wrong mit Nacktehl-Laermvogel? Almost as schoen as Schmetterling!

Perhaps Ms Hilzoy will do a takeoff on Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency with her new Number 1 Ladies' Blogging Agency.

Man, this sucks.

Well, it's all been said above, so I'm not sure I can add much to the sentiment, but I'm compelled to do it anyway.

Personally, I have to agree with Andrew Sullivan. I read a lot of blogs every day, and you have been my favorite destination during daily blog-sploration.

And your sanity is the reason why.

Even when I don't agree, or fully agree with your position, I respect it as valid one and always find your perspective compelling.

I really am going to miss this little sandbar of sanity in each days blogging.

And I really hope you don't disappear forever. I hope that once you've cleared your mind, you'll find a topic or two each month worth putting your considerable talents to, and not disappear into the long good night.

Troll_Bait

My own little voice must add to the many. It contributes to the unanimous sense that Hilzoy, at Obsidion Wings where I first found her, and of course here at PA/WM, has quite a different way of saying things from most political bloggers. She has a very *decent* way of making her point with irrefutable logic, that I've loved to read, post after post. And I'm not a political blogger, but I'm definitely a political reader.

I don't think this is the last of Hilzoy, at least I hope not. She has too much to say, and a unique way of saying it.

Nonetheless I wish her the best for her journey to Rwanda, and look forward to seeing her however she may wish to manifest.

Comments are just not the same.

I will miss your voice.

Well, hell.

I've grown accustomed yo your face. You almost make the day begin.

Seriously...I've come to count to reading your take on issues as much as Kevin Drum, or even more. The country seems saner to you ? Maybe I'm in a odd mood having seen a piece at "Conservative Thinker" that said God is on Palin's side which is why liberals hate her - followed by a chorus of mindless "ditto!!!"s. . And I'm reading "Idiot America". The country does not seem saner to me at the moment.

But in any case, I've thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated your work. Job well done! Enjoy your travels and your life. But know, you will be missed.

Hilzoy, we'll miss you a LOT! But I devoutly hope you're right about the country recovering its sanity. Some of us who have been listening to what Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the like are spewing into the airwaves aren't so sure, however. Remember the early Clinton years, the full-court-press by the right to nullify his election by putting any and every slander into circulation that they could think of, and the passive non-response by the liberal establishment or the Village media. I'm seeing the same thing again. There's the ongoing idiocy about Obama's birth certificate, Sarah Palin's future as a national candidate (aaaarrggggh!) and Justice Sotomayor's supposed "racism," caused by her "empathy," which Jeff Sessions interprets to mean empathy only for people of color. Slate Magazine published a photograph recently, after the Supreme Court reversed the appellate court ruling in the Ricci case, that showed two white firefighters blasting a hose at a robed female justice and knocking her off her feet. A couple of onlookers observe smugly, "She's been overturned." Tell me we don't need more voices of sanity with that kind of racist hostility being treated as "respectable" discourse!

Maybe you could taste and review swamp teas from diferent plantations and rate them in One Last Post. Rwandan tea hasn't made it into the specialty shops but they were counting on it as an export earner.

Damn, when will I learn to proofread before posting? Sorry, of course what Slate posted was a cartoon, not a photo.

But Hilzoy, if anyone's earned a vacation, it is certainly you. Thanks for your heroic labors in the cause of sane and civil discourse, bon voyage, and happy birding! I agree that the "Bare Faced Go Away Bird" is the best ornithological name I've ever heard.

I don't read everything posted on the blogs, but I always read it when the byline is Hilzoy. I don't know if writing is your first calling. If it's not, and you're getting back to what you meant to do before everything went crazy, good for you, good luck; it's been a long wait. Thanks for hanging in there. If you are going to do more writing, I hope when you publish or land a job as a journalist or whatever, we'll get a cross-reference so we can pick up where we're leaving off.

Safe travels.

Thank you, Hilzoy.

Hilzoy, I only just discovered you during the last election season but I'm dismayed at the thought your thoughtful and insightful discussions will be absent after this week. You are so articulate and I often am impressed by the subtleties you bring to light of different actions and points of view (perhaps exposing a subtle bias in something, for instance). Like the others, I say that the craziness isn't ending; it's just in a holding state. Palin had her crowds frothing at the lips, spewing hateful and dangerous invective, and now she's planning her comeback tour. It scares me, honestly, and I was horrified at how little care the MSM gave to her excitation of hatefulness. She and the others like her are strengthened by your absence. Despite being a minority small in numbers, the conservatives still have the mindset of a majority and somehow seem to still have a lot of the country convinced they are. We need your voice combating that! And most of all, we need your voice of civility in the face of their hatefulness and craziness. If nothing else, it highlights how hateful and crazy they are just by the contrast. More than that, though, you are giving food for thought to far more people than you'll ever realize-- people like me who never or almost never comment (this is my second comment to you). There are a lot of us. And we have learned and have been able to use some of your civil arguments as we fight the craziness from our own little outposts.

I have thought to myself many times that you must put a tremendous amount of yourself and effort into these blogs and it's not like you don't already have a job. So I have to say I can understand wanting a break from it. I am very saddened that you say you are entirely done with it. I hope you will change your mind. Have a good and restful trip.

Buena suerte Hilzoy.
You will be missed.

Well, you've certainly earned it, but I'll miss you. You're an inspiration and a unique voice in the blogosphere, providing a sober and reasoned analysis no matter how outrageous the provocation.

Hilzoy, if I were ever to start blogging I think you'd be my model. The thing I most enjoyed about your work was your willingness to do the research and to back up what you said with facts, rather than just shooting off your mouth. Smart, insightful, honest, respectful, a good writer - that's a pretty solid legacy, I'd say.

That said, the blogosphere is surely going to miss you. Whatever you may think about the change in the political atmosphere, those very qualities you broguht to your work remain in woefully short supply. Your retirement only reduces the supply further.

Best of luck in all of your future endeavors.

The madness is over? What, you had Goldman and BOA stock? Three words: indefinite detention, state secrets, torture. Ok, so I can't count. But that's the point.

You have gifts than most of us don't. You've given generously of them. Much remains to be done. I'm sure you'll find a way to continue contributing.

Thanks.

Your work has been immensely valuable to me and Lord knows how many others over these past few years. If there were a Pulitzer in the the category of Humane Rationality you'd win it going away. The ability to think clearly, even in the midst of outrage, and turn that thinking into measured, civil, and unassailable prose is one of the rarest of gifts. If this had been literally an 'all hands on deck' moment, you'd be a Rear Admiral by now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good luck to you in whatever you choose to do next. But, please come back and visit on occasion.

About a year and a half ago, one of my favorite bloggers posted her last, citing need to get the book done as one of the "reasons why."

I had my own to get done, so I understood; I've kept her inactive blogs in my bookmarks, however, hoping that she'll reappear.

I'll keep an eye peeled for your reappearance as I do for hers. You say that the madness has subsided, but I think it's just in hiding for a while and your voice and hard head will be needed sooner than you think.

Happy trails!

Thank you, Hilzoy, for your willingness to share your thoughts and ideas. Good luck in future endeavors.

Be safe and be well.

Enjoy life without computers for a while and know that we'll still be looking for your comments during your absence - if only out of habit.

We all felt and feel as you do about the insanity, and share in your hope that the country has finally turned a corner towards greater mental health and recognition of what used to be common sense.

Have fun!!!

Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird? Not nearly as evocative as Corythaixoides personatus!

My Best Bird Name Ever is still the pallid wren-tit.

Hilzoy, all the best wishes for you!

Please continue to speak out against insane politics, anytime it appears to be winning. We’ve got one party in our two-party system devoted to insanity and the majority party often remains spooked by it. We all need to speak out against political insanity -- thanks for your example of intelligence, respect for your audience and class.

Boy will I miss you. Thanks so much for everything you've written over the years, exemplified by your intelligence, your wit, your tone, your overall decency.

Although your "excuse" for leaving is kind of lame. I assure you the country is still insane. It's just that the people running it are slightly less so.

Best of luck ...

Thanks for all your work. I have really appreciated your commentary, on a wide variety of subjects. Your tone has been grounded, informed and generous. It seems to me that your willingness to walk away, not in a huff but because of your own priorities, has always been implicit in the deep attitude that made me admire your work -- a sense of balance and modest authority, appropriate self-confidence and basic moral intelligence. I always had the sense when you wrote that you had something notable to say, rather than mere space to fill or an opportunity for grandstanding. I am reminded of the old saying that anyone who wants to be President should be disqualified, a paradox that applies equally to those who want to be columnists in perpetuity. Have a great vacation, take as long as you want, but I hope that in some form, at some time, your commentary will be heard again.

Have fun seeing the gorillas in the mist. That sounds like a great trip. Thank you for all the information that I have learned from you. My daily newsgathering will suffer without your input.

Hilzoy must not retire.

This would be wrong.

I'll be sorry to see you go. Thanks for all the great work over the years.

I can't say how much I will miss your philosophical posts. Your posts always made me think - or think differently - and for that, I always valued your posts highly.

Enjoy Rwanda. I read "I wish to inform you..." some years ago and it was riveting. As for the Go Away bird, when I first saw that on the teevee 30 years ago, I thought it was the single coolest piece of nature ever. I still do. (I wish I had one to guide my life! :-) )

I will miss you terribly. And I wish you the best in everything.

Bummer. I'd only just really started getting into reading your stuff.

I'm sorry to see you go--I've been grateful for thoughtfulness, meditativeness, deliberateness, and plain good writing. Also. It's good to have a trained philosophy person out there in the public sphere who's not simply defending Plato or advocating veiled neo-Straussianism. I hope the new space is sustaining for you, and, as the other commenters have said, what will other bloggers do without you to say it best almost every time?

Well OKAY if that is what you want but let me disagree and say...noooooo parts of the US are STILL insane! Have you been listening to the SC hearings????? That being said have a great trip and altho you have given up 'regular' blogging we do indeed expect you to regularly, insightfully and knowledgeably COMMENT! Be safe, have fun and we'll be WAITING!!!

You've been terrific. Happy trails forever. Wear a hat.
Love ya.

Sorry you're leaving, and so soon after I noticed how much I had come to admire your work. It's a gradual thing, you see. I zip through vast numbers of blogs, and over time slow down to read a few of them with real attention. And then you leave. Who was that masked blogger (and ornithologist)?

In Rwanda, try to visit Shyira hospital if you want to see a profoundly inspiring example of recovery.

Oh, please don't go! We love you so!

(rolls eyes) (gnashes teeth) (shows claws)

Did that work? I was afraid not. What if I said I feared you might be wrong about the crazy? Because I do. It may not think it has the strength of numbers any more, but it's still there.

In any case, I hope you'll be back someday, come what may.

Living on the West Coast, and checking in here late in the morning always means that one's thoughts have already been expressed (usually better) by someone else, or if not, then the comments will be lost at the tag end of hundreds of other similar sentiments. This time, though, I'm going to add mine anyway:

Hilzoy, you have my best wishes for whatever you decide to fill you time with in the future. You have my thanks for your wise insights and always sensible perspective on such a wide range of topics. All honor and respect, and may you have a wonderful time in Africa.
. . . jim strain in san diego.

hilzoy, I have read your posts even when they were on topics I wasn't interested in. And by the time I'd get to the end of your post, I'd BE interested. And much better informed.

If your posts are ever collected into a book, or if you write a book in the regular fashion, I hope you will note that here. Enjoy Rwanda!

Hilzoy,

You have inspired me to also retire from blogging.

Wait, what? I don't have a blog? I guess that makes it easy for me then.

On a more serious and sincere note, thanks, and see you around. Safe travels.

-Q

Just adding to those that wish you well and have benefitted immensely from what you've written. I am sure there is easy burnout, but while we have had a temporary lapse of sanity, I don't think we are over ourselves yet. Your voice will be missed.

Ditto to what everybody else said, especially the "You'll be back!" part. But have a great trip, and thanks for all the literary goodness.

Hilzoy, you'll be missed. Vaya con Dios!

Ditto to all the above. WM still has Steve and will still be my favorite blog, but I will greatly miss your contributions. Allow me to hope this turn out merely to be an extended vacation.

Here's wishing you the best in whatever you decide to take on next. I've thoroughly enjoyed your work and will miss your insights.

As to whether the insanity has subsided, I'd have to disagree. In some ways it's become institutionalized and is now so woven into American culture that we've become desensitized if not resigned to it. After the last eight years, some of us are exhausted, others find that it's just not healthy to keep immersing ourselves in the craziness that never ends.

Whatever your reasons, know that if you decide to come back, there'll be a lot of folks interested in reading whatever you're driven to write about.

All the best.

So much penetrating thought and clear writing is hard work--your Rwanda vacation is well earned. I hope you'll return refreshed.

For purely selfish reasons, I hope you'll return with a renewed appetite for blogging. If not, I will be one of the multitude who will miss your posts.

Best of luck to you Hilzoy. While I didn't always agree with what you were saying I always admired the clear and reasoned arguments that you posted and how you zeroed in on what was at the heart of various issues. Me, I got the hell outta Dodge--you stepped up and tried to make a difference.

Well, good luck with everything, Hilz, but this is a big loss -- you're one of the very best.

Please don't go Hilzoy!

Hilzoy,

You've inspired me to de-lurk and say thank you. You will be sorely missed.

Awwwww...

I will miss your clear blogging voice and your attention to issues that others don't address. I'll also miss seeing evening & weekend posts, since the rest of this blog seems to shut down at the end of each East Coast workday. I've always wondered how you find the time & energy to blog so thoughtfully after a full day at a real job. I imagine your recent outing on this site was also a contributing factor to your leaving.

Thanks for everything. I'm sad you're leaving, but I understand the desire for change well.

I do wish you could do us all a favor, before you go: point us in the direction of maybe five of your favorite bloggers. The internet has more excellent voices than we can ever possibly have time to read. The best thing you could do for your readership, and for blogging, is to help new voices fill the large gap that you will leave behind.

"We Wish To Inform You..." is one of my absolute favorite books, and while I've never been to Rwanda (its on my list), I'd imagine going there after reading the book makes the country seem that much more miraculous and spectacular.

That said, I followed your writings long before you joined the Washington Monthly, and have always appreciated your insight. Best of luck to you.

Hilzoy, I will miss your analysis, insights and scholarly indignation. You've been one of the best! Thank you.

Hilzoy,

I have really enjoyed your thoughtful yet passionate posts. Thank you for your service towards sanity in our country.

Bill D.

take this one
with you then
cheers
est

first there is the thought
or first there is the wind
second is the sound of words
on which these hopes are pinned
third there is reflection
like the moon upon the sea
fourth there's realization
that all this speaks to me
a whisper in my ear
a little light ahead
there is nothing i can't endure
i'm sure that's what's been said

You are a wonderful thinker and writer, I will miss your insights and your heart.
Hope you re-surface somewhere on the Internet, your voice needs to be heard.

Thanks,

Bruce

The country as a whole is crazy, all right? So stop with this foolishness!

You have become one of my favorite bloggers, and I look to you for insight where I look to others for news bits and cleverness. I put you in the class with Digby -- not because she's a woman, but because of the sense of justice and the ability of analyze things and write persuasively.

You'll be back.

You'd better be!

Thank you for your insights, passion, and compassion. Travel mercies on your trip. Safe and joyous journey in the years ahead.

Our world view is in the midst of a change that will really begin to click in beginning in mid 2010. We'll change from the materialism of today, but embrace an emotionalism that has both good and bad elements --- often very bad elements. I started writing my book (excerpt at predictinghistory.com) for the same reasons as you --- something had to be done. I've learned a lot about patterns in history. This may be a good time to take a breath. But I think you're going to be needed....