Don't Mention the Personal When You Are Political

I bet it is a real temptation for writers (especailly ones that get paid to pump out those words) to write about their personal lives in order to fill space. This isn't so bad when you are a humorist or have a lame column for the "lifestyles" (or as it use to be called, "Women's") section of the newspaper, but when you are a pundit, it is a really good idea not to give into that temptation. Your partisan foes will jump all over you and make you seem like a child abuser/stepford wife, I'm not joking. Just look when TBogg has done to Meghan Cox Gurdon from the National Review in this post, where he accuses Mrs. Gurdon of being an inattentive mother and a prescription drug abuser and speculates that her husband is having an affair, her daughter secretly has incestous desires and her son will grow up to be a homosexual with a foot fetish.