Ezra wrote a post criticizing Kaine's selection as response-giver, and said some unflattering things about Kaine's appearance. Ms. Vanden Heuval responds by saying Ezra was "no Brad Pitt, last time I checked him out."

Ezra Klein is about 23 years old. He is, except for the TL kid, about the most handsome, well-mannered young man I know. (You can check Ezra out here, he's in the front in the blue shirt, next to Atrios, who's next to me.) Sorry, Katrina, but he's plenty hot for his age.

Not to mention, Ezra is bright the way Matt Yglesias is bright -- these kids can romp from medicare to politics to foreign policy to economics to science and back again without missing a beat. I spent days with them and others their age at the Democratic convention in Boston in 2004 and I was just awed by their talent. They are the future. We are lucky to have them on our side.

Plus, Ms. Vanden Heuval is doing the liberal blogosphere a disservice. She's causing division among the ranks. Someone needs to tell her the enemy is not in here, it is outside the room.

Many, including me, expressed disappointment of the Democrats' selection of Virginia Governor Tim Kaine to present the rebuttal to the State of the Union address. But none of us made a huge deal over it. We noted our disappointment and moved on. Why is Ms. Vanden Heuval making such an issue over Ezra's singular post now? Even Gov. Kaine recognizes his homeliness.

Kaine addressed his appearance in a USA TODAY interview last fall. "I start with looks that appeal to the homely," he said. His press aide grew agitated, but Kaine reassured him: "Homely polls well."

Ezra's 23. Ms. Vanden Heuval is a generation older and the editor of a terrific, liberal national publication that is among the best out there. The Nation should be recruiting talented writers and thinkers like Ezra, not alienating them and their younger readers.

If, as Ms. Vanden Heuval writes, it doesn't matter who presents the Democrats' response to SOTU any more than it matters what color outfit Rep. Pelosi wears to listen to his speech, then her piece was just divisive. All liberals are not cut from the same cloth. All Democrats don't see eye-to-eye on every issue. They don't need to. Positions on issues aren't the litmus test. Democratic values are. Given the trouble the party has had in conveying those values to the public, both the choice of Tim Kaine and Ms. Vanden Heuval's critial article about Ezra and the liberal blogosphere just cause dissension when both she and the Democrats should be rallying the faithful.

Update: Ezra answers Ms. Vanden Heuval here.

Update: Digby says Katrina needs glasses. Shakespeare's sister says Katrina took a cheap shot.