Mickey Kaus writes, “Kausfiles has obtained a copy of one JournoList discussion, focusing on New Republic editor-in-chief Martin Peretz (for whom I once worked.) This is not a parody! It’s the real thing.”

Here’s Kaus’s set-up:

Michael Calderone’s article on the large, secretive liberal media email group JournoList sparked a lot of debate–some of it in this space–on whether this group is a healthy development for coverage of politics. The debate was necessarily speculative because actual JournoList discussions remained secret. But with more than 300 members of this club, virtually all of them with easy access to the media, did you really think a JournoList thread wouldn’t leak? People are rightly interested in learning what goes on behind the scenes at powerful institutions–or wannabe powerful institutions–whose power derives precisely from their decision to exclude the public.

Kausfiles has obtained a copy of one JournoList discussion, focusing on New Republic editor-in-chief Martin Peretz (for whom I once worked.) This is not a parody! It’s the real thing. I don’t know whether or not it is representative. I’ve edited it only to remove potentially defamatory passages–those cuts are marked–and left out various boilerplate links and commands embedded in the thread, such as “Print” and “Report this message.” … I won’t add my own commentary, at least for now. Find your own lede! … Reminder to JournoList organizer E. Klein, who likes to take it private: All communications are on the record. …

Don’t miss the rest, here.

(H/T: AP.)

Update: Item number three on this list by Moe Lane is a given. (Found via Glenn Reynolds; further thoughts from Ace, who writes, “Like many secret societies, [JournoList is] really retarded and gay once you get a glimpse behind the black curtains.”

More: Red State squares the circle and with a single Photoshop, ties this post and our previous item together. And Mark Hemingway adds:

So in reading the leaked discussion thread from the JournoList it seems that more than a few members of The New Republic staff are on the secretive email list — with a bunch of self-declared TNR-haters — that frequently discuss TNR and the work of its editor.

TNR Senior Editor Jonathan Chait actually acquits himself very well, but I do wonder about some things. Namely, how as a center-left magazine does this list and the peer pressure it obviously exerts have an effect on what TNR writers produce? Just by virtue of participating in the list, it sure looks as if TNR writers are subject to a steady stream of private abuse from people whose approval they seek.