First Bill O'Reilly. Now Matt Drudge.

I remember briefly meeting Matt Drudge at an AOL conference while I was doing some work for them.

He was a nobody. He was publishing rumors on AOL and was starting to move them onto the web. He'd get some gossip from his impressive network of friends, quickly write it up, and publish it online. Sometimes he'd do little short editorials. He frankly wasn't doing anything much different than I was doing at the time, only I was moderating bulletin boards and publishing tech support articles rather than political gossip.

But give him credit: he wanted his stuff on the internet, and was in the first wave of AOL sysops to do it. As a result, the man could be considered the first financially successful weblogger.

Now let me be clear: a lot of Drudge's critics are and were just jealous. A lot just don't like him because he said bad things about their favorite politician(s). Me? I'm not jealous. Envious, a little, sure. I'd like to make money doing what I do here. But I do not believe for a second that his success translates into my loss. Anyone who can make a living at this, I say go for it man.

Only he's afraid to be called a weblogger. Apparently, he thinks that's beneath him.

Let me tell you something, Matt Drudge: a weblogger is all you ever were, and it's all you ever will be. You were in the right place at the right time with the right idea, and you were pretty good. Yes, you pre-date the current lingo, but you're still one of us, and always will be.

Keep making money, man. Just remember where you come from, okay?

(Someone ought to say the same thing to Andrew Sullivan, who also seems to think he's above the rest of us. I don't begrudge him the money at all, but the attitude really sucks, man.)