Greetings from the eastern command post of Pajamas Media! (A.K.A. the W Hotel in Manhattan, which has a man on staff who changes the incense sticks in the elevator--no, really--but whose shaky Wi-Fi network seems to run, intermittently at best, on rubberbands and fairy dust.)

Shared an exceptional Tanqueray Gibson in the bar last night with Roger L. Simon and Tim Blair, the latter of whom I had never met in person before.

And I'll see both of them--if not sooner--tomorrow at the launch; of which Andrew Leigh of National Review Online writes:

Johnson and Simon insist that ideology will not play a role in their quest to locate the best blog posts. Both are former liberal Democrats who turned to the right after 9/11. They've made a deliberate effort to include all angles on their board of editors. For example, "you've got David Corn on one side, and Michael Barone on the other," Simon said. "And in the middle Tammy Bruce."

Other editorial board members include Tim Blair (Australia), Jose Guardia (Barcepundit in Spain), and NRO contributors Michael Ledeen, Cliff May, and John Podhoretz.

Simon and Johnson loathe ideological labels. In their view the Internet is creating, in Simon's words, "hybrid political thinking" — people who may be social liberals and foreign policy hawks, for instance, or liberal economically but conservative socially.

"This whole left-right thing kind of sprung out of the French Revolution," Johnson said. "And I don't want to define myself by the French."

Pajamas Media is already edging away from their humble origins a little bit. They plan to change their name to something more respectable. What is it? They're not telling. They plan a kick-off party in New York City on November 16, when they will reveal their new company name, as well as other details of the venture.

Isn't this all a little pie-in-the-sky, however? Who could imagine supplanting the venerable Associated Press wire service, for instance?

"We'd be foolish not to try," Simon replied, grinning toward Johnson. "You're sitting four feet away from the guy who ended Dan Rather's career."