I've deliberated and hemmed and hawed for some time now, but my final answer is firm: I will not post a link to the Instapundit. This decision is not an easy one, and it comes with much sorrow and grief on my part. In the end, though, I feel that the Instapundit does not need a link from me, thus I cannot pretend that he does. No, the Instapundit is doing quite fine on his own, so unless he has too many typos one day and loses 10 or 20 thousand hits because of it, I'm not going to extend my linking hand to him.

Don't get me wrong: I find the Instapundit's site quite enjoyable and profound. I feel the Instapundit has a firm grasp on punditry and the instancy of punditry. (Yes, I realized I may have just made up a word there, and if that's the case, so be it. I think the world is ready for "instancy." Just think of all the mileage Scrabble and crossword puzzle players will get out of it.) The Instapundit has his undoubtedly well-groomed and supple hand on the pulse of the internet like no other instant pundit of instancy ever has. I admire the Instapundit's sense of humor and the way he breaks down an issue with a simple sentence or a large multi-paragraph quote from another source or a link to some other well-trafficked white man's website. I also find his love of techno music enlightening, even though I am certain that I will never be able to take that genre of music seriously. And one can't but be bowled over by his uncompromising support of puppy shows. The Instapundit loves his puppies. More power to him. And to his puppies.

But, alas, I cannot link to the Instapundit. However much I'd like to help out a brother blogger with a dream, I cannot help this fellow blogger out with his dream-having, no matter how pleasant and instapunditing his dream may be.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: I thought the joke here was that C Monks would say that he wasn't going to link to the Instapundit, but everytime he mentioned the Instapundit he'd hyperlink to the Instapundit. But no, although I love to joke and be ironic and silly and run through fields honking a clown horn, or no, better yet, riding a Shetland pony through fields honking a clown horn...hmm, that still doesn't quite do it for me...how about riding a Shetland pony through fields wearing happy, sad clown make-up and playing the trombone? No. That's too much. I'd never do that. I like the Shetland pony part, that has to stay. I've always been fascinated by smaller versions of bigger animals. You can't go wrong with clown references either. Perhaps the "happy/sad" clown thing is overused, though. But the "evil clown" thing is too, so I can't use that either. I've never wanted to be an evil clown anyway. Who does? Okay, maybe Paul Wolfowitz, but that guy is so far off his rocker it sort of makes sense that he'd want to be an evil clown. Plus he barely needs any make-up. Ah, well, it doesn't really matter, you get the idea: I won't be linking to the Instapundit.

This post is dedicated to all the aunts and uncles in da house.