Why Do Liberals Hate Ann Althouse?
Of the bloggers (and blogresses) I try to read on a regular basis, Ann Althouse is probably the one with whom I disagree the most on matters political. She voted for Obama, leans left on a number of issues, regularly criticizes conservatives; she repeatedly ridiculed John McCain. And yet it’s those on the left who are most eager to vilify her, the latest being blogger Ezra Klein.
On Saturday, I wanted to make sure to check her blog largely because she’s visiting my home town and posting pictures from the city Winston Churchill dubbed “the most beautiful city inland in the Union.” She offered a photo of my favorite flavor of ice cream from the best ice cream place on the planet. As well as images of the most delicious chili concoctions ever created by the mind of man.
She posed for a picture at the very statue where my grandmother gave me my very fist lesson on mythology in my favorite urban park in the nation.
Amidst all these happy images, she also alluded to her run-in with Ezra Klein, a blogger quite unhappy that this blogress diva doesn’t censor her comments and lets some pretty hateful ones stand. As she explains:
Well, Ezra, I do not delete comments based on viewpoint. I believe in the marketplace of ideas, and to the extent that there are some anti-Semitic comments here, there are many more comments that strike back. Is it not better to have scurrilous ideas out in the sunlight where they can die?
Now you know what we call her a diva. She doesn’t mince words and is unafraid of criticism and nut jobs. (Memo to self: remember Ann’s words next time you find a hateful comment in the spam filter; expose it to sunlight so it can more readily be killed.)
Blogger William Jacobson wonders if there’s method to Klein’s madness:
This is how the left does it. When you can’t find racist/sexist/anti-Semitic/homophobic comments by a conservative, you impugn their reputation by finding some lunatic in a crowd (or in blog comments) who did make such a comment.
. . . .
Now Klein plays the “anti-Semite” card against Althouse by using anonymous blog comments against her. Who placed the anti-Semitic blog comments? Was it Klein himself acting under a pseudonym? I have no evidence of that, but how about if I ran a post titled “Did Ezra Klein post anti-Semitic comments to set up Ann Althouse?”
Klein, who is internet savvy, knew what his headline would do. Do a search for Ann Althouse on Google now, and you turn up blog posts concerning the anti-semitism. Forget her scholarship, teaching, popular blog. No, Klein has succeeded in making the discussion about Althouse about anti-semitism.
The thing I don’t get about this hatred of Althouse is that she is kind of like the South Park of blogging. She’s witty, directing her snark at pretty much anything she finds amusing*. Is is that leftists in the blogosphere today are so humorless so self-righteous that they can’t abide the least bit of mockery, criticism or a combination of both?
Or, maybe it’s since they don’t have George W. Bush to kick around any more, they’ve decided to start going after prominent blogresses?
Perhaps it’s something else. Maybe Klein has a case of ADS (Althouse Derangement Syndrome), a syndrome afflicting partisans who can’t understand how a blogress can gain a following without subscribing to any ideology.
UPDATE: Ann Althouse linked this post on her blog and in the comments, one of her readers (who happens to be a an old friend of mine) offered a pretty good assessment of why left-wing bloggers labels Althouse a conservative even though she doesn’t subscribe to any particular ideology:
Apparently, liberals define these terms rather the way the New Yorker magazine used to mock New Yorkers in their mapping of North America: whatever’s not us is alien territory. Thus, whoever doesn’t march in lockstep with liberal pieties, is “conservative” or, grudgingly, a “moderate conservative.”
I think that pretty much nails it. Whoever doesn’t march in lockstep with them is by definition a conservative.
——-
*Regardless of political affiliation.
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Don’t lump me in with Klein- he’s a nutjob. Both sides have them. The antiSemitic comments probably weren’t from him. Some people will post those sorts of comments on a post totally unrelated to Jews or anything Jewish.
Some people are crazy.
As for the comments- I’ll let pretty much anything stand on my blog, but I will moderate out the lovely “The bible says to kill gays, so let’s get it to it!” comments I get about once a week. Yeah, that can just die a dark death as far as I’m concerned.
Comment by Personal Failure — March 22, 2009 @ 8:27 am - March 22, 2009
I lived in Cincinnati for a couple years…during the riots and aftermath. It was lovely.
Comment by Mark — March 22, 2009 @ 9:35 am - March 22, 2009
Althouse is hard to pin down ideologically, but isn’t she close to where Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) is? It came as a surprise to me when she voted for the Dear Teleprompter. I can’t find her “I’m voting Obama” post at the moment, but I remember she kept her skepticism about him. Therefore, she would keep her skepticism about him, now, or be one of the first to jump ship as his administration tanks. Therefore, (from the point of view of the Left, and using a Star Wars ‘Emperor’ voice ) she… must… be… DESTROYED!
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — March 22, 2009 @ 10:36 am - March 22, 2009
Gay, Schmay. Questionable importance in Great Scheme of Life.
Let’s talk about your–and, apparently, Althouse’s–unnatural attraction to Cincinnati style (sic) chili.
Chili mixed with spaghetti? Bad, bad business.
Comment by --G. — March 22, 2009 @ 11:26 am - March 22, 2009
Hey, –G, have you tried a five-way (it’s chili concoction), really quite tasty. Worth the heartburn that sometimes follows.
Comment by GayPatriotWest — March 22, 2009 @ 12:16 pm - March 22, 2009
i just think the left side of the blogosphere is basically populated by young passionate immature people. Their politics pretty much define who they are so when you challenge them they take it personally and attack you personally. They want to douse you with gasoline and set you on fire.
Sure there are nuts on the right but we skew older and our politics don’t define who we are in the same way. I find Althouse’s blog to be fun. Love to read it. Love her perspective. And its not all about politics.
Comment by joewwxman — March 22, 2009 @ 12:30 pm - March 22, 2009
I was just gonna ask… what the hell is cincinnati Chili? I dont see any chili, except a couple stray beans, about a half a pound of cheddar cheese and some noodles sticking out. Someone wanna explain?
Reminds me of, This is Why You’re Fat. (Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. While some of the stuff there looks truly repulsive, some of it actually looks pretty good.)
Comment by American Elephant — March 22, 2009 @ 12:36 pm - March 22, 2009
I love how this conversation is about Cincinnati chili — arguably the best thing on the planet.
I recommend a coney.
Comment by QueerCincinnati — March 22, 2009 @ 1:35 pm - March 22, 2009
The problem is that the Obama Party’s philosophy is something straight out of high school; we will allow you to hang with us as long as you do exactly what we say and never criticize anything, and if you don’t, you are subhuman and deserve to be destroyed.
You see this in everything. The Obama Party viciously attacks and hangs in effigy women who don’t support Obama. The Obama Party calls “Uncle Toms” and “house negroes” those black people who don’t support Obama. The Obama Party calls “self-loathing” and “mentally ill” those gays who don’t support Obama. Why? Because, given examples like Andrew Sullivan, they know it works; if they can brutalize a minority member hard enough, the vast majority of them come crawling back, and it serves as a warning to the others who might be considering independent thought what the consequences of disobeying or questioning the Obama Party are.
Comment by North Dallas Thirty — March 22, 2009 @ 2:28 pm - March 22, 2009
Hey #3
I guess you don;t read her. She announced her [preference early and later admitted following thru with it. She is left og Reynolds, who btw is not considered a conservative by many of them because of his stance on social issues.
Near as I can tell, the left hates any diversion from doctrine. Don’t matter whether its abortion, size of government, gay marriage, or gun ownership. You don’t get to disagree. It’s been that way for years.
KPM
Comment by Kevin — March 22, 2009 @ 2:58 pm - March 22, 2009
Is is that leftists in the blogosphere today are so humorless so self-righteous that they can’t abide the least bit of mockery, criticism or a combination of both?
This is a rhetorical question, right?
Comment by Robbie — March 22, 2009 @ 4:38 pm - March 22, 2009
Spot on NDT
Comment by American Elephant — March 22, 2009 @ 5:09 pm - March 22, 2009
Didn’t know you were from Cincy, GayP. I grew up here, left at age 18, came back age 60….Cincinnati chili is not spicy hot, it is ground beef spiced with a lot of cinnamon and coriander, kind of a sweet taste. not my favorite, I prefer southwest. I was fortunate enough to have dinner with Althouse when she was in town, a very gracious and funny person.
the most accurate way to think about extreme lefties is to realize that for them, politics is their substitute for religion. those with different views are not wrong, they are heretics to be suppressed.
Comment by John Cunningham — March 22, 2009 @ 6:25 pm - March 22, 2009
Five-way — a complicated sexual experience, by any definition — is *no* way to experience chili.
I think traditional Cincy five-way is chili on top of spaghetti, topped in turn with beans, onions and cheese.
Spaghetti is pasta, and chili is chili, and never the two should meet.
I’m a bowl-of-red kind of guy.
–G.
Comment by --G. — March 22, 2009 @ 6:45 pm - March 22, 2009
well the real cincinnati experience is to get 5 way chili to go………
Comment by Mark — March 22, 2009 @ 7:37 pm - March 22, 2009
To any yankee with the palate that finds Creme of Wheat tasty and has never been to Texas for real chili or smoked brisket.
Clearly Churchill never made it to the South and visited Vacherie, Vicksburg, Natchez, Charleston, Savannah, Brevard etc.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 22, 2009 @ 7:48 pm - March 22, 2009
The most beautiful thing about Cinci is the “Welcome to Kentucky” sign.
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 22, 2009 @ 7:50 pm - March 22, 2009
Does Cincinnati have a historical district?I drive by every summer and often wonder – the old row houses look so charming from a distance. I love Althouse by the way, and I voted for McCain. I love her honesty -
Comment by Jane — March 22, 2009 @ 8:41 pm - March 22, 2009
Like so many above, I love Althouse too. What a rare pleasure to find a site where a party line isn’t enforced, yet there’s a sense of overall intelligent direction.
It’s especially refreshing if you’re gay, because most gay sites expect and ruthlessly enforce complete allegiance to the full agenda of Nancy Pelosi.
Comment by TexDef07 — March 22, 2009 @ 8:56 pm - March 22, 2009
Ann Althouse is a slightly dim, very lonely feces-flinger who doesn’t know what she’s talking about approximately 75 percent of the time. The rest of the time, she’s trolling for Insta-links by typing up willfully provocative crap like calling liberal bloggers racists for comparing Bobby Jindal to a white TV actor. Seriously. All of this appears to be done while half-drunk. People despise her because she engages almost entirely in bad-faith argumentation.
Oh, and she frequently — very frequently — deletes comments she deems offensive. Just not in this case, curiously.
Comment by D — March 22, 2009 @ 9:19 pm - March 22, 2009
I have to agree with Kevin @#10 about AA. The professor professed neutrality during the presidential campaign, but that was just her shtick. When it came time to vote, she tanked for BHO—as if that came as a surprise to many of her readers. Typical liberal university faculty bias won out. I wonder if she grades her students the same way she evaluates her choice for President. Not much law is discussed on her blog, so it’s hard to judge her legal scholarship, but I’d be surprised if it matches the standards of those who post on The Volokh Conspiracy. Her photos are appealing; she has an eye for form and color. Maybe she’s better at art than at law.
Comment by Chili Relleno — March 23, 2009 @ 4:05 am - March 23, 2009
Jane, Cincinnati IS a historical district.
Great chili here that has to be tried to dispel the adversity it sometimes recieves from “out-of-towners”.
Seriously, try Over The Rhine, College Hill, or Covington’s Main Strasse for history…
Comment by Evil Monk — March 23, 2009 @ 4:52 am - March 23, 2009
Sources please, D?
Comment by The Livewire — March 23, 2009 @ 10:16 am - March 23, 2009
#16 – TGC, when it comes to BBQ brisket, don’t forget Hempstead, Schulenberg, Luling, Elgin and Lockhart, Texas.
Now THAT is good eatin’!
Anything north of Austin just doesn’t compare in my opinion.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — March 23, 2009 @ 11:22 am - March 23, 2009
Dan: “Why do liberals hate Ann Althouse?”
A better question to ask is why liberals hate America so much.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — March 23, 2009 @ 11:31 am - March 23, 2009
Anyone in the blogosphere must have heard by now that Ann Althouse just got engaged to a commenter of hers from Cincinnati.
I love this story, a very independent minded woman connects with one of her regular commenters and love ensues!
I have always respected her for her open mind, don’t always agree with her, but that makes her fun to read. She is a classical liberal, and she thinks all her positions through. I’d love to sit and have a glass of wine or coffee with her.
Comment by Leah — March 23, 2009 @ 12:34 pm - March 23, 2009
Wow D. Not bitter… Much.
I assume you are one of the “victims” of the Althousian comment purges. I’ve been a long time reader, and I can say that she only deletes the trolls with no sense of humor, and or truly vile comments that pop up from time to time.
Why do I like Althouse? She once blogged about liberal a woman who loved Bill Clinton who showed her boobies through a tight revealing t-shirt, which evolved into a two year long blarguement between Althouse and the
skankfeminist in question! That blarguement was one of the reasons I ended up loving the blog. Plus, I love blogs by lawyers. They’re smarter and better written than the average.Comment by Sonicfrog — March 23, 2009 @ 12:56 pm - March 23, 2009
Leah, maybe that engagement’s what got ol’ Ezra riled up . . .
Comment by GayPatriotWest — March 23, 2009 @ 1:10 pm - March 23, 2009
You answered your own question with your headline. They’re “liberals”. Hate is their hobby.
Comment by Attmay — March 23, 2009 @ 2:40 pm - March 23, 2009
#24 – Sir, I may have to have friends call to arrange a discussion at dusk. Those are fighting words.
There is great BBQ in Midland, Big Spring, Abilene, Sanger, Longview, Ben Wheeler, and Bowie – all north of that pit of liberalism, despair, and relocated Californians you mention. We’re thinking of building a fence around it. The best commerical chicken fried state in the State may be in Bowie – the absolute best is in Mama B’s ranch house out in East Texas or down on the Deer Texas Ranch near the border. I’ll have to try seconds to be sure…
As to chili, beans do not belong it. That is a Yankee thing. The best chili I found was in Lubbock. Meat and a bright red sauce that never saw a tomato…
KPM
Comment by Kevin — March 23, 2009 @ 2:43 pm - March 23, 2009
There’s nothing as decadent as eating Cincinnati chili out of nice bowl from Rookwood Pottery.
Comment by Michigan-Matt — March 24, 2009 @ 12:28 pm - March 24, 2009
[...] the whole thing. Maybe it’s Althouse’s direct manner which so offends those on the left. And they, like Barney, are so easily [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » Ann Althouse takes Barney Frank to the woodshed — March 25, 2009 @ 1:00 pm - March 25, 2009