Hot Air (news site)
Encyclopedia
Hot Air is a U.S.
website
providing news and commentary from a fiscally conservative and socially centrist point of view. It is written by Ed Morrissey
, Tina Korbe and the pseudonymous Allahpundit and Jazz Shaw.
Hot Air was founded by Michelle Malkin
, a conservative author and blogger, in 2006. Although Malkin served as the publisher and CEO of Hot Air, she exercised little editorial control over the site's various commentators. Morrissey, a Roman Catholic, is the more socially conservative (though gay-friendly) of the two current bloggers, whereas Allahpundit is more libertarian
and an atheist. Hot Air also carries posts from a selection of conservative and libertarian blog
gers in its "Green Room." In February 2010, Salem Communications
purchased Hot Air.
When founding Hot Air, Malkin stated an intention to provide "content and analysis you can't get anywhere else on a daily basis–both on the blog and in our original video features." The site's first two regular contributors were Bryan Preston and Allahpundit. Allahpundit (whose real identity remains unknown) had guest-blogged for Malkin on her signature site in the spring of 2006. Preston would eventually leave to pursue other internet reporting opportunities. When Preston departed, Malkin recruited Ed Morrissey as AllahP's co-blogger. At that time Morrissey was a full-time, profit-making blogger at Captain's Quarters, which he folded in order to join the Hot Air team (though its archives are still available). Morrissey maintains the podcast that started at his original website ("The Ed Morrissey Show"). This is promoted at and embedded on the Hot Air website.
In 2008, Hot Air added a separate site-within-the site called "The Green Room," inviting select professional and free-lance bloggers to contribute their posts. The Green Room provides bloggers with an opportunity to have their work distributed to the Hot Air audience. Green Room posts are often "promoted" to Hot Air's main page, in a fashion similar to that of other major political news/commentary sites such as the Daily Kos
and RedState
.
of Allah
, using similar language to that of terrorist organizations but assuming the viewpoint of the God such organizations follow. (The author distinguished between the viewpoint being satirized and that of mainstream Muslims, and provided a disclaimer to the effect that his moniker was not, in fact, "anti-Muslim," as casual visitors sometimes assumed.) The blog specialized in written and Photoshop-based political satire. After a hiatus in May 2004, the blog reemerged, continuing its satiric nature while largely abandoning the "Allah voice." After October 2004 the blog was updated more sporadicallly, and the web address allahpundit.com was eventually abandoned. After occasional entries at allahakbar.blogspot.com, AllahPundit shut down his individual blogging operations altogether.
In September 2004, Allahpundit was a key player in debunking the Killian documents
hoax. Mary Mapes
, producer of 60 Minutes
, blamed Allahpundit and others for "working anonymously in what appeared to be huge numbers, in unison, to destroy the Bush-Guard story." Largely due to this controversy, the website was among the Top Blogs Cited in Political Postings for the United States presidential election, 2004
.
The text of posts from AllahP's old Allah Is in the House blog are archived at the Internet Archive
, although the image files that include AllahP's Photoshopped pictures are not. AllahPundit has stated that he is unlikely to do PhotoShops in the future, due to his grueling writing/posting schedule.
He may be best known for helping expose the Canadian "Adscam"
scandal in 2005. When Canadians were barred from reporting on the Gomery commission
's hearings, Morrissey published detailed reports on his blog, which became a key source of information about "Adscam" for Canadians. This episode imparted some bipartisan "street cred" to Morrissey within the libertarian community in the U.S. and in Canada, and elevated his profile.
, such as once telling a critical commenter "Your children will be atheists", as well as for his frequent criticisms of former Governor Sarah Palin
and some "hard-right" figures. Allahpundit is also known for his frequent posts on pop culture, including various viral videos and internet memes, and his self-deprecating humor (he often refers to himself, for example, as a "beta male"). Daily Show host Jon Stewart
has cited Allahpundit as one of several bloggers he reads for his show-prep. The fact that Allahpundit's appearance and geographical location is unknown to the public is often used as an in-joke
, with website commentators offering deliberately farcical and imaginative explanations. During the Michelle Malkin era, Malkin received significant pushback for keeping "AllahPundit" on her payroll, particularly from the more socially conservative readers at Hot Air.
Michelle Malkin posted infrequently on Hot Air during the time she owned the site, but she was occasionally referenced there as "the Boss" (now "Boss Emeritus"). Both AllahPundit and Morrissey publicly disagreed with Malkin's take on the affairs of the day in Hot Air posts, and each has political positions that are significantly different from hers. The team also appears to be fairly independent of the socially conservative Salem Communications, as a spate of gay-friendly posts — and endorsement by Morrissey of the group GOProud
— seems to attest. Editorial cartoonist Sarjex of the GayPatriot blog has satirized the controversy by drawing a LGBT version of HotAir,
using bright pink colors and cheesecake images of conservative icon Marco Rubio
.
's Top 100 list." By 2010, The Truth Laid Bear's more blog-specific ranking system listed Hot Air among the top 10 blogs.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
providing news and commentary from a fiscally conservative and socially centrist point of view. It is written by Ed Morrissey
Ed Morrissey
Ed Morrissey is an American conservative blogger, columnist, motivational speaker, and talk show host.He goes by the nickname Captain Ed and he currently lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota....
, Tina Korbe and the pseudonymous Allahpundit and Jazz Shaw.
Hot Air was founded by Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author. Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites. She is a Fox News Channel contributor and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-SPAN, and national radio programs...
, a conservative author and blogger, in 2006. Although Malkin served as the publisher and CEO of Hot Air, she exercised little editorial control over the site's various commentators. Morrissey, a Roman Catholic, is the more socially conservative (though gay-friendly) of the two current bloggers, whereas Allahpundit is more libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
and an atheist. Hot Air also carries posts from a selection of conservative and libertarian blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
gers in its "Green Room." In February 2010, Salem Communications
Salem Communications
Salem Communications is a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher specializing in evangelical Christian and conservative political talk radio. It owns 99 commercial radio stations, 65 of which are in the top 25 markets. Salem is the fifth largest U.S....
purchased Hot Air.
History
Malkin launched Hot Air on April 24, 2006. The sites's original logo showed an angry man videotaping himself while yelling at the lens. At the time of its founding, the site was to primarily feature "video-blogging" by Malkin, but this was eventually phased out in favor the more traditional written blog format due to lengthy production requirements for "video-blogging."When founding Hot Air, Malkin stated an intention to provide "content and analysis you can't get anywhere else on a daily basis–both on the blog and in our original video features." The site's first two regular contributors were Bryan Preston and Allahpundit. Allahpundit (whose real identity remains unknown) had guest-blogged for Malkin on her signature site in the spring of 2006. Preston would eventually leave to pursue other internet reporting opportunities. When Preston departed, Malkin recruited Ed Morrissey as AllahP's co-blogger. At that time Morrissey was a full-time, profit-making blogger at Captain's Quarters, which he folded in order to join the Hot Air team (though its archives are still available). Morrissey maintains the podcast that started at his original website ("The Ed Morrissey Show"). This is promoted at and embedded on the Hot Air website.
In 2008, Hot Air added a separate site-within-the site called "The Green Room," inviting select professional and free-lance bloggers to contribute their posts. The Green Room provides bloggers with an opportunity to have their work distributed to the Hot Air audience. Green Room posts are often "promoted" to Hot Air's main page, in a fashion similar to that of other major political news/commentary sites such as the Daily Kos
Daily Kos
Daily Kos is an American political blog that publishes news and opinions from a progressive point of view. It functions as a discussion forum and group blog for a variety of netroots activists, whose efforts are primarily directed toward influencing and strengthening the Democratic Party...
and RedState
RedState
RedState is a conservative American political weblog.The site is currently a subsidiary of Eagle Publishing, Inc., a conservative publishing house which also owns Regnery Publishing and the weekly magazine Human Events...
.
AllahPundit
AllahPundit's first site, Allah Is in the House was founded on August 27, 2003. The author wrote in the personaPersona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
of Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
, using similar language to that of terrorist organizations but assuming the viewpoint of the God such organizations follow. (The author distinguished between the viewpoint being satirized and that of mainstream Muslims, and provided a disclaimer to the effect that his moniker was not, in fact, "anti-Muslim," as casual visitors sometimes assumed.) The blog specialized in written and Photoshop-based political satire. After a hiatus in May 2004, the blog reemerged, continuing its satiric nature while largely abandoning the "Allah voice." After October 2004 the blog was updated more sporadicallly, and the web address allahpundit.com was eventually abandoned. After occasional entries at allahakbar.blogspot.com, AllahPundit shut down his individual blogging operations altogether.
In September 2004, Allahpundit was a key player in debunking the Killian documents
Killian documents
The Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73...
hoax. Mary Mapes
Mary Mapes
Mary Mapes is an American journalist and former television news producer. She was a Peabody Award-winning producer for the American television show 60 Minutes , from which she was fired for her part in the Killian documents scandal....
, producer of 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, blamed Allahpundit and others for "working anonymously in what appeared to be huge numbers, in unison, to destroy the Bush-Guard story." Largely due to this controversy, the website was among the Top Blogs Cited in Political Postings for the United States presidential election, 2004
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
.
The text of posts from AllahP's old Allah Is in the House blog are archived at the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
, although the image files that include AllahP's Photoshopped pictures are not. AllahPundit has stated that he is unlikely to do PhotoShops in the future, due to his grueling writing/posting schedule.
Ed Morrissey
Morrissey's previous blog, "Captain's Quarters", was very popular among conservatives.He may be best known for helping expose the Canadian "Adscam"
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
scandal in 2005. When Canadians were barred from reporting on the Gomery commission
Gomery Commission
The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, was a federal Canadian Royal Commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involved allegations of corruption...
's hearings, Morrissey published detailed reports on his blog, which became a key source of information about "Adscam" for Canadians. This episode imparted some bipartisan "street cred" to Morrissey within the libertarian community in the U.S. and in Canada, and elevated his profile.
Viewpoints
Allahpundit's prominence on Hot Air is a contentious issue for some of the site's most conservative readers. He is often criticized for his comments and posts promoting atheismAtheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, such as once telling a critical commenter "Your children will be atheists", as well as for his frequent criticisms of former Governor Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
and some "hard-right" figures. Allahpundit is also known for his frequent posts on pop culture, including various viral videos and internet memes, and his self-deprecating humor (he often refers to himself, for example, as a "beta male"). Daily Show host Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
has cited Allahpundit as one of several bloggers he reads for his show-prep. The fact that Allahpundit's appearance and geographical location is unknown to the public is often used as an in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
, with website commentators offering deliberately farcical and imaginative explanations. During the Michelle Malkin era, Malkin received significant pushback for keeping "AllahPundit" on her payroll, particularly from the more socially conservative readers at Hot Air.
Michelle Malkin posted infrequently on Hot Air during the time she owned the site, but she was occasionally referenced there as "the Boss" (now "Boss Emeritus"). Both AllahPundit and Morrissey publicly disagreed with Malkin's take on the affairs of the day in Hot Air posts, and each has political positions that are significantly different from hers. The team also appears to be fairly independent of the socially conservative Salem Communications, as a spate of gay-friendly posts — and endorsement by Morrissey of the group GOProud
GOProud
GOProud is an American tax exempt 527 organization representing conservative gays, lesbians, transgendered people, and their allies. GOProud advocates for small government conservatism at the level of federal public policy. GOProud was founded by Christopher R...
— seems to attest. Editorial cartoonist Sarjex of the GayPatriot blog has satirized the controversy by drawing a LGBT version of HotAir,
using bright pink colors and cheesecake images of conservative icon Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio is the junior United States Senator from Florida . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives ....
.
Popularity
Hot Air has become a major conservative blog. In 2007 Malkin credited AllahPundit with "turn[ing] the site into a must-read" and thus causing it to soar in popularity "from nowhere to a top-30 site on TechnoratiTechnorati
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...
's Top 100 list." By 2010, The Truth Laid Bear's more blog-specific ranking system listed Hot Air among the top 10 blogs.