Mickey Kaus
Encyclopedia
Robert Michael Kaus (ˈkaʊs; born July 6, 1951), better known as Mickey Kaus, is an American journalist, pundit, and author best known for writing Kausfiles, a "mostly political" blog which was featured on Slate
until 2010. Kaus is the author of The End of Equality and had previously worked as a journalist for Newsweek
, The New Republic
, and Washington Monthly, among other places. Kaus attended Harvard College
and Harvard Law School
but has never practiced law. He has a brother, Stephen Kaus
, who is a lawyer and occasional commentator on The Huffington Post
. His late father was California Supreme Court
Associate Justice Otto Kaus
, a Democrat
. He is not married. He currently resides in Venice Beach, California.
). In 2002, he returned to Slate at the invitation of editor Michael Kinsley
. During 2003, the daily readership of Kausfiles varied between 15,000 and 30,000.
Stylistically the blog is most notable for its interior monologues
including the ruse of a non-existent editor, as well as frequent, ironic exclamation points. Media critic James Wolcott
, in his book Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, uses Kaus as the archetypal
example of a type of pundit
he labels "counterintuitives". This type of pundit goes out of his way to stake out positions which run counter to conventional wisdom.
During the 2003 California recall, Kausfiles uncovered an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger
by Oui
magazine in which he boasted of participating in group sex. This post sparked a series of claims of sexual misconduct during Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding and acting career. Kaus later posted about a 1981 Today Show appearance where Schwarzenegger claimed that he deliberately damaged chimneys in order to boost demand for his bricklaying business, which was another scoop.
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the blog displayed a strong and consistent distaste for John Kerry
, despite the fact that Kaus endorsed Kerry and contributed to his campaign. Kausfiles has also consistently criticized the Los Angeles Times
, Santa Monica
radio station KCRW
, media critic Howard Kurtz
, and CNN
President Jonathan Klein
.
In 2007, Kaus reported from an anonymous source that candidate John Edwards
was having an affair with documentarian Rielle Hunter
. Edwards and Hunter both publicly denied this, and Kaus was widely criticized for what amounted to an assumption of guilt. Several bloggers of satiric bent spread intentionally ludicrous and offensive memes concerning Kaus and a supposed predilection for goats, (which of course cannot be true, because goats demonstrate more common sense than Kaus has since his failed run for the US Senate seat from California), to illustrate that an assumption of guilt can be unfairly hard to disprove. It later turned out that the rumors regarding Edwards were actually true.
The blog also comments on the automotive industry
and Kaus irregularly files automotive-centric "Gearbox" columns on Slate.
As a result of his run for the Senate, Kaus left Slate and hosted his blog on his campaign website. On September 20, the Kausfiles blog has been relaunched at Newsweek
.
He has recently left Newsweek and now blogs at the Daily Caller.
. He tends to support liberal ends, including social equality
(the topic of The End of Equality) and universal health care
, but frequently attacks traditional liberal means of reaching those ends. Most notably, he was an influential proponent of welfare reform
in the 1980s, and is a fierce critic of both labor unions
(particularly automotive workers' unions and teachers' unions) and immigration reform
(he supports the new Arizona anti-illegal-immigration law
, calling to wait to see the law's practical effects before overturning it).
Kaus' constant criticisms of traditional liberalism have prompted some liberals (including his Bloggingheads sparring partner Robert Wright) to see him as a right-winger
. He has been criticized for his persistent defense of his friend Ann Coulter
from many liberal critics
His views, and willingness to attack the Democratic Party
, have also made him popular with conservative writers.
Kaus usually supports Democratic politicians. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Kaus endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, while criticizing other Democrats including Barack Obama
. In the 2006 U.S. Midterm Elections
Kaus wrote that he hoped the Democrats would fail to take over the U.S. House of Representatives but take the Senate. He called the election "perverse" because he saw a Democratic victory as not impeding George W. Bush
's Iraq policy but helping his immigration policy. Nevertheless, Kaus declared he still voted for Democrat Jane Harman
.
Kaus is generally moderate on foreign policy (he is notably dovish on issues pertaining to Israel and the Middle East), but he comparively spends little time writing about international topics. In March 2011, he wrote that he feared that the U.S. has entered into an age of 'humanitarian imperialism' in which the U.S. functions as an 'empire' where "war never really ends."
show Day to Day
.
On November 1, 2005, Kaus and journalist Robert Wright
launched BloggingHeads.tv
, a video weblog dialog or dia-vlog focusing on mostly-political current events. Initially Kaus and Wright were the regular participants. Eventually Wright recruited many other bloggers, journalists and scholars to take part, discussing the headlines and latest developments and making predictions. Wright, who bought out Kaus in the early days of the site, still appears often with various guests. By contrast, Kaus's appearances have became increasingly infrequent. When he does appear he is almost always paired with Wright.
To exploit the visual side of the medium, Kaus sometimes uses visual aids such as an Al Gore
mask and a stuffed moose. According to Kaus "Deploying the moose" symbolizes Pinch Sulzberger
's idea of "the unaddressed important issue" similar to the "elephant in the room
."
In an episode recorded February 8, 2006, Kaus said "half the Democrats are going to vote for McCain and I'm going to be one of them." Kaus linked to his own statement in a February 10, 2008 blog post with the words, "I can't believe I said this."
In a March 2, 2010 entry on Kausfiles, Kaus announced that he had taken out nomination papers to run in the Senate primary for California against Barbara Boxer
.
Kaus finished a distant third in the June 8, 2010 Democratic primary election, with 5.3% of the total vote (or 94,298 votes). Political unknown Brian Quintana took second with 14.2%, while incumbent Barbara Boxer
secured 80.5%, ensuring that she would continue on to the general election.
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
until 2010. Kaus is the author of The End of Equality and had previously worked as a journalist for Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, and Washington Monthly, among other places. Kaus attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
but has never practiced law. He has a brother, Stephen Kaus
Stephen Kaus
Stephen Kaus is a civil litigation attorney and an occasional blog commentator on The Huffington Post. He is also the brother of journalist Mickey Kaus.-Employment:...
, who is a lawyer and occasional commentator on The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
. His late father was California Supreme Court
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
Associate Justice Otto Kaus
Otto Kaus
Otto M. Kaus was a former judge from the State of California. He was born in Vienna, Austria. He was already attending school in Great Britain when the rest of his family fled the Nazis in the 1930s. Immigrating to the United States, his family settled in Los Angeles, California...
, a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He is not married. He currently resides in Venice Beach, California.
Kausfiles
Kaus first wrote Slates "Chatterbox" column in 1997 but started Kausfiles in 1999 as a private blog. It was perhaps the second major political blog in the United States (after Bob Somerby's The Daily HowlerThe Daily Howler
The Daily Howler is an American political blog written by Bob Somerby. It was perhaps the first major political blog, started in 1998. The style is by turns earnest and sarcastic. Somerby criticizes what he considers the media's frequently biased or lazy coverage...
). In 2002, he returned to Slate at the invitation of editor Michael Kinsley
Michael Kinsley
Michael Kinsley is an American political journalist, commentator, television host, and pundit. Primarily active in print media as both a writer and editor, he also became known to television audiences as a co-host on Crossfire...
. During 2003, the daily readership of Kausfiles varied between 15,000 and 30,000.
Stylistically the blog is most notable for its interior monologues
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
including the ruse of a non-existent editor, as well as frequent, ironic exclamation points. Media critic James Wolcott
James Wolcott
James Wolcott is an American journalist, known for his critique of contemporary media. Wolcott is the cultural critic for Vanity Fair and contributes to The New Yorker. He also writes a blog....
, in his book Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, uses Kaus as the archetypal
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
example of a type of pundit
Pundit (politics)
A pundit is someone who offers to mass media his or her opinion or commentary on a particular subject area on which they are knowledgeable. The term has been increasingly applied to popular media personalities...
he labels "counterintuitives". This type of pundit goes out of his way to stake out positions which run counter to conventional wisdom.
During the 2003 California recall, Kausfiles uncovered an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
by Oui
Oui (magazine)
Oui is a men's adult pornographic magazine published in the USA and featuring explicit nude photographs of models, with full page pin-ups, centerfolds, interviews and other articles, and cartoons.- Playboy years :...
magazine in which he boasted of participating in group sex. This post sparked a series of claims of sexual misconduct during Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding and acting career. Kaus later posted about a 1981 Today Show appearance where Schwarzenegger claimed that he deliberately damaged chimneys in order to boost demand for his bricklaying business, which was another scoop.
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the blog displayed a strong and consistent distaste for John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, despite the fact that Kaus endorsed Kerry and contributed to his campaign. Kausfiles has also consistently criticized the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
radio station KCRW
KCRW
KCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...
, media critic Howard Kurtz
Howard Kurtz
Howard "Howie" Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author with a special focus on the media. He is host of CNN's Reliable Sources program, and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post. He has written five books about the media...
, and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
President Jonathan Klein
Jonathan Klein (CNN)
Jonathan Klein is the former president of CNN/U.S., who was responsible for management oversight of all programming, editorial tone and strategic direction of the network. Klein led CNN during its coverage of the 2008 presidential election, which resulted in the highest ratings in the history of...
.
In 2007, Kaus reported from an anonymous source that candidate John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
was having an affair with documentarian Rielle Hunter
Rielle Hunter
Rielle Hunter , August 1, 2008, San Jose Mercury-News. is an American actress and film producer. She is known for having had an affair with and conceiving a child with 2004 Democratic Party vice-presidential nominee John Edwards., August 8, 2008, Chicago Tribune. She is said to be the basis of a...
. Edwards and Hunter both publicly denied this, and Kaus was widely criticized for what amounted to an assumption of guilt. Several bloggers of satiric bent spread intentionally ludicrous and offensive memes concerning Kaus and a supposed predilection for goats, (which of course cannot be true, because goats demonstrate more common sense than Kaus has since his failed run for the US Senate seat from California), to illustrate that an assumption of guilt can be unfairly hard to disprove. It later turned out that the rumors regarding Edwards were actually true.
The blog also comments on the automotive industry
Automotive industry
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
and Kaus irregularly files automotive-centric "Gearbox" columns on Slate.
As a result of his run for the Senate, Kaus left Slate and hosted his blog on his campaign website. On September 20, the Kausfiles blog has been relaunched at Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
.
He has recently left Newsweek and now blogs at the Daily Caller.
Political views
Kaus has identified himself as neoliberalNeoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
. He tends to support liberal ends, including social equality
Social equality
Social equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...
(the topic of The End of Equality) and universal health care
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
, but frequently attacks traditional liberal means of reaching those ends. Most notably, he was an influential proponent of welfare reform
Welfare reform
Welfare reform refers to the process of reforming the framework of social security and welfare provisions, but what is considered reform is a matter of opinion. The term was used in the United States to support the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act...
in the 1980s, and is a fierce critic of both labor unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
(particularly automotive workers' unions and teachers' unions) and immigration reform
Immigration reform
Immigration reform is a term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, "reform " means to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses....
(he supports the new Arizona anti-illegal-immigration law
Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act
The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act is a legislative Act in the U.S. state of Arizona that at the time of passage was the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in recent U.S. history...
, calling to wait to see the law's practical effects before overturning it).
Kaus' constant criticisms of traditional liberalism have prompted some liberals (including his Bloggingheads sparring partner Robert Wright) to see him as a right-winger
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
. He has been criticized for his persistent defense of his friend Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
from many liberal critics
His views, and willingness to attack the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, have also made him popular with conservative writers.
Kaus usually supports Democratic politicians. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Kaus endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, while criticizing other Democrats including Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. In the 2006 U.S. Midterm Elections
United States general elections, 2006
The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. All United States House of Representatives seats and one third of the United States Senate seats were contested in this election, as well as 36 state governorships, many state legislatures, four territorial...
Kaus wrote that he hoped the Democrats would fail to take over the U.S. House of Representatives but take the Senate. He called the election "perverse" because he saw a Democratic victory as not impeding George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's Iraq policy but helping his immigration policy. Nevertheless, Kaus declared he still voted for Democrat Jane Harman
Jane Harman
Jane Margaret Lakes Harman is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
.
Kaus is generally moderate on foreign policy (he is notably dovish on issues pertaining to Israel and the Middle East), but he comparively spends little time writing about international topics. In March 2011, he wrote that he feared that the U.S. has entered into an age of 'humanitarian imperialism' in which the U.S. functions as an 'empire' where "war never really ends."
Radio
Kaus has also contributed to radio, making occasional contributions to the Slate/NPRNPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
show Day to Day
Day to Day
Day to Day was a one-hour weekday American radio newsmagazine distributed by National Public Radio , and produced by NPR in collaboration with Slate. Madeleine Brand served as host since 2006...
.
Bloggingheads.tv
Robert Wright (journalist)
Robert Wright is an American journalist, scholar, and prize-winning author of best-selling books about science, evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, including The Evolution of God, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, The Moral Animal, and Three Scientists and Their Gods:...
launched BloggingHeads.tv
Bloggingheads.tv
Bloggingheads.tv is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast online to viewers...
, a video weblog dialog or dia-vlog focusing on mostly-political current events. Initially Kaus and Wright were the regular participants. Eventually Wright recruited many other bloggers, journalists and scholars to take part, discussing the headlines and latest developments and making predictions. Wright, who bought out Kaus in the early days of the site, still appears often with various guests. By contrast, Kaus's appearances have became increasingly infrequent. When he does appear he is almost always paired with Wright.
To exploit the visual side of the medium, Kaus sometimes uses visual aids such as an Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
mask and a stuffed moose. According to Kaus "Deploying the moose" symbolizes Pinch Sulzberger
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. became the publisher of The New York Times in 1992 and chairman of the board of its owner, The New York Times Company, in 1997, succeeding his father, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger...
's idea of "the unaddressed important issue" similar to the "elephant in the room
Elephant in the room
"Elephant in the room" is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss....
."
In an episode recorded February 8, 2006, Kaus said "half the Democrats are going to vote for McCain and I'm going to be one of them." Kaus linked to his own statement in a February 10, 2008 blog post with the words, "I can't believe I said this."
2010 Senate Run
According to a March 1, 2010 report in L.A. Weekly, Kaus took out papers to run for the United States Senate. Kaus ran as a "Common Sense Democrat," stating that he did not expect to win, but hoped to raise issues.In a March 2, 2010 entry on Kausfiles, Kaus announced that he had taken out nomination papers to run in the Senate primary for California against Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....
.
Kaus finished a distant third in the June 8, 2010 Democratic primary election, with 5.3% of the total vote (or 94,298 votes). Political unknown Brian Quintana took second with 14.2%, while incumbent Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....
secured 80.5%, ensuring that she would continue on to the general election.
External links
- The Kausfiles blog
- Video debates featuring Kaus and others (usually Robert WrightRobert Wright (journalist)Robert Wright is an American journalist, scholar, and prize-winning author of best-selling books about science, evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, including The Evolution of God, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, The Moral Animal, and Three Scientists and Their Gods:...
) on Bloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tv is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast online to viewers... - Annotated copy of LA Times feature on Mickey Kaus
- The Kausfiles forum
- Interview of Kaus on fora.tv about the 2008 Republican Nat. Convention2008 Republican National ConventionThe United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...