Malkin’s Farewell to Hot Air
She has a very nice tribute to Ed and Allah. I like what she says about my favorite blogger, Allahpundit:
From the time he burst onto the Internet scene in 2003, Allah has understood the value of creating community. His willingness to absorb the slings and arrows of commenters piqued over his atheism or his Palin coverage or whatever other positions he took that were deemed unorthodox or “candy-ass;” his intensely personal and elegiac memories of how 9/11 changed his life; his resistance to cult politics of any kind; his intellectual honesty; healthy skepticism; and self-deprecating humor combined with the sharpest, fastest, one-man synthesis of breaking news you will find on the Internet– all of these have been hallmarks of his Hot Air blogging from day one.
Amen.
Ed is also a hell of a blogger whose coverage of Canadian politics still stands out in my mind as a classic example of how blogging — free expression unfiltered by government restriction — can truly change the world. Ed was named CPAC Blogger of the Year and got a shout-out from Rush Limbaugh. Not bad.
I think some kudos are also due to Bryan Preston, who helped start Hot Air with Michelle and Allah.
Nice piece.
CPAC Blogger of the Year is an honor.
happyfeet (713679) — 2/21/2010 @ 4:25 pmBut there is also honor in not being CPAC Blogger of the Year.
happyfeet (713679) — 2/21/2010 @ 4:27 pmHis willingness to absorb the slings and arrows of commenters piqued over his atheism
That’s a polite way of saying “He banned half of his commenters”.
Subotai (4c4fbb) — 2/21/2010 @ 5:27 pmMichelle’s tribute was a classy classic. Captain Ed deserves the honor.
RB (bed771) — 2/21/2010 @ 5:57 pmSubotai
I was one of the original commentators on the site, have been commentating there since the beginning
I am not much of a fan of Michelle either
But let me correct something
Allah only uses the troll hammer on people who threaten people with violence, mock the dead, or make comments of a sexual nature towards Michelle. Which in the early days were uncomfortably more common than expected.
Also I do find it interesting that Bryan was not mentioned as some credit him with starting Hotair
EricPWJohnson (87a18a) — 2/21/2010 @ 6:28 pmHis avoidance of cult politics, is that why he feels the need to dredge every negative story he can find on Palin, which are usually between 1/3- 2/3rds wrong.
ian cormac (9575ac) — 2/21/2010 @ 6:31 pmian cormac
He didnt need to dredge – and he was more or less reporting what was out there
EricPWJohnson (87a18a) — 2/21/2010 @ 7:14 pm“I am not much of a fan of Michelle either”
EricPW – Do you dislike her as much as O’Keefe and Breitbart?
I also thought the exclusion of Preston from the tribute was notable.
daleyrocks (718861) — 2/21/2010 @ 7:32 pmYeah, what happened he ended up like Stuart Sutcliffe, in this whole affair. Repeating every rumor, slur, without any analysis, really doesn’t commend them
ian cormac (9575ac) — 2/21/2010 @ 7:37 pmI think that Bryan left HotAir under terms that were not as glowing as what Allah and Ed Morissey have achieved.
Bryan was originally brought in to help with the videos. After a time, the videos were phased out as a poor business model. Bryan stayed on a while, helping with the blogging, but never contributed as much as Allah.
I suspect it is a combination of Bryan was getting tired of his new job responsibilities, and the rest of HotAir saw he wasnt’ contributing as much as was hoped for or expected.
Al (5b61ec) — 2/21/2010 @ 9:10 pmDaley
Again – I dont dislike Andrew or James – not at all
I’m on record as not thinking Michelle’s all that special – I dont dislike her – I just dont worship her like most did in the early days of Hotair – if there be such a thing 🙂
EricPWJohnson (87a18a) — 2/22/2010 @ 12:52 amThere were other contributors as well that built it up Kathleen McKinley, and others – seems like they all left about the same time
And then it was Allah and it was good.
Then they added ed and that was a mistake
EricPWJohnson (87a18a) — 2/22/2010 @ 12:54 am