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HuffPo Hangover: AOL Blogger Quits Over Arianna's Politics
Arianna Huffington / AP Photo
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Arianna Huffington / AP Photo
Not 36 hours after news of AOL's pending acquisition of Huffington Post went public and at least one AOL blogger has announced his departure, citing an apparent fondness for Tucker Carlson's nerdy bowtie wankery over Arianna's Oxford-infused Greek-accented progressivism. Huffington, once a vocal Republican and ex-wife of former GOP Congressman Michael Huffington is now well-established as a beacon of the progressive left. Apparently too much to handle for Politics Daily columnist Matt Lewis became the first AOL employee to quit publicly in protest of the deal.
Lewis wrote this morning that he was "alarmed" by the deal:
[W]riting a guest post is different from working for someone, and it occurs to me that AOL has vastly underestimated the public perception (I would argue the accurate impression) that Huffington is a far-left liberal.
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Lewis will skip the Arianna welcome party and join the bowtie revolution as part of Tucker Carlson's new venture. "The Daily Caller and Tucker Carlson personify iconoclastic conservatism, and so I am hopeful I will quickly fit in." If Huffington Post is the Left's answer to Drudge Report, The Daily Caller is a HuffPo copycat with content skewed for moderate Republicans. Long-time, Venice Beach-based political blogger (and 2010 challenger for Senator Boxer's seat as announced, naturally, on HuffPo) Mickey Kaus also signed up with Carlson's Daily Caller this morning.
It would seem to be an advantage to broadcast a contrasting opinion under an editor perceived to hold different views but in the age of media entitlement, many bloggers and commentators might prefer taking sides in partisan bickering in favor of enlightened commentary, reporting and dialogue for and with the masses.
As for the principals of the AOL / HuffPo deal, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong and prospective Editor and Chief of Content Arianna Huffington were still doing their dance this morning, taking the stage for a 9 a.m. Q&A with tech journalist and online publisher John Batelle at the Signal: LA event at the SLS in Beverly Hills.
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