The LABJ tells us that Michelle Malkin’s sale of Hot Air to Salem Communications is lifting the latter’s stock price, which seems right to me; it’s a sharp move.
Writer/Editor Ed Morrissey shares his perspective, and links to articles about the acquisition by Jazz Shaw and James Joyner (who showed up here yesterday wearing a nice, conservatively cut suit—and bright, lime-green socks; James is cool).
And the other half of the writing/editing team of Hot Air, AllahPundit, chimes in:
Ed wasn’t kidding this morning when he said we told Salem at our meeting that they have big shoes to fill in replacing Michelle. We really did tell them that. But the early signs on that front are good and I’m optimistic that they’ll remain good — which is a hard thing for a famously mopey eeyore to admit. Here’s to an exciting and profitable future for all of us.
Among the bloogers here at CPAC, my unscientific survey is bringing me about a 50-50 split between 1) “cool; more resources for Hot Air; it’ll be great if the site doesn’t go down during the upcoming elections, due to stupid server issues” and 2) “uh-oh, that is an awesome blog; hope Salem is up to the task, and they’d best not mess with it.”
And yet, one ostensibly pro-capitalist blogger fretted “if this goes wrong, are people going to place the blame where it belongs?”
“With the folks at Salem, you mean,” I suggested.
“No. With Michelle Malkin.”
At that point, I concentrated very hard on not rolling my eyes, which would have been rude. I may disagree with Michelle Malkin plenty around her hard-right edges, but there is no disputing the fact that she’s been a force for good in new media. That fact doesn’t change if Salem fumbles the ball on Hot Air, and Michelle is entitled to secure a future for the family she was forced to relocate to the wilds of Colorado (a bitchin’ state—but one not conveniently close to Washington D.C., New York, or L.A.) because of the crazy stalkers that her internet activities, books, and columns exposed her to.
Finally, Stacy McCain scored an interview with Ed Morrissey, and Stacy’s partner-in-crime Smitty posted same. We’re being given to understand that from the readers’ perspective, the new boss really will be the same as the old boss.
I hope so; I love Hot Air, and I steal their work every day have come to rely on their analyses.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Since you read Smitty, would you please explain what this whole Protocols of the Elders of CTHULHU thing is about…………I feel like the kid who shows up for the final exam without ever having gone to class……..
The two primary texts he’s playing off of are 1) the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamous old antisemitic tome, and 2) the works of H.P. Lovecraft, which posited the existence (fictionally) of “Old Ones,” or satanic, evil gods–the most infamous of which was Cthulhu.
More later; I’m running very late! Remind me later on if I forget to follow up. In the meantime, if you wiki H.P. Lovecraft, you should find a treasure trove on the Old Ones!
There’s an entire mythology based around Lovecraftian monsters and the ‘Old Ones’ now in our popular culture. If you have ever heard of the game ‘Alone In The Dark’ or seen references to the Necronomicon (or Nyarlothep et all), that’s from the Lovecraft mythos.
Although Cthulhu isn’t exactly a god – he’s just so powerful he might as well be one.