User:Scooge/sandbox/HotAir

Text from the newly revamped AllahPundit page, some of which might be moved to a possible new Hot Air entry (or material reiterated in a Hot Air entry), 8/16/09:

Allahpundit (born c. 1975) is an anonymous blogger, and the lead reporter for the conservative/libertarian Hot Air site (owned by Michelle Malkin). His co-blogger on Hot Air is Ed Morrissey, former proprietor of the Captain's Quarters blog.

Hot Air
Allahpundit (whose real identity remains unknown) guest-blogged for Michelle Malkin in March and April of 2006, before becoming the most active contributor to Malkin's Hot Air news website (which is widely referenced by bloggers and blog-sympathetic reporters. )

The Hot Air website as also served as a foundation for Ed Morrissey's podcasting endeavors, and since 2008 has also used a more open-blog style format, with the inception of the "Green Room," where lower-ranking bloggers other than AllahP and Morrissey can post, and sometimes have their entries "promoted" to the main page, in a fashion similar to that of the Daily Kos or Red State.

Viewpoints
AllahPundit's prominence on Hot Air is a contentious issue for some of the site's most conservative readers, as AllahPundit is often criticized for his atheism and for his frequent criticisms of (and snark toward) Governor Sarah Palin. AllahP is also known for his frequent posts on pop-culture and his self-deprecating humor (he often refers to himself, for example, as a "beta male").

Michelle Malkin has received some pushback for keeping "AllahPundit" on her payroll, particularly from the more socially conservative readers on Hot Air, and on her own site. (Malkin does not post on Hot Air, but is periodically referenced there as "the Boss." Both AllahPundit and Morrissey have disagreed with her take on the affairs of the day in Hot Air posts, and both have political positions that are significantly different from her own.)

AllahPundit's old site contained a disclaimer to the effect that his moniker was not, in fact, "anti-Muslim," as some casual visitors were wont to assume.

Allah Is In The House Blog
Allah Is in the House began on August 27, 2003. The author wrote in the persona 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 violent and hateful viewpoint being satirized and the viewpoint of mainstream Muslims.) 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". However, after October 2004 the blog stopped being regularly updated and abandoned the web address allahpundit.com. After occasional entries at allahakbar.blogspot.com, the blog shut down altogether.

In September 2004, Allahpundit was a key player debunking the Killian documents hoax. Mary Mapes, producer of 60 Minutes, blamed Allahpundit, among 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 blog's unique approach and timely humor caused it to become popular days after its inception, and its informative nature and wry wit led it to be cited by many of the top conservative bloggers   and many blog-sympathetic writers  of the time including Roger L. Simon, who wrote, "These days I learn more from Allahpundit, where I found this link, than I ever do from Meet the Press." Posts from AllahP's oldAllah Is in the House blog are archived at the Internet Archive, although the image files, which include the Photoshopped pictures for which the site was best known, are not. AllahPundit has stated that he is unlikely to do PhotoShops in the future, due to his grueling writing/posting schedule.

Hot Air Ranking
In 2007, Michelle Malkin credited AllahPundit (often referred to as "AP," or "AllahP") 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 Technorati's Top 100 list." Michelle Malkin, "Drudge disses Hot Air", hotair.com (March 19, 2007).

In August of 2009, as the health care debate began to increase political involvement, the stats for Hot Air became nearly competitive with those of rival Daily Kos, based on raw traffic--yet Alexa results (which are based on traffic, and compare websites with other websites rather than specifically comparing blogs). On August 15th, 2009, for example Hot Air was at number 6,352, versus Daily Kos's 4,105--with a few thousand over the Internet as a whole. The The Truth Laid Bear blog-specific ranking system, however, still placed Daily Kos at #1, with Hot Air coming in at #18.