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The Mickey Kaus cachet, writes R.J. Smith in the August issue of Los Angeles magazine:
Smith writes that "Kaus's reputation rests on skewering received wisdom and those who receive it." He recounts Kaus' roots -- Beverly Hills upbringing, Harvard and Harvard Law, son of state supreme court justice Otto Kaus, writer for the contrarian Washington Monthly -- to explain the Kausfiles penchant for almost exclusively chiding Democrats and liberals: he's tweaking his friends, neighbors and family. Kaus says it's not that he likes the conservatives who run things now, it's just they are outside his universe.
"If I thought the Republicans could be reformed into being a vehicle for a decent national health care system, I would concentrate my fire on the Republicans. But they are sort of hopeless, so you try to perfect the party you think has a chance of accomplishing what you want."
Weighing in from the left, Robert Scheer sees a less benign effect and suggests in the piece that Kaus should fess up and join the other side. Smith implies that Kaus, as a blogger for Slate with a daily audience in the tens of thousands and a deal that provides his posts not be edited, largely escapes criticism:
But Slate editor Jacob Weisberg and a friend give Kaus props:
"He's annoyingly smart, and he's not obnoxious." (friend)
Smith points out, finally, that Kaus' 1992 book The End of Equality influenced national welfare reform, and as a writer for Washington Monthly and The New Republic his credentials are more mainstream than outsider.
Smith, a senior editor of the magazine, writes the Media column and had previously written a piece on California columnist Jill Stewart, a buddy of Kaus's who he put forth on Kausfiles as a candidate for governor in the Gray Davis recall. The story on Kaus is available on newstands but not yet online at Los Angeles magazine.
Does R.. Smith know as little about politics as he does about rock and roll?
(Thinks Pearl Jam is punk . . . and can't even spell Eddie Vedder's name).
Posted by: rea at July 21, 2003 09:41 AMEddie Vedder was my transcription error. Fixed now.
Posted by: Kevin Roderick at July 21, 2003 09:44 AMJill Stewart is "far right"? To believe that, you must be far left and therefore just as prone to making an overly broad definition of people as Mickey Kaus is. However, I notice liberals often are really poor at judging people and human nature, so you may be even worse at labeling someone's philosophy than Kaus or others are.
Posted by: Terence at July 21, 2003 12:35 PMMickey's a...WHAT!? Haw, haw, haw! Obviously, they not only need new fact checkers over there at LA Mag, but they also need to hire some checkers of the glaringly obvious.
Posted by: Amy Alkon at July 21, 2003 02:05 PMMickey is one of the last HONEST liberals. Ergo he is mistaken for the enemy rank by your garden variety type liberals which incestuously inhabit the libdem watering spots these days. More than anything, Mickey is a contrarian. I can sympathize, coming myself from the same obnoxious stew of LA liberalism, albeit several rungs down the foodchain. Of course the $64 question is whether Mickey really believes that crap about dems having more potential than repubs, or whether he's holding on to a few last scraps of denial out of conceit and a desire for social standing. Right now, he's having his cake and eating it too. And more power to him. He's more valuable as an agent provacateur than as a member of the Republican club.
That said, anyone who wants higher taxes, national med insurance, and voted for Gore, has got to be labeled a liberal.
Posted by: Lloyd at July 21, 2003 02:28 PMThat said, anyone who wants higher taxes, national med insurance, and voted for Gore, has got to be labeled a liberal.
Gee, you mean you _didn't_ want those things?
Boy, you must feel like a huge sucker now.
Posted by: julia at July 22, 2003 09:22 AM
of LA Observed
By what criteria is Kaus considered a "liberal"? He opposes affirmative action, he links to Ann Coulter (aka "NaziPundit"), he supports giving tax handouts to private schools, and he has been obsessed about Howell Raines (even spreading the dishonest meme that the NY Times gave disproportionate attention to sexism at Augusta National). He believes Joel Kotkin, who supported Pete Wilson in 1994 and the impeachment of Bill Clinton, is a "liberal", and that far-right columnist Jill Stewart is "radical centrist". His shrill attacks on John Kerry's "furrowed brow" have cheapened the quality of political discourse, and provided an assurance that the dishonest reporting that followed Gore during the 2000 campaign will be repeated in 2004. Calling Kaus a "liberal" simply because he support the principle of universal health care does violence to the English language.
Posted by: Steve Smith at July 21, 2003 09:20 AM