I salute you, Jon Swift, for this Swiftian/Freudian analysis of Ann Althouse, that temperamental and terrifying blogging diva who administers her domain with a rod of red hot metal and the occasional petulant kick to keep her admirers and detractors in line. A law professor, Althouse is usually to be found holding gravely forth on Paris Hilton, American Idol, and The Sopranos---or, if the mood strikes her, like Maggie's Ma, on Man and God and Law--- with maximum intensity and minimum detachment. "Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit." I absolutely love her for all these reasons. But it is a hateful kind of love.
See Jon Swift's note for the reasons why liberal bloggers hate Althouse even more than they hate Hillary; why she is obsessed with Bill Clinton; why nobody---left, right, or centrist---will ever appreciate her as much as she appreciates herself; and why even her regular commenters don't really like her that much. Best of the best::
Since most of her links come from blogs attacking her, many of her commenters insult her, too, despite her attempts to ban them as "trolls." As a teacher, though, she tries to be patient with them. "Learn to read fool," is a typical response to someone who is unable to appreciate what she calls her "short, sharp style." As she once told me, "I choose not to spoon-feed, Jon. If that catches you out, that's not my problem. It's my choice. And I will whirl around and mock you when you get it wrong, you pissy old fool." ... Unfortunately, some people willfully persist in misreading what she has written, which is always the fault of the reader not the writer. That's why it's called misreading and not miswriting.
Ah, Ann Althouse. Ah, humanity!
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