The Inanity of Ann Althouse

Some of us writing political blogs started because we had a burning passion to say something to the world and some of us like right-wing legal blogger Ann Althouse, er, didn’t:

Unlike a lot of other political bloggers, I started blogging with a distinct lack of interest in politics. My first post about a presidential campaign, back in January 2004, the first month of my blog, was purely an accident. I was reading The Isthmus, our free alternative newspaper here in Madison, Wisc., when I ran across a chart comparing the Democratic candidates for president.

Because I had the longtime habit, inherited from my grandfather, of reading out loud whatever little things in the newspaper happened to catch my attention, I said: “Hmm. ‘Little known fact: at 59, Wesley Clark has only 5% body fat.’ ”

My son Christopher, who was used to finding himself on the receiving end of this habit, came back with: “Should it be: ‘Wesley Clark is 5% body fat?’ ”

That cracked me up, and, instantly making the transition from old family habit to new blogging habit, I posted our little interchange on my blog. I didn’t care at all whether I was helping or hurting Clark’s campaign for the Democratic nomination. I had merely encountered something that amused me at the time. I wasn’t aiming to become a political pundit. That blog post had more to do with my interest in the rhetoric of dieting, the subtleties of language and my son’s sense of humor than with politics.

—New York Times (TimesSelect membership required)

There’s a multitude of things I find unbelievable about this passage. First, that this incident was what motivated her first blog post. Second, that a political blogger admits to “a distinct lack of interest in politics.” Third, that she finds this cute or funny or…I don’t know what. Fourth, that the NY Times actually published this shit. Other than that, it’s brilliant.