Instapundit

Instapundit is a United States political blog produced by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. It is one of the most widely-read political blogs.[1] The blog, started in August 2001, began as an experiment and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. Because of his long-standing prominence in the political blogosphere and his efforts to encourage new bloggers, Reynolds is sometimes called the BlogFather.[2]

Instapundit is sometimes considered a "warblog" because of its frequent supportive coverage of America's War on Terrorism and war in Iraq . Other common topics are technology (such as nanotechnology, space exploration, and digital photography), individual liberty, domestic politics, the media, and the blogosphere as a social phenomenon. Reynolds has recently lent his support to the Porkbusters campaign.

Much of InstaPundit's content consists of links to other sites, often with brief comments. (His frequent use of "heh," "indeed," and "read the whole thing" have been widely imitated and often parodied by other bloggers.) Reynolds encourages readers to explore the wider blogosphere and to fully read articles and posts to which he links. In 2005, Reynolds has at times added original video reports, shot documentary-style, to the site. He covered the 2005 BlogNashville convention using personally-shot video.

Beginning in January 2006, Reynolds began to host podcasts [3] from Instapundit, with his wife Helen Smith (who hosts discussion of the podcasts on her blog, "Dr. Helen"). Reynolds aggressively promotes the idea that bloggers, using now widely available tools such as digital audio and video, will eventually force more established news media to adapt a more agile approach to providing information [4].

Because of its popularity, an Instapundit link to another site can cause the traffic of that site to spike. Such an increase is often referred to as an "instalanche", a portmanteau for "Instapundit avalanche". (See the Slashdot effect for a similar phenomenon.)

Political stances

Reynolds has stated on his blog that he is a libertarian [5], specifically a libertarian transhumanist [6]. He tends to favor free markets and to distrust bureaucratic action in both economic and personal affairs. He supports gun rights. The European Union, United Nations, and "Big Media" are all frequent targets of negative remarks or links. Reynolds frequently criticises Democrats, especially concerning foreign policy, while both praising and criticising Republicans. He strongly supports Democrat positions such as embryonic stem cell research and abortion rights, and supports civil unions. He has written: [7]

Personally, I'd be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons.

Reynolds often blogs in support of Porkbusters, which he helped create. He has vigorously criticized politicians from both parties for pork barrelling and earmarking.

Criticism and controversy

Some critics argue that the site has become increasingly partisan, in particular that it expansively defends the war in Iraq and minimizes negative developments there. Libertarians who oppose the war in Iraq often argue that he is drifting away from libertarianism.

Reynold's critics claim that his tendency to link to other blog posts with terse comments is an underhanded way to promote controversial positions without visibly endorsing them. James Wolcott, who depicts as Reynolds as (among other epithets) "Instadunce"[8] and a "publicity-whory"[9] "rube"[10], alleges[11] that Reynolds promoted violence by treating[12] a blog post[13] by Tim Blair. Think Progress, a website funded by the Center for American Progress, tried to instigate[14] a mass-email campaign against Reynolds in retaliation for a post[15] in which, they claim, he "continues to smear Jamie Gorelick". Glenn Greenwald has written that[16] "Reynolds' need to parade around as the moderate, reasonable libertarian - always promoting and applauding the grossest extremism while staying safe enough distance away from it to give plausible deniability - is inherently deceitful to its core", and that[17] Reynolds is a leading member of a "highly authoritarian movement which seeks to vest unlimited and unrestrained power in their Leader, views garden-variety political dissent as blasphemy and treason, and glorifies violence as a justifiable tool to achieve their glorious political ends."

Reynolds was for a time often called "Instacracker"[18] [19] [20] by some bloggers. Brian Leiter calls him "tediously reactionary" [21] and "Glenn 'no bit of right-wing sliminess is beneath me' Reynolds" [22].

Blogs inspired by Instapundit

Note: Instapundit's fame has led to the common adoption of the suffix "-pundit" in blog titles. Some sites are sympathetic to Instapundit, and others oppose the blog.

• Allahpundit
• CalPundit
• DaPundit
• DesiPundit
• Insta-Pundit (parody site)
• Itsapundit (parody site)
• Instapunk

• IsraPundit
• Polipundit
• Publius Pundit
• Part-Time Pundit
• Instapunk

External links

• Instapundit
• blogs inspired by Instapundit