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Robert Michael "Mickey" Kaus (; born July 6, 1951) is an American journalist, pundit, and author, known for writing Kausfiles, a "mostly political" blog which was featured on Slate until 2010. Kaus is the author of The End of Equality and had previously worked as a journalist for Newsweek, The New Republic, and Washington Monthly, among other publications.
Stylistically the blog was most notable for its monologue including the ruse of a non-existent editor, as well as frequent, ironic exclamation points. Media critic James Wolcott, in his book Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, used Kaus as the archetype example of a type of pundit he labels "counterintuitives". This type of pundit goes out of his way to stake out positions which run counter to conventional wisdom.
During the 2003 California recall, Kausfiles uncovered an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger by Oui magazine in which he boasted of participating in group sex. This post sparked a series of claims of sexual misconduct during Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding and acting career. Kaus later posted about a 1981 Today Show appearance where Schwarzenegger claimed that he deliberately damaged chimneys in order to boost demand for his bricklaying business, which was another scoop.
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the blog displayed a strong and consistent distaste for John Kerry, despite the fact that Kaus endorsed Kerry and contributed to his campaign. Neoliberal Education. Washington Monthly. Ezra Klein. May 2007. Kausfiles has also consistently criticized the Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica radio station KCRW, media criticism Howard Kurtz, and CNN President Jonathan Klein.
In 2007, Kaus reported from an anonymous source that candidate John Edwards was having an affair with documentarian Rielle Hunter. Edwards and Hunter both publicly denied this, and Kaus was widely criticized for what amounted to an assumption of guilt. The affair later proved to be true.
The blog also commented on the automotive industry and Kaus irregularly filed automotive-centric "Gearbox" columns on Slate.
As a result of his 2010 run for the Senate, Kaus left Slate and hosted his blog on his campaign website. On September 20, 2010, the Kausfiles blog was relaunched at Newsweek. Kaus was fired from Newsweek and later blogged at The Daily Caller.
Kaus' constant criticisms of liberalism have led liberals (including his Bloggingheads.tv sparring partner Robert Wright) and conservatives to see him as a right-winger. He has been criticized for his persistent defense of his friend Ann Coulter from many liberal critics.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Kaus endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, while criticizing other Democrats including Barack Obama. In the 2006 U.S. Midterm Elections Kaus wrote that he hoped the Democrats would fail to take over the U.S. House of Representatives but take the Senate. He called the election "perverse" because he saw a Democratic victory as not impeding George W. Bush's Iraq policy but helping his immigration policy. Nevertheless, Kaus declared he still voted for Democrat Jane Harman.
In 2020, he stated that he had voted for Trump in 2016, but would prefer a more electable Trumpist [6] Kaus is generally moderate on foreign policy (he is notably dovish on issues pertaining to the Middle East).
To exploit the visual side of the medium, Kaus sometimes uses visual aids such as an Al Gore mask and a stuffed moose. According to Kaus "Deploying the moose" symbolizes Pinch Sulzberger's idea of "the unaddressed important issue" similar to the "elephant in the room."
In an episode recorded February 8, 2006, Kaus said "half the Democrats are going to vote for McCain and I'm going to be one of them." Kaus linked to his own statement in a February 10, 2008 blog post with the words, "I can't believe I said this."
In a March 2, 2010 entry on Kausfiles, Kaus announced that he had taken out nomination papers to run in the Senate primary for California against Barbara Boxer.
Kaus finished a distant third in the June 8, 2010 Democratic primary election, with 5.3% of the total vote (or 94,298 votes). Political unknown Brian Quintana took second with 14.2%, while incumbent Barbara Boxer secured 80.5%, ensuring that she would continue on to the general election.
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