So...who is this Drudge upon whom the world has bestoyed her fate?
Turns out he is just a regular, slow-to-mature, bumpkin with agoraphobic tendencies, who works from his home, and has a soft spot for fetuses.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925929/posts
Some of his thoughts from an interview with some Ayn Rand wannabe...
DRUDGE: What I represent, if I see it correctly, is an independent voice who's willing to take on presidents and networks, and reveal ratings they don't want you to see.
DRUDGE: Well, in any case, I think it's my job to be critical of whoever is in power....So to hide behind the World Trade Center to start going into our hard drives is a complete folly, and the Bush administration will pay the price with votes.
DRUDGE: I was actually very on the fence on the war. It put me in a difficult position. If you've noticed, I thought I did a pretty clever job of at least sharing with readers what the U.K. Mirror, the Independent, all these antiwar outlets were doing. Probably it was perceived as just mischief-making, but it reflected my own lack of clarity about the war issue. I don't have to be clear, though. I'm not a politician.
PAGLIA: You're antiestablishment down the line, except when it comes to your politics. Do you really consider yourself a conservative?
DRUDGE: Oh, yeah. I'm a prolife conservative who doesn't want the government to tax me. There are issues that I'm so frightened of—1.2 million abortions a year scares the hell out of me. Oftentimes when I see these superstorms forming, you know, sometimes—I wouldn't be honest if I didn't think it was retribution. I also am opposed to big government. Now, you would argue: Well, how could you support a government interfering with the rights of a woman over her own body? But I would argue: No. That all life is sacred. Abortion is the issue that really motivates me.
DRUDGE: In any case I no longer do the Clinton beat. Or cover any politicians who are out of office.
DRUDGE: You could probably call me a –new-age Jew. I'm really into meditation. I have been meditating since I was five years old. I love reading Jesus. I am open to a lot of different things. Again, it's a formula for my personal self that I've come up with. I don't go to shul, I don't go to church every Sunday. But the older I get, the closer I feel to a creator.
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How did it all begin?
Matt Drudge was born in Washington and, in his own words, "didn't go to the right schools, never enjoyed any school, as a matter of fact, didn't come from a well-known family". "Burning I may have been," he recalls, "but I was sophisticated enough to know I would never be granted any access, obtain any credentials ... or work with 'Newsweek' magazine.
There wasn't a likelihood for upward mobility in my swing-shift position at 711 (a street corner grocery chain)." So, he followed that classic piece of advice: he moved West, out to Hollywood where he found a job at CBS - not in the news division but the gift shop - where he wrapped T-shirts and souvenir coffee mugs. His father, overcoming his fear of flying, came over, failed to persuade him to return and went back but not without first buying him a home computer. "Oh, yeah, and what am I going to do with that?" the son asked.
Famous words because that PC marked the birth of 'The Drudge Report'. He started playing with the thing and liked it. He also kept his ear open at the CBS gift shop for any gossip or tidbits. He also collected a few e-mail addresses of interest. Someone suggested that he start a mailing list, so he set one up calling it 'The Drudge Report'. He also began to post interesting messages and news on his site. In his words, "One reader turned into five, then turned into 100. And faster than you could say, 'I never had sex with that woman.' it was 1,000 - 5,000, 100,000 people. The ensuing website practically launched itself."
So what happened? Matt explains. "Well, clearly, there is a hunger for unedited information, absent corporate considerations. As the first guy who made a name for himself on the Internet, I've been invited to more and more high-toned gatherings ... and I mention this not to blow my own horn, but to make a point. Exalted minds ... didn't appear to have a clue what this Internet is going to do; what we are going to make of it, what this is all going to turn into ... We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices. Every citizen can be a reporter, can take on the powers that be. The difference between the Internet, television and radio, magazines, newspapers is the two-way communication. The Net gives as much voice to a 31-year old computer geek like me (this was in 1998) as to a CEO or Speaker of the House. We've all become equal. And you would be amazed what the ordinary guy knows."
Matt Drudge lives in a rented $600 a month apartment in Hollywood with a computer, a six-toed cat and he consistently breaks big stories for which he is indebted to what he calls his "network of ordinary guys".
