Edward Morrissey (born April 3, 1963) is an American

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger,

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

motivational speaker A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep ta ...

, and

talk show host Below is a list of talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk ...

.
Ed Morrissey
Premiere Motivational Speakers. Published 2008. Accessed May 2, 2009. He goes by the nickname Captain Ed and he formerly lived in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

area of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. He now resides in Texas. He wrote his original blog, "Captain's Quarters", from October 2003 to February 2008. He now works full-time as a blogger for

Hot Air ''Hot Air'' is a conservatism in the United States, conservative American political blog. It is written by Ed Morrissey, John Sexton, and David Strom. Karen Townsend and Jazz Shaw wrote for the blog until their deaths in 2024. The pseudonymous ...

. and writes a column for ''

The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...

''. He also participates in

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") was a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

His opinion articles have appeared in the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...

'', the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'', and the ''Daily Standard''.

Background

Morrissey was born April 3, 1963. He is based in Texas and is part of the "

Northern Alliance Radio Network WWTC (1280 AM, "The Patriot") is a commercial radio station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Twin Cities region. It is owned by Salem Media Group and broadcasts a conservative talk radio format. By day, WWTC transmits ...

", with ties to

Power Line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and Electric power distribution, distribution to transmit electrical energy along large distances. It consists of one or more electrical conductor, conductors (commonly mu ...

and

Hugh Hewitt Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American conservative political commentator, radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network, attorney, academic, and author. He writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States ...

. At age seven, Morrissey moved to

Cerritos, California Cerritos (; Spanish for "Little hills") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was municipal corporation, incorporated on ...

in 1970, and he graduated from

Cerritos High School Cerritos High School, also called CHS, is a comprehensive, four-year public high school located in Cerritos, California, serving grades 9–12. It is part of the ABC Unified School District. As of the 2014–15 school year, the school had an ...

in 1980.

Captain's Quarters

Morrissey started his blog in October 2003, basing its name on his nickname "Captain" Ed. ("Captain" is "just a nickname", not a rank.About Captain EdCaptainsQuartersBlog.com
Accessed May 2, 2009.) It focused largely on politics, from a

viewpoint. The blog grew in popularity and readership. By 2007, the

National Republican Senatorial Committee The National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) is the Republican Hill committee for the United States Senate, working to elect Republicans to the Senate. The NRSC was founded in 1916 as the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. It was reor ...

was calling Captains Quarters one of the five "best-read

national conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity, communitarianism and the public role of religion. It shares aspects of traditionalist conservatism and social conserva ...

bloggers." People who have written "guest posts" on Captain's Quarters include Senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

, Congressman Duncan Hunter, and Senator

James Inhofe James Mountain Inhofe (; ; November 17, 1934 – July 9, 2024) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 1994 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was the longest serving U.S. senator from Okl ...

Adscam coverage

In 2005, a Canadian judge issued a gag order that barred Canadian media from covering the hearings of the

Gomery commission The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a Government of Canada, federal government "Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Can ...

, which was investigating the "

Sponsorship scandal The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. ...

" (better known as "Adscam"), a scandal involving allegations that the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

had been funneling government funds through Canadian advertising firms. A source in the Canadian legal media – still publicly unknown – circumvented the gag order, feeding the details of the Gomery hearings to Morrissey, who published them on the blog. As a result, Morrissey's blog became for a few weeks one of Canada's most-viewed news sources (his traffic rising at the height of the story to 400,000 visitors a day, mostly Canadians, from his usual 30–40,000). Morrissey's coverage was considered by some to have been a key factor in the victory of the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

in the subsequent national elections.

In other media

In April 2007, Morrissey left his job as manager of a

call center A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...

to take up a "full-time position with Blog Talk Radio as Political Director." Morrissey hosts a daily internet talk show, contributes to one of the company's blogs, and leads outreach and development for the company among politicians, candidates, and political bloggers. He left his full-time position at Blog Talk Radio when he joined Hot Air, in early 2008. Morrissey is one of the few media pundits to have been named as ''both'' the "Best Person in the World" and then the "Worst Person in the World" by

Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and ra ...

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

. He has said in response that he is "very amused."

Hot Air

On March 1, 2008,"The Road Goes Ever On"
Ed Morrissey, ''Captain's Quarters'', February 25, 2008 Morrissey became a full-time blogger, joining the pseudonymous

Allahpundit Nick Catoggio, who previously used the pseudonym Allahpundit, is a blogger and former senior editor for the American political news and commentary website Hot Air from its founding in 2006 through his resignation on September 2, 2022. After movi ...

, a group blog founded by

Michelle Malkin Michelle Malkin (; Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative political commentator. She was a Fox News contributor and in May 2020 joined Newsmax TV. Malkin has written seven books and founded the conservative commentary ...

. He also hosts the daily ''Ed Morrissey Show''.

Notes

External links

Video (and audio) interview/conversation with Morrissey
on

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrissey, Ed 1963 births American alternative journalists American bloggers American columnists American motivational speakers Living people The American Spectator people 21st-century American non-fiction writers Mass media people from Saint Paul, Minnesota People from Cerritos, California