The Resume

(April 26, 1949-December 15, 2011)
Resides in Washington, D.C.
Contributed to 'Slate,' 'The Nation,' 'Vanity Fair,' 'Harper's,' 'The New Yorker,' 'The London Review of Books,' 'The Times Literary Supplement' and 'Salon'
Wrote 'Prepared for the Worst (1988),' 'Blood, Class and Nostalgia: Anglo-American Ironies (1990),' 'For the Sake of Argument (1993),' 'The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (1997),' 'No One Left To Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton (1999),' 'Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001),' 'Why Orwell Matters (2002),' 'The Trial of Henry Kissinger (2002)' and 'A Long Short War: The Proposed Liberation of Iraq (2003)'
Diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus (July 2010)

Why he might be annoying:

He is smug, rude and over-the-top.
He is a pretentious name-dropper.
He is paunchy.
He often looks sweaty and unkempt.
He describes smoking and getting drunk as 'tools for thinking.'
Conservatives hate him for being too liberal, and liberals hate him for being too conservative.
He called Mother Teresa 'a fanatic and a fraud.'
The week Ronald Reagan died, he said: 'The fox knows many small things, whereas the hedgehog knows one big thing. Ronald Reagan was neither a fox nor a hedgehog. He was as dumb as a stump.'
He testified on behalf of Holocaust denier/anti-Semite David Irving's unsuccessful libel trial against Deborah Lipstadt.

He always speaks his mind, no matter who it's going to piss off.
He's not afraid to tackle controversial subjects and issues.
He left the magazine 'The Nation' because he felt it took sides in the 2003 Iraq war.
His observations are often original and funny.
He opposes religious extremism in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Credit: Wieland Kalligaro

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 2008 - 100 Most Annoying (Ranked: 67)
• 2011 - 100 Most Annoying (Ranked: 100)
• Beast's 50 Most Loathsome People in America [2011] (Ranked: 48)
• Boston Phoenix's 100 Unsexiest Men in the World [April 2008] (Ranked: 59)
• Camille Paglia Doesn't Like Me
• Christopher Hitchens Doesn't Like Me
• Egg Heads
• Frontline - Commentators [PBS]
• I am an Atheist
• I Died in 2011 (Ranked: 62)
• I Don't Pull Punches
• I Have Esophageal Cancer
• I Made a Biased Comment in Public [Some Alleged]
• I Was Estranged From My Sibling
• Influenced by Friedrich Nietzche
• Influenced by Hannah Arendt
• Linked to Bill Clinton
• Linked to Ronald Reagan
• Medical Marijuana Advocates
• Michael Moore Doesn’t Like Me
• News
• Political Pundits
• Profiles 12251-12500 (Ranked: 12467)
• Real Time with Bill Maher Panelists
• Supersized Egos
• The Catholic League Doesn't Like Me
• Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn
• Wieland Kalligaro's Profiles [Series 3]

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 63 Votes: 50.79% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 75 Votes: 56.00% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 100 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 200 Votes: 52.00% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 108 Votes: 53.70% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 126 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 17 Votes: 47.06% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 36 Votes: 52.78% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 209 Votes: 53.59% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 495 Votes: 43.03% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 122 Votes: 63.11% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 1864 Votes: 76.77% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 274 Votes: 68.98% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 316 Votes: 68.99% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 155 Votes: 70.32% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 2445 Votes: 79.39% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 496 Votes: 77.02% Annoying
In 2006, Out of 333 Votes: 74.47% Annoying
In 2005, Out of 901 Votes: 69.70% Annoying
In 2004, Out of 692 Votes: 70.23% Annoying