Who

A liberal talking head and media critic, Alterman is widely seen as one of the most insufferable members of America's chattering class.

Backstory

Scarsdale native Alterman spent his twenties freelancing for lefty magazines like Harper's, The Nation, and Mother Jones. He headed back to grad school for a PhD in history and, while stalling on his dissertation, wrote his first book, Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy, which was published in 1992. He joined the punditocracy himself in 1995, signing on with MSNBC as a commentator and launching an early blog, Altercation, for the channel's website in 2002. MSNBC sent him packing in 2006, but he's since found a home with the liberal Center for American Progress.

In print

Alterman's best-known book is the 2003 bestseller What Liberal Media. There's also The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America, written with former mayoral candidate Mark Green, and When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences, a book version of Alterman's doctoral dissertation. Alterman has occasionally written about the non-political, too. In 1999, he published a biography of The Boss, It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen. Why Bruce? Alterman claims that listening to Springsteen helped him kick his teenage pot habit.

In person

Alterman doesn't exactly endear himself to his peers. During an interview with an Observer reporter at media hotspot Michael's, he said he liked his lunches "expensive" and proceeded to order the most extravagant items on the menu, including foie gras and Kobe beef. (He also classily offered up this gem: "Another thing I do that liberals don't do is, I admire the beauty of waitresses.") A former intern told the Village Voice: "He is incredibly rude and arrogant. He constantly wants to remind you that he's Eric Alterman, that he knows a lot of important people, and that you're a lowly intern."

Drama

In June 2007 Alterman was arrested at a Democratic debate when he went into a private area with an open bar and refused to leave. He was charged with criminal trespassing and released from custody after paying a $30 fine.

Personal

Alterman is married to Diana Silver, an NYU research scientist. He says they met in high school and worked together at the Bronx Zoo, smoking dope around the corner from the apes. They have a daughter, Eva Rose. It's the second marriage for both. (George Stephanopoulos was the best man at his first wedding.) Alterman and Silver live on West 74th Street.

True story

He once auditioned for a part as a TV reporter on The Sopranos. Others in the running included Leon Wieseltier and Philip Gourevitch.