Radley Balko | December 28, 2007
It's a D.C. tradition.
Huffington Post is reporting that your next regular columnist for the New York Times will be…William Kristol.
A pretty uninspiring choice. It means the Times op-ed page will be well-represented by big government liberals (Krugman, Herbert), big government moderates (Friedman, Kristof), and big government conservatives (Brooks, Kristol). I do believe that just about covers the full range of acceptable political opinion, doesn't it?
Also makes you wonder just how many times one man can be wrong before people will not merely stop taking him seriously, but stop giving him bigger and broader platforms from which to trumpet his perpetual wrongness.
Help Reason celebrate its next 40 years. Donate Now!
Try Reason's award-winning print edition today! Your first issue is FREE if you are not completely satisfied.
Mr. Balko,
Haven't you heard, The Surge is working?
Actually, they cut the govt. hand-out food rations in half in Iraq;
more and more people are too hungry and sick to get involved in the
violence. Also, many U.S. units have silently mutinied and are no
longer going out on patrol, hence the fewer bombings.
If Bill Kristol and Norman Podhoretz are in a boat and the boat
sinks, who survives?
Brown people everywhere.
Wait, I told that joke wrong. I think it actually goes:
If Bill Kristol and Norman Podhoretz are in a boat and the boat
sinks, who survives?
Thousands of American soldiers and marines.
Also makes you wonder just how many times one man can be
wrong
Define "wrong"...
But seriously. The Times, when "balancing" out its
editorial pages has to stick with a conservative they understand.
Think of it like a jigsaw puzzle. Getting a small government
libertarian on their editorial board would be like trying to fit a
piece that doesn't fit into the puzzle that is the New York
Times.
You know, this isn't the New York times of ten years ago.
Most of my family members have canceled their subscriptions, citing
crummy reporting as the cause, saying things like "the stories are
incoherent" and "there are huge gaps in the reporting, they
routinely leave out important facts"
Frankly, I think the NY Times and Bill Kristol kind of deserve each
other.
"Actually, they cut the govt. hand-out food rations in half in
Iraq; more and more people are too hungry and sick to get involved
in the violence. Also, many U.S. units have silently mutinied and
are no longer going out on patrol, hence the fewer bombings."
Got anything resembling actual proof of that?
Krugman is a real American
hero for standing up to the international corporate
neo-con cabal bent on ruling the world through disaster
capitalism.
Bill Kristol is a war-mongering wingnut.
Friedman, in regards to the hazing customary for new columnists during their probationary period, said that "The next six months will be crucial" for Kristol.
Is it just me, or does Krugman constantly envoke a certain indescribable rage in his columns?
Are there various dudes called Paul Krugman? I just can't accept that the economist and the columnist are the same guy.
Wait--I didn't read the comments when I made that post. After reading MCW's post, I think I have been ridden of all doubt.
It means the Times op-ed page will be well-represented by big government liberals (Krugman, Herbert), big government moderates (Friedman, Kristof), and big government conservatives (Brooks, Kristol). I do believe that just about covers the full range of acceptable political opinion, doesn't it?
Mr. Balko, often, like now, your phrasing is untoppable. Nothing
beats putting some English on Received Opinion. I tip my hat. Thank
you.
Most of my family members have canceled their subscriptions,
citing crummy reporting as the cause, saying things like "the
stories are incoherent" and "there are huge gaps in the reporting,
they routinely leave out important facts"
Whenever I read stories on the same topic in both the
Times and the Wall Street Journal, I'm amazed at
how bad the Times's reporting is. Vague, superficial, and
sloppy.
"Actually, they cut the govt. hand-out food rations in half in
Iraq; more and more people are too hungry and sick to get involved
in the violence. Also, many U.S. units have silently mutinied and
are no longer going out on patrol, hence the fewer bombings."
Is that a joke or a lie? I am a OIF vet and have had buddies over
there constantly since '03. I hear that moral is up and things
really are going better. Of course some squad level units skip
patrols, but when you operating out of established posts like they
are now, it's hard to fake.
How much do these columnists get paid? So you write around 3
articles a year for Time ( that's a weekly, right?). Get fired.
Then you get paid a gazillion bucks to write a newspaper column.
What is "regular" btw? Once a week? a month?
Just curious, really. Wondering how these print publications stay
in business overpaying all these losers though.
Wow, Mr. Grey!
I mean, usually, when a government cuts rations to the point it
causes hunger and illness, the result is an increase in unrest and
a need for more security forces to suppress bread riots. If the
security forces then refuse to patrol, the result is
increased violence from a radicalized population.
Yet you're saying that in Iraq, this tried-and-true formula for
inciting revolutionary violence is magically causing a
decrease? That's amazing!
Haven't you heard, The Surge is working?
Of course it's working! If you say "just wait a little bit longer"
long enough, eventually chance will hand you a lull in the violence
and you can trumpet it as resounding success!
Iraq's food ration program's budget was cut in half for next
year:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F80EB18B-84C5-4939-9250-004F6697D8F2.htm
and at least one US military unit refused to take the field when
ordered to:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/army_bloodbrothers_071126/
standing up to the international corporate neo-con cabal
bent on ruling the world through disaster
capitalism.
There is relevant point to that, I'm just practicing to become a
junior cadet in the HTML tagging cabal.
KoWT --
Iraq's food ration program's budget was cut in half for next
year
That only makes it all the more amazing. Cutting the budget for
next year is causing so much hunger and illness
right now that it's rendering people unable to get
involved in the violence? I mean, I've heard of "voodoo economics",
but I thought the term was an insult, not an explanation of a
real-world phenomenon.
Upward failure?
As in Bob McNamara, flush from his success with "input-output"
systems analysis at the Johnson-era Pentagon, promoted instanter to
helm the World Bank during the fiscally sober Nixon/Ford/Carter
era?
As in Paul "Wolfie" Wolfowitz, flush from his success in
democratising the Middle East at the Johns-, I mean Bush-era
Pentagon, promoted instanter to helm the World Bank during the
fiscally sober, er, Bush era?
Perish such thoughts! Now go back to watching Squeal Kabluto, Yawn
Gypson, Prick Yoom, Shrill O'Biley, and Spawn Can a' Tea, and
remember to boo on command.
God bless the American meritocracy, and our professional patriots
who, with no thought whatever for their own personal safety or that
of the Fox makeup assistants, or of lost speaking engagegments,
continue to man the burning decks of big-government "conservatism"
whence all but they had fled...
I would become a markedly happier person if David Brooks were stricken with a fatal case of flesh-eating bacteria.
Aw, shucks, gee, what could be the common denominator that reduces so drastically the pool from which these people draw? No one mentions it...........it festers
Krugman is a real American hero
wingnut for standing up to the
who, despite claiming to be both sane and an economist,
actually believes there is an international corporate
neo-con cabal bent on ruling the world through disaster
capitalism.
Bill Kristol is a war-mongering wingnut.
Fixed 'er for you, Marxist Class Warrior. Hey, at least you got the
second paragraph right
correct.
Hit & Run Math
((Alice Bowie + spellcheck) + (MNG - animal rights)) X (Dan T. +
bold tags) = MCW
An A+ brilliant deduction from SugarFree.
Bravo, sir.
Once again, I find myself disappointed that I have no NYT
subscription to cancel.
So wait a second. You're saying that somebody in "the club" of established, stultifying, idiot big-government pundits who all know each other got hired at the NYT? NO FUCKING WAY.
"Also makes you wonder just how many times one man can be
wrong before people will not merely stop taking him seriously, but
stop giving him bigger and broader platforms from which to trumpet
his perpetual wrongness."
It's like they're hiring a real live straw man.
Of course it's working! If you say "just wait a little bit
longer" long enough, eventually chance will hand you a lull in the
violence and you can trumpet it as resounding success!
So it's sort of like supply-side tax cuts, then.
I don't know how to cast it into symbolic logic, but the stimuli that gave rise to Sugar's response makes the average poster here feel by comparison endowed with the head of Tim C., the heart of Radley B., the will of Ron P., and the imagination of VM.
Yet you're saying that in Iraq, this tried-and-true formula
for inciting revolutionary violence is magically causing a
decrease? That's amazing!
That's because the Iraqis (unlike some ungrateful Hit and
Run posters I could mention but won't) have the sense to appreciate
a government that's kind and caring enough to Do Something about
the obesity epidemic.
Yeah, the Times has no Trotskyist or radical Green representation either. What about the Nazis or Christian Identity movement? Talk about staying within the bounds of acceptable political commentary.
Quick, Edtard, switch to your alter-ego and bold some words for us! The less rhythmic the bolding makes the text the better!
Jim Bob
Shrinking the government to extent that you want to, Jim Bob, is as
much on the fringe as wanting to nationalize everything. Wingnuts
on the fringe tend to have their own rags, like this one. Sorry for
the long reply. Are your lips sore?
Edtard, I can't understand you
unless there are bold
words!
I'm glad you know with
such certainty exactly how much I
want to shrink the federal
government!
And, Edtard, it really is a
mystery to me why you preside over such a fucking
troll attack. I mean, it's like you come here for the
idiot purpose of making yourself look like a
complete boor.
Dang Radley, if Kristol disagrees with you much more he will be shopping for homes in Great Falls.
To complete the Times mosaic might I suggest adding Naomi Klein to the list of columnists?
editorialstaff net notes: -Zhomb NYT Jan 17 2009 $10 Put, the prophetically, even poetically accurate, name for my favorite options bet, ever, states the free market price of the betting, that the ten year slide of NYT times stock, from a high near $52, in Jun 2002, to $17 this week, will continue. Choosing Mr Kristol, voted in his conservative high school year book, as most likely to be chosen as the -Zhomb NYT's whipping boy conservative, is a desperate act, in the same vein of editorial genius that ushers the gray lady, zombie NYT to the knackery. It obeys the first law of the ultra left MSM, that no conservative writer, not a candidate for instant dismissal, gets ink within the final arbiter of acceptable wing-nut liberal political thought. Sensible conservative commentary is an insult, to the convinced liberal readers of the Quean of America's Main Stream Media. The reason that my beloved -Zhomb NYT $10 Put options are up 29% in the past few days is that the MSM and the NYT were never the main stream, and are no longer, rightly, the media, as American stockholders and readers are proving with their canceled subscriptions, and their preference for non-U.S. English speaking newspapers, www.artsandletters.com, where old fashioned journalism still allows printing both sides of an issue, without exclusionary bias. Further proof is clear, in American's selling NYT stock, and shorting it, and their purchases of LEAP options betting the NYT continues it's decade long decline to less than $10, a level where Rupert Murdoch will consider picking it up, as another trophy, to go with his WSJ. Richly deserved justice, albeit long delayed, is justice, nonetheless.
Special Offer From Weird Eddie's House of Beef
Weird Eddie's is proud to introduce a new menu item for this
holiday season, The Bull. The Bull is an aged, hand-rubbed,
26-ounce cut of Grade A flank steak, smothered in our Southwestern
Steak Sauce and served with a baked potato and your choice of
vegetable.
And, for the next 30 days, every customer who orders The Bull will
receive, absolutely free, their choice of a bugle, a saxophone, or
a clarinet*, each with the distinctive Weird Eddies logo.
Because here at Weird Eddie's, if you mess with The Bull, you will
get the horns.
*Offer not valid in Taintsville.
Wasn't John Tierney a regular libertarian NYT columnist until he quit? Or was he just the science guy?
tarran | December 28, 2007, 10:34pm | #
You know, this isn't the New York times of ten years
ago.
Yet, it's still the most oft-linked source of primary news on this
blog.
Dont know what that means necessarily, just pointing out that Times
bashing comes with the question, "ok. then who's the standard
then?" I dont desagree with comments here, just wondering how much
of it is player hating and how much is legitimate.
FWIW, I personally think Kristol is a cock and doesnt deserve the
post
Whenever I read stories on the same topic in both the Times
and the Wall Street Journal, I'm amazed at how bad the Times's
reporting is. Vague, superficial, and sloppy.
That's because all Rupert Murdoch publications, especially Fox
News, are known for their well researched, meticulous attention to
reporting the facts in a straight forward manner. Fair and
balanced, you know.
A quick sampling of the brilliance and insight of William
Kristol could be found last week on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News
Sunday.
He predicted the McCain/Lieberman ticket would win the White House
and the Republicans would reclaim the House in 2008.
The crowning moments of his career came, of course, in his
sniffing, scornful pronouncements that predictions of trouble
between Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq were just "pop psychology" and
completely without merit.
No wonder the Times wants a guy like this on board.
just pointing out that Times bashing comes with the
question, "ok. then who's the standard then?"
IMO, the best US paper is the Wall Street Journal, but since all
it's stuff is gated, bloggers don't link to it.
The best paper in the country is the Boston Globe - which the NYT has left pretty much along since purchasing a majority stake - but they don't have much of an overseas department.
I think it's obvious that the LA Times is the best paper in the country, given that they have Tim Cavanaugh and until recently had Matt Welch.
Yeah, having one someone whose ideas you endlessly parrot on staff is what really makes a newspaper great.
If Ron Paul doesn't make it to the presidency, maybe he could become science editor at the NY Times. You know, to provide some balance to the Darwinist crowd.
So it's sort of like supply-side tax cuts, then.
Supply-side tax cuts DO work... if you don't combine them with
massive deficit spending and inflationary monetary policies.
The best paper in the country is the Boston Globe
Hmmm... aren't you from around there? Sounds like a homer, if I
ever heard one... I suppose you think the Patriots are the best
team in the NFL too... er, well... But, I bet you think the Red Sox
are the best team in baseb... uh... whatever. Anyway, I'll bet you
think the Celtics* are the best team in the NBA... ok, ok, never
mind, you know what I'm trying to say. Wait, I bet you think the
Bruins are the best team in the NHL! Ha. Gottcha!
* Unless of course you judge by current performance where I would
be remiss if I didn't note that the longest winning streak in the
NBA, both currently and this season, (12 games and
counting) belongs to the "Boom-Chaka-Laka!" Portland Trail
Blazers. Rip City, baby! :)
We've started a list of Bill Kristol facts:
http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2007/12/29/7636
It's sort of like the Chuck Norris facts, except they're all
true.
Special Offer From Weird Eddie's House of Beef
joe,
I doff my hat to you, sir! That was "teh awesome," as the younger
set, I'm given to understand, are wont to say nowadays.
The image offered by Edward at 3:40pm exhibits the irrelevance to RP's campaign of his extra-crepidam opinions. Thank you.
What up, Pinchdog - N-Pod Tha Bombsquad and Zort Muckerman had
other engorgements? As lateral moves among the Likudniks go, this
was as anticlimactic as it gets.
With the money the Times now saves in calling off its search for an
"unwitty"-humor columnist, it can pay me to replace the chair I
broke in falling from when I read the news today, oh boy.
You wingnuts just can't admit Krugman is the real deal. He makes you Randroid distaster capitalists into a joke.
MCW,
I agree, and the people who benefit most from capitalism are
cosmopalitan Jews.
So, will Ron Paul call for the resignation of the entire Bush
administration after the release of the latest bin Laden
tape?
In other news, the New England Patriots become the third unique
team in American Pro-Football history to have an undefeated regular
season, prompting many in the DC beltway to call for the Cowboys to
"step down" before today's game.
MCW: "He makes you Randroid distaster
capitalists into a joke."
CAUTION: Do not administer MCW to children under 3 years of age:
may present a joking (not to
mention bolding) hazard.
So, these three distaster capitalists walk into a
coffee bar, and pay for their
Distaster's Choice with
KrugmanRands...
Have you had your dog to the
vet's this year for its annual
distaster booster?
Hold on...wha'...Must go now/Am getting recalled to Randroid
Central/Abort all functions/Do not panic...
Joe for the win!
he shoots! he scores!
11/10 well challenged!
partial
list of Krugman's econ papers (a coupla are, although woefully
dated, interesting)
Yeah, the Times has no Trotskyist or radical Green representation either. Edward
Edward- William Kristol is a Trotskyist.
Neocons are Trotskyists. His father, Irving Kristol, was the head
of the US Trotkysists.
For more information on how the necons emerged from left
Trotskyists to become the right Trotkysists they are, check out
this history of the American left, by an American Socialist
Party...
http://www.dsausa.org/GIF/History.GIF
You could also try reading some Justin Raimondo Columns on
Antiwar.com. But then again, he is a libertarian, and so may not
believe in the Separation of Church and State, or even
evolution.
If you all think disaster capitalism isn't real, you should pick up a Naomi Klein book.
Edward- William Kristol is a Trotskyist.
Libertree- either English isn't your native language or you're so
fucking stupid you don't know the past from the present. As for
reading Jason Raimondo, go fuck yourself.
Edward is a suppurating cuntsore.
I welcome any and all evidence to the contrary.
"MCW has obviously been reading the Trolling Manual of
Style."
Is urkobold some kind of Wingnut Randroid?
MCW:
fail. URKOBOLD is a militantly-peaceful, agnostic Unitarian.
But you already know that from your other incarnations.
In fact, MCW, the chapter you submitted to my newest book, "The
History of Navy Bean Soup: No Navy. No Beans. Just Paper Clips."
was excellent.
As we discussed, the royalties shall be distributed via the usual
channels.
Great link, Baked.
May I suggest that inherent to trolling is a conflation of
knowledge and opinion (Plato pointed this out), such that prefacing
a proposition by "I believe that" would be most untrollike.
Thank you, M. And I have to agree - qualifiers and trolls don't mix.
Baked: Laughed so hard I cried at your link to your Trolling Manual of Style. Any more chapters forthcoming?
prolefeed - thx - the chapter on "inflammatory statements" will probably be next. That one should be fun to write...
"Randroid" is a term employed almost entirely by libertarians (and even, sometimes, objectivists) to mock the more orthodox of Randians. Yet more evidence MCW is a clown rather than a troll.
I stopped reading the NYT regularly several years ago when I
noticed that every story had to have a racial angle*. Dunno if it
was they who changed or I. Probably me.
*And the constant bemoaning of the sad state of the downtrodden
whilst blackmailing the government (i.e. you and me) into
eminent-domaining them a nice chunk of ultra-valuable Manhattan
real estate is just tacky.
Axually, the folk speaking of the Neocons as having been ex-Leftists are generally correct. That is how that name came about. They are newly Conservative and came over from the Left.
I see in my absence, someone has started using my handle to post
odd things...at 1:38am...
I have not posted for a week, until today.
Wonder what other things people think I have said.
Is urkobold some kind of Wingnut Randroid?
Actually, Urkie's politics aren't so extreme, on balance. But they
do get really, really annoyed by lack of orthodoxy here below the
fold.
I mean, HnR is a funny place in that the issue selection
of issues that they choose to post about is
outstanding. HnR knows what is important.
Unfortunately, the opinions expressed here by the writers on those
issues are kind of one-sided and predictable. Respectable opinions,
to be sure. But not outstanding. Fortunately, we
have those ppl Urkie so h8s to keep the substantive discussion as
interesting as the topic selection here. Look at it this way, I am
somewhat well-informed, but I would not know what disaster
capitalism was if it were not for HnR.
Ah, Edward, methinks you flame too brightly. Like the shining
star, you don't know who you are...
And Guy--the Neocons are STILL communists. Polite folks call their
ideology "Wilsonian", but in truth they are the "communists who
call themselves conservatives."
Instead of class war, they export war for Democracy. Same wolf,
different clothing.
I am somewhat well- completely misinformed, but
I would not know what disaster capitalism was if it were not for
HnR.
Fixed.
And Guy--the Neocons are STILL communists. Polite folks call
their ideology "Wilsonian", but in truth they are the "communists
who call themselves conservatives."
They are not still Communists, silly. They might be Conservative
leaning National Socialists maybe, but not Communists. I know of
none of them who wants to nationalize corporations and their lust
for regulation, for the most part, falls quite a bit short of their
Democrat peers.
I have always suspected some unstated reason that John Tierney stopped writing his op-ed for the Times; he was far and away the best columnist they have had. Despite the official story that Tierney just preferred science writing, I suspect that the Times culture couldn't stand the idea of a libertarian voice that made sense and would only tolerate pet conservatives like Brooks.
With the Times's Kristol hire, the nation's only metro daily not
to run an astrologer has pulled it off by other means - only
without the need for "for entertainment purposes only" CYA
boilerplate.
Being a partisan pundit means never having to acknowledge you when
you were wrong. And as one who has pulled off his own share of cons
over the years, I tip my cap to him in guild solidarity, while
reading beneath the surface of his every word - including "a",
"and" and the.
The biggest mistake made by observers of these matters make?
Assuming Kristol and the Times are enemies, rather than mutual
enablers playing the same game at the expense of the "unwitty".
More's the pity, in New York City.
And not proofreading my last post makes my writing look shitty; I swear I haven't had a drop of anything stronger than Maxwell House in weeks.
Use a William Shatner accent when reading the posts with some
words in bold. The bolded words get the Shatner emphasis. It's
kinda funny.
I wonder how many right wingers are up in arms about Kristol going
to that so called liberal rag that's always spewing lies?
""" I know of none of them who wants to nationalize corporations
and their lust for regulation, for the most part, falls quite a bit
short of their Democrat peers."""
Dems wanting to nationalize corporations? That would be news to me.
What corporations are they talking about nationalizing?
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245