thedailyhowler

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Thursday, 11 July 2013

For an easy op-ed column, write this!

Posted on 09:08 by Unknown
THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2013

Gail Collins is disappointed: Like her troubled colleague, Frank Bruni, Gail Collins is upset about the sexy-time candidates, Weiner and Spitzer.

For an easy op-ed column this week, you just type scripted piddle like this:
COLLINS (7/11/13): Time after time, we hear a scandal-tarred politician vow to go away and make amends. Time after time, we envision a stint as a missionary or a hospital volunteer. Time after time, we are disappointed.

Consider the example of former Congressman Steve Driehaus of Cincinnati, a person who, I should point out immediately, did not do anything wrong whatsoever except lose a race for re-election in 2010. He then packed up his family and went off to join the Peace Corps in Swaziland. “He’s working with folks with H.I.V./AIDS. He loves it,” reported his sister, Denise.

In this week’s TV tour, Spitzer failed to address the question of why he was not in Swaziland. He said on “Morning Joe” that during his five years in exile, “I’ve tried to do things that matter in a small, quiet way.” This seemed like a strange way to describe multiple stints hosting political talk shows.
What Bruni Said! Like Bruni, Collins feels that Spitzer hasn’t made sufficient amends.

She finds herself disappointed by this troubling conduct.

We couldn’t help wondering when Collins plans to start making amends. In our view, she engaged in a trifecta of shame through the years, starting in October 1999.

We won’t even count her years of clowning about Mitt Romney’s dog. But turning to the most recent example, when does Collins plan to make amends for the conduct she put on display with her book about Texas last year?

For earlier posts about Collins' book, click here, then continue to click.

Has any “journalist” ever been so misinformed about a major topic on which she pretended to write a book? Collins was clownishly uninformed about the public school issues to which she devoted so much attention. Soon, she was on her book tour, where she created a raft of absurdly false impressions.

Has any “journalist” ever known less about such a topic? Ever created more misunderstanding? When does she start to make amends? For that matter, when does she even plan to offer corrections?

This morning, Nicholas Kristof is writing from Mali on that same Times op-ed page. No, it isn't Swaziland! But he is discussing public health practices which could save hundreds of thousands of lives every year.

Meanwhile, in a paint-by-the-numbers column, Collins is diddling herself again. When will this most fatuous journalist attempt to make her amends?

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • On Birmingham’s most famous Sunday!
    MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013 What two ministers said: Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of Birmingham’s most famous Sunday. As many peop...
  • Presenting the filibuster challenge!
    SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013 What should the Post have written: Kevin Drum almost always loses us when he starts talking semantics. This doesn’...
  • The end of an era at the Times!
    FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2013 After the Dowdism crept: This memoir in yesterday’s New York Times reads like a bit of a parody. It ran on the f...
  • The Times tries to blow the whistle on docs!
    TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013 Forgets to tell us how much: Remember when dentists would recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chewed gu...
  • Roxane Gay mocks “wealth porn” in the Times!
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 Then quickly breaks our hearts: According to Nexis, the term “wealth porn” does not enjoy a rich history. Wit...
  • The laziness of the New York Times!
    THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013 Adam Nagourney, lounging around in L.A.: Very few women hold office in Los Angeles city and county government. By ...
  • Hanna Rosin corrects an inaccurate claim!
    TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 We liberals decide to fight back: Last Friday, Hanna Rosen corrected an inaccurate claim—an inaccurate claim tha...
  • The Times reports why Christine Quinn lost!
    FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2013 Nobody cares about issues: Yesterday, Gail Collins tried to explain why Bill de Blasio rolled to victory in this...
  • The types of facts you will and won’t hear!
    MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2013 The two Australian miracles: There are certain facts you hear all the time. Other facts which are very basic will g...
  • Lawrence interviews Anthony Weiner!
    TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 The end of the human race: Last night, Lawrence made us think of Norman O. Brown again. Brown, a well-regarded ...

Blog Archive

  • ▼  2013 (500)
    • ►  September (31)
    • ►  August (70)
    • ▼  July (80)
      • Gennifer Flowers gets dragged out again!
      • The Washington Post reports record test scores!
      • Greta Van Susteren got upset!
      • DUBLINERS TOO: What the lawyers said and did!
      • Erin Burnett has nothing to say!
      • The Baltimore Sun’s no-good, terrible judgment!
      • DUBLINERS TOO: Journalists build a sacred tale!
      • Kessler’s streak ends but Dowd’s continues!
      • A lot of old fogeys are watching the news!
      • Dubliners: What happens as the bogus tale spreads!
      • DUBLINERS TOO: A moral history of his country!
      • Robin Roberts and ABC News!
      • THE STORY BEGINS: Fake facts never die!
      • The smiling face of cable TV’s female ex-prosecutors!
      • By George, we think she’s got it!
      • Note: We’re changing the headline!
      • THE STORY BEGINS: And the errors appear!
      • Lawrence O’Donnell just can’t quit Bill Clinton!
      • Do parents impose psychodramas on kids?
      • Are children being scared to death because of Tray...
      • THE STORY BEGINS: New York Times readers were gros...
      • We keep returning to this editorial!
      • What are children being told?
      • THE STORY BEGINS: Alvarez hears a second shot!
      • Summer sex scandals and gangster trials!
      • The death of a sensational Baltimore teen!
      • THE STORY BEGINS: Two shots were fired in a yellow...
      • SOCIETY DOWN: It’s time for Ben Jealous (and Crowl...
      • Teenager madness!
      • Frankly, this is Rich again!
      • Cooper’s abject refusal to speak!
      • SOCIETY DOWN: Is Anderson Cooper a journalist?
      • The bourgeois perspective of the Times!
      • Maoist TV loses ratings battle!
      • The reach and power of Standard Group Tales!
      • SOCIETY DOWN: What happened in Sanford that night?
      • Three teen-agers have been in the news!
      • Big journalists cling to their Standard Group Tales!
      • Are pundits inventing an all-white jury?
      • SOCIETY DOWN: Woodruff fails to act!
      • Toshi Seeger’s remarkable life!
      • Was Zimmerman told to stay in his car?
      • The New York Times’ latest hapless professor!
      • SOCIETY DOWN: Murderer, Corey said!
      • The fake facts never die in these cases!
      • Glenn Kessler is chasing DiMaggio’s streak!
      • Too perfect but also too awful!
      • SOCIETY DOWN: We overtake Fox!
      • Your “press corps” is almost completely incompetent!
      • You may (not) be the rational animal if!
      • The tribe and the cult will leave you insane!
      • CAN WE TALK: Kitty Genovese died for George Zimmer...
      • Jeralyn Merritt joins Plato and Lyons!
      • Plato, Lawrence O’Donnell and Hayes!
      • For an easy op-ed column, write this!
      • CAN WE TALK: Al Gore was told to stay in his car a...
      • Quite correctly, Drum disaggregates!
      • Sexy-time New York Times op-ed watch!
      • CAN WE TALK: Piers Morgan tells the story his way!
      • How the third of the once-major weeklies reported ...
      • The Washington Post needs a second fact-checker!
      • CAN WE TALK: A night in the life of the tribe!
      • What liberals are told about rising NAEP scores!
      • A remarkable letter to the Times!
      • CAN WE TALK: Can we function as a people?
      • The Zimmerman trial versus haute couture week!
      • DAZED MEETS CONFUSED: Pesudoliberal contempt!
      • The return of the (former) mansion chef!
      • We assume Chris Hayes is perfectly bright!
      • DAZED MEETS CONFUSED: Uncaring, incompetent!
      • LIBERTIES: A 21-year-old intern is stalking the land!
      • What is time? While we’re at it, what is justice?
      • Zimmerman directed to stay in his car again!
      • DAZED MEETS CONFUSED: Brian Williams’ song!
      • Chris Hayes is becoming a showman!
      • Like Pepperidge Farm, Howard Kurtz remembers!
      • DAZED MEETS CONFUSED: Deceived and misled!
      • Howard Kurtz leaves CNN with a bang!
      • The Zimmerman trial continues today!
      • DAZED MEETS CONFUSED: Brian Williams reporting!
    • ►  June (78)
    • ►  May (79)
    • ►  April (82)
    • ►  March (69)
    • ►  February (11)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile