The best part of this has to be Brooks' response: I was just kidding. You know, the part where I made those claims? Where it really looked like I was saying I couldn't spend more than $20 on dinner? No, I wasn't saying that at all! It was a joke.
What a doofus. Can we please give his column to someone else, Uncle Punch?
Ouch! This steams me up, as I've passed on that $20 "fact" to others. It seemed so vivid and telling -- vivid like Steven Glass!
hrough his articles, a best-selling book, and now a twice-a-week column in what is arguably journalism's most prized locale, the New York Times op-ed page...
Does anyone who knows better than me know if this is true? When I first read it, it seemed like a truism. Then I thought, maybe it's a Brooks truism. But if it is, how sad. I mean, Friedman, Dowd, Safire, (Brooks), I guess Kristoff has his moments...I'm not going to say Hebert, because I really enjoyed his last column. I have mixed feelings about Krugman: on one hand, I appreciate that he continually drives a very important point that people need reminded of. On the other, could he, just every once in awhile, write about something else? Anyway, the point is, not exactly a stellar lineup, especially for "journalism's most prized locale."
Ok Michael, name me all the regular Op-Ed writers at any other publication.
touche. the only reason i know all of them *is* because they work for the NYT. it's certainly not because i read them often, anymore.
ogged, you're right that the NYT is the pinnacle for opinion writers, and Michael, you're right about the dreadfulness of the current occupants. The Post has them beat hollow.