Sunday, January 16, 2005

TNR's Peter Beinart

Evan Gahr writes: Luke, almost every article in Precious Peter's The New Republic (TNR) reads like something written by grad students who think they have all the answers. Liberals say X. Conservatives say Y. They're both wrong. As usual. WSJ reporters, Washington Post veteran reporters. NYTimes. They're all wrong but only the 12 little boys at TNR know how things really are. So here's the answer.

The stuff below from TNR's website proves my point. In fact it almost looks like caricature. The other thing--I don't think Precious Peter has ever done any real reporting, as opposed to calling talking heads or think tank "scholars." Ditto for many of his staffers.

I don't by the cliche that journalists need to cover raging fires in the freezing cold before they come to DC and write opinion pieces. But they should have some kind of solid reporting excperience otherwise they're just grad students, in perpetuity.

Looks like Precious's hires also have little or no experience.


Sunday, January 16 Blinkered by Richard A. Posner Blink: The Power of
Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Saturday, January 15 Sorry, No Change by Michael Kinsley From the October 10,
1994 issue: Who lost health care reform? You did. web only

Troubled Beauty by Stanley Kauffmann The Merchant of Venice droppeth as the
gentle rain from Michael Radford.

Friday, January 14 TNR Live Upcoming appearances by TNR staffers. web only

Letter of the Day The logic behind letting Teddy Kennedy speak now about
Social Security. web only

Films Worth Seeing Howard Hughes, Shakespeare, and more. This week's movie
picks from Stanley Kauffmann. web only

Learning from Newt by Michael Crowley Once upon a time, a beleaguered
minority used discipline, ruthlessness, and media savvy to overthrow the party that
ruled Congress. What today's Democrats can learn from the Gingrich revolution.
The Road Back, the third in an occasional series.

Renaissance Twilight by Jed Perl An exhibition in Philadelphia that is as
powerful as a terrific short story. web only

Drug Abuse by Michelle Cottle The FDA contemplates a monumentally bad idea.
web only

Weighs and Means by Michael Fumento A liberal group targets the wrong culprit
on childhood obesity. web only

On Deadline by the Editors In an ideal world, Iraq would not be holding
elections on January 30. In the real world, it must.

Thursday, January 13 Weather Man by Sacha Zimmerman Michael Crichton's State
of Fear is almost uncanny in its timeliness. web only

Yes Man by Clay Risen Pundits got Rice's new deputy, Robert Zoellick, exactly
wrong. web only

Golden by Peter Beinart Arnold Schwarzenegger hands the Democrats a great
opportunity.

Reserving Judgment by Martin Peretz Are the Palestinians ready for the fresh
start circumstances demand?

Wednesday, January 12 Swann's Ways by Wyatt Mason Everyone hates
translations--especially the literalists for whom no rendering is ever faithful enough.
But can a few superfluous phrases or tonal errors bring down an entire literary
universe? What a new translation of Proust reveals about great literary style.

Sad Clown by Elbert Ventura Adam Sandler is the latest in a long line of
talented comedians who repress their best instincts to become medicore dramatic
actors. web only

What Gives by Tom Frank Conservatives insist America is generous. But their
arguments are weak. web only

Sentence Structure by Dana Mulhauser Today's Supreme Court ruling on
sentencing guidelines is a very good decision that could have very bad consequences.
web only

Stonewalled by Nathaniel Frank The Pentagon wants to fight terrorism. Just
not as much as it wants to persecute gays.

Tuesday, January 11 Mr. Burns by Michael Crowley Today President Bush named
Michael Chertoff to head the Homeland Security Department. From the March 4,
1996 issue of TNR: "You don't want to be cross-examined by Michael Chertoff."
web only

Power Play by Dan Ephron Will Mahmoud Abbas coopt Hamas or the other way
around?

Village Idiocies by Christopher Orr With The Village, M. Night Shyamalan
disappoints audiences. web only

Pyrrhic Victory by Jeremy Buchman On judicial nominations, conservatives
could lose by winning. web only

True Enough by Andrew Sullivan The proper debate isn't over whether Lincoln
was gay. It's over how gay he was. web only

Broken Contract by Quin Hillyer How Congressional Republicans betrayed the
spirit of 1994. web only

Monday, January 10 Labor Pains by the Editors Why the Bush administration's
assault on the National Labor Relations Board matters.

Tax Fraud by Jonathan Chait President Bush's proposed "tax reform" isn't tax
reform at all. It's the opposite. Just look at who's behind it.

Screen Play by Lee Siegel Finally, a show that addresses the theme of acting
seriously: "Unscripted." web only

Leap of Faith by Amy Sullivan Why Democrats can win over Mormons. web only

Home Front: The United States neeeds a system of preventive detention for suspected terrorists. Just not the Bush Administrations.

Medelin Dispatch: Mr. Nice Guy Columbia's right-wing president has won acclaim for cracking down on left-wing guerrillas. But it's the right ones he needs to worry about.

What's next? How about these?

James Earl Ray was a racist but civil rights activists criticize his assasination of Martin Luther King for all the wrong reasons.

Remember the Stephanapolous suck-up watch in which TNR quoted from particularly fulsome praise for him by journalists? Precious Peter would probably make that Journalists suck up to George Stephanapolous but not for the reasons conservatives say.

Yes, Al Sharpton lied about Tawana Brawley, but conservatives didn't tell the truth either.