Slacker Friday

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new "Think Again column called, ""Will-ful Ignorance, Round 26," and it's about George Will's shameful global warming columns and Fred Hiatt's defense of them, and it's here.

My new Nation column is here and it's an argument for newspapers to give up on making a profit, stop pretending their editorial endorsements matter to anyone and embrace a nonprofit model for survival.

I also did a post for the Daily Beast about the impressive shamelessness--I assume it's that rather than foolishness--of Bush ex-flacks Michael Gerson, Karl Rove and David Frum, etc. That's here.

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April 10, 2009

Slacker Friday

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new "Think Again Column called "Mice, Playing: The Decline of Skeptical Journalism," and it's here. And I did a post for the Daily Beast on the contretemps over Vanity Fair's profile of Arthur Sulzberger called "Stop Picking on Pinch," here.

I don't think there's been enough talk about how great Gershom Gorenberg's big piece in the Weekly Standard on why there's never been a Palestinian Gandhi. It's here...

As someone who has immersed himself in the literature of this conflict, it's the best piece I've read in years. I sent it to my friend Kai Bird, who is finishing a memoir of his life growing up in the Middle East and so reading everything about the conflict everywhere and he said the same thing. Anyone with even the slightest interest in Israel and Palestine would not want to miss it.

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April 3, 2009

Slacker Friday

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new Think Again here. It's called "Cable News Blues." My Nation column, comparing Jon Stewart with yes, Edward R. Murrow, is here, and I did a post about Obama's press conference for The Daily Beast, here. Oh and I did an interview with TPMTV about the Israel Lobby here. Oh, and if you didn't make it into the Nation column, here is the key line:

PS: Don't tell my publisher, but Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Most Important Ideals is out in paperback.

Josh Silver

Hi Eric,

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March 27, 2009

I’ve Got a Right to Sing the Blues…

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new Think Again here. It's called "Cable News Blues."   My Nation column, comparing Jon Stewart with yes, Edward R. Murrow, is here, and I did a post about Obama's press conference for The Daily Beast, here. Oh and I did an interview with TPMTV about the Israel Lobby here. Oh, and if you didn't make it into the Nation column, here is the key line:

PS: Don't tell my publisher, but Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Most Important Ideals is out in paperback. 

The Beast piece comes up in this interview with CNN's Jack Cafferty here:

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March 26, 2009

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

By Eric Alterman

Big Alter-media week: We've got a new called "Think Again column called "Remember Real Journalism," and it's here.

We did a BHTV episode with our new conservative buddy Reihan, called What's on a Man's Mind?" here and we appeared on a panel at the 92nd street Y on Monday night called "Why We Need a Liberal Israel Lobby," and that's on video here and Phil Weiss has a great deal to say about it here and then I gave a few quotes to Michael Calderone of Politico for this story--note the only fellow in the cartoon scowling--which has the right wing internetz buzzing with much enjoyable hysteria. Were one to read too much of it, one would lament the fate of western civilization, such as it is. Our smart new conservative friend Reihan, has a good post here as does Peter Suderman here and, oh, this one is funny too. I have nothing much to say though. I proposed it as a column for my editors. They said no. You get what you pay for, literally (See below). Suffice to say that if we were really conspiring to run the world, we'd do a better job of things.

Siva found this: Merle Haggard & Johnny Cash

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March 19, 2009

Slacker Friday

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new Think Again: Whose News Is It, Anyway? and a new Nation column called "It Can Happen Here," here.

Speaking of music on TV, I know we've crowed a great deal about Elvis Costello's Spectacle, on Sundance--all of whose episodes are available if you get "Free Movies on Demand"--but what is also really great is The Chris Isaak Show on the Biography show; it's got an ever-so slightly more relaxed feel than Elvis's show  but otherwise it's pretty much exactly the same deal, except with commercials. And it appears to be produced by my long lost friend and Cornell Daily Sun editor, David Wild. This week's guest was the great Glenn Campbell.

Ok, that's enough of me, here's Pierce.

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March 13, 2009

America's Weapons of Wit

By Eric Alterman

Think Again: Whose News Is It, Anyway? and a new Nation column called "It Can Happen Here," here.

Alter-reviews:

America's Weapons of Wit: Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, (Rhino) reviewed by Zoe Zenowich

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March 12, 2009

Rush and Coulter = Howe and Harrington? Really?

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new Think Again column here and it is called "The Other Meltdown: Conservatives." And I've got a new column in Moment called "Israeli Films Boldly Go Where Few Politicians Dare," and that's here

Take a look at this video and ask yourself how stupid the Neocons could have been to think that the best thing for the Iraqis would be for the United States to tell them what to do with their country. You can't even blame the guy in it. He's doing the job he was trained for; he just wasn't trained for this job.

Speaking of war supporters who call the rest of us stupid, on The New Yorker's blog, George Packer writes:

This clip from the weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference reminds me exactly of what meetings of the Democratic Socialists of America sounded like in the nineteen-eighties. Just substitute "free-market capitalism" for "big government," "the New Deal" for "the era of Reagan," and everything else--the defensive contempt toward popular rule, the retreat into the comfort of a purified "philosophy," the denunciations of unnamed appeasers within the ranks, the call to "stamp out" middle-way weaklings--is the same.

I wonder if Packer might want to revisit this one. He may have traveled quite a distance from his former friends and political values, personally, but does he really wish to equate Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter with Michael Harrington, Irving Howe, Cornel West, Ron Dellums, Harold Meyerson, Marc Levinson, JoAnn Mort, etc. It is not an uncommon trait in political pilgrims to heap contempt on their former selves, but I think Packer might wish to rethink this one.

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March 5, 2009

Slacker Friday

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new "Think Again" column here called, "Thank God for Gitmo." I've also got a new Nation column called "War is Over (If You Want It) here.

Name: Charles Pierce
Hometown: Newton, MA.

Hey Doc:

"Here come the Wild Tchoupitoulas/ Here come the uptown rulers."

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: "My People Need A Second Line" (Dr. John) --Laissez les bon temps and all that. It was Mardi Gras, and my friend Wright Thompson rode a lead float through the streets of the city I love more than David Brooks loves the sizzling of the suburban barbecues in his head.

Short Takes

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February 27, 2009

Strange Victory, Strange Defeat

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new "Think Again" column here called, "Thank God for Gitmo."

I've also got a new Nation column called "War is Over (If You Want It) here. I really like the hed of the Nation column, though I'm guessing a tiny number of people will get the (relatively) old farty historical reference. Had I wanted to appear hip to the young folk, I could have used "Strange Victory, Strange Defeat" which is a pretty excellent song by the Silver Jews, one of the few newish bands for whom I've developed an appreciation. But I guess I yam what I yam...

I read this at Today's Papers this morning: The WP's David Broder writes that Obama's speech on Tuesday "was a dramatic reminder of the unbelievable stakes he has placed on the table in his first month in office." Veteran lawmakers know how difficult it is to get one ambitious piece of legislation through Congress, but on Tuesday they heard how Obama wants them to overhaul energy, health care, and education. Oh yeah, and there's that little problem with the economy and some wars being fought on foreign soil. "Is he naive? Does he not understand the political challenge he is inviting?" writes Broder. "When we elected Obama, we didn't know what a gambler we were getting."

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February 26, 2009