Altercation

Slacker Friday

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new Think Again column here called "Conservatives Know the Real Origin of Swine Flu."

This morning I put up this piece on that lunatic Michele Bachmann and I did a short 100 Days post for the Daily Beast.

CHARLES PIERCE
NEWTON, MA.

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May 1, 2009

The Mexicali Blues

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new Think Again column here called "Conservatives Know the Real Origin of Swine Flu."

And I did a short 100 Days post for the Daily Beast.

What I've been seeing:

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April 30, 2009

Slacker Friday, Jumbo Edition

By Eric Alterman

I've got a new "Think Again" column called "The DHS Report: Torturing the Truth" here and I've got a new Nation column about the New York Times Company, the Boston Globe and the craziness of the current situation in the newspaper business called "The Newspaper Biz: More Poison Please?" here

Also, here on the Daily Beast, I criticize a Times story that pretends to be about Obama selling out but in fact is about the fact that the Times chose to put a story on its front page that has a theme but absolutely no substance. And in this piece I refute yet another round of sloppy and misleading charges that Izzy Stone was a spy. And today I did this column about William Kristol and the art of failing upward in conservative American for the Guardian, and it's here. Oh, and the finalists for the Mirror awards for covering the media were announced this week and my work appeared in two categories: Best Single Article--Traditional for "Out of Print" (The New Yorker), and Best Commentary--Digital for a series of columns on the legacy of the Bush war against the press for the Center for American Progress, which are here. All of the nominees can be found here. One of the many fun aspects of an extremely fun job--that of New York Times op-ed page pundit--is the ability to just say stuff that may or may not be true but which you are under no obligation to demonstrate as such. Given the temptation, almost all pundits yield to this, and--surprise, surprise--not only does much of what they claim turn out to be false, but it also, by coincidence, matches almost exactly their own stated political prejudices. Is David Brooks the worst offender? I couldn't say. But I would say that you can't get away with this so easily in the blogosphere. Brooks would have to link to his sources, which I'm guessing, are either misread or imaginary. For instance this morning, he writes:

"There is little philosophical backing for a government as activist as the one Obama is proposing. Middle-class voters are not willing to hand over higher taxes in exchange for more federal services. The public is significantly to Obama's right on economic matters and needs constant evidence that he is not trespassing on personal freedom and individual responsibility."

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April 24, 2009

What Passes for News

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new "Think Again" column called "The DHS Report: Torturing the Truth," here and I've got a new Nation column about the New York Times company, the Boston Globe and the craziness of the current situation in the newspaper business called "The Newspaper Biz: More Poison Please?" here.

Also, here on The Daily Beast, I criticize a Times story that pretends to be about Obama selling out, but in fact is about the fact that the Times chose to put a story on its front page that has a theme but absolutely no substance. And in this piece, I refute yet another round of sloppy and misleading charges that Izzy Stone was a spy.

The finalists for the Mirror award for covering the media were announced this week and my work appeared in two categories: Best Single Article--Traditional for "Out of Print" (The New Yorker), and Best Commentary--Digital for a series of columns on the legacy of the Bush war against the press for the Center for American Progress, which are here. All of the nominees can be found here.

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April 23, 2009

Slacker Friday

By Eric Alterman

We've got a new "Think Again" column called " It's Still the Bush Economy" about the proclivity of so many in the media to treat this economic crisis as if it were caused by Obama, rather than Bush, here and I did posts for the Daily Beast arguing that:

a) The release of the torture memos here and
b) It's OK to love France (and San Francisco) again here and
c) There may be an actual political strategy behind Obama's willingness to overload the political system with far more legislation than he can possibly pass here

Now Here's Pierce

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April 17, 2009

Piracy: The Military Options

By Eric Alterman

Major Bob is back, too.

But first, we've got a new "Think Again" column called " It's Still the Bush Economy" about the proclivity of so many in the media to treat this economic crisis as if it were caused by Obama, rather than Bush, here and I did posts for the Daily Beast arguing that:

a) Obama should release the torture memos here and
b) It's OK to love France (and San Francisco) again here and
c) There may be an actual political strategy behind Obama's willingness to overload the political system with far more legislation than he can possibly pass here

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April 16, 2009

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