Gene Lyons: Celebrity pundits are on their way out

[CatWoman]

Gene kicks ass.

This is a very good opinion piece.

This president loves dishing it out. The Associated Press reporter who introduced Colbert told an anecdote about Bush teasing him at a press conference for having “a face for radio.” Ha, ha, ha. Good one, Mr. President. He is awfully homely. Colbert’s performance, however, made it clear that Bush doesn’t enjoy taking it.

Well, tough. Millions of Americans haven’t enjoyed being subjected to Bush’s swaggeringly contemptuous disregard for the truth. Nor, to come to the point, the posturing of media enablers like Cohen, a liberal columnist who wrote in 2000 that the nation was “in dire need of a conciliator, a likable guy who will make things better and not worse.... That man is George W. Bush.”

The larger point is that Beltway courtiers like Cohen, Time’s Joe Klein and others currently succumbing to the vapors over critical e-mails from fans thrilled by Colbert’s gutsy performance are on their way out. The brief reign of the celebrity pundit began with cable TV and appears to be ending with the Internet. Washington socialites are quickly being replaced in public esteem by politically oriented bloggers like Josh Marshall, Kevin Drum, the inimitable Digby, Glenn Greenwald, Billmon, Atrios and many others.

As Greg Sargent recently pointed out in The American Prospect, “Readers are choosing between the words on a screen offered by Klein and other commentators and the words on a screen offered by bloggers on the basis of one thing alone: The quality of the work.” Sure, there’s a danger of groupthink. That’s true of all mass media. But there’s also a fierce independence and an intellectual honesty among the best online commentators that are making Washington courtiers awfully nervous.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/154258/

[Spazito]

1. LOL, He had my complete attention from his opening sentences...

"In my experience, there’s no bigger

bunch of crybabies in American

public life than the fops and courtiers of our Washington press corps. If Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner did nothing else, it surely proved that."


I absolutely love Gene Lyons, have ever since he took on the right wing during the Clinton impeachment. That man does NOT mince words and I love it!

[Dudley_DUright]

2. Great piece CW

Gene was right but totally ignored all through the Clinton years when he was trying to tell celebrity pundits that there was absolutely nothing to whitewater. Of course, he is right again. I would take Gene and Joe Conason (and all of the bloggers he mentions) over any number of high priced courtiers like Cohen and Klein.

[CatWoman]

3. here, here Dudley!!

I would take Gene and Joe Conason (and all of the bloggers he mentions) over any number of high priced courtiers like Cohen and Klein.

[Cha]

4. Calling cohen a "liberal columnist" is

is like saying "Jon Stewart is a rw twit who never investigates what's goin' on"!

[CatWoman]

5. Cohen actually does claim to be "liberal"

as does Joe Klein :puke:

[Cha]

6. They can "claim" all they want..

just like tom delay claims he "didn't do it".

klein and cohen suck the elephant eggs, big time.

[MADem]

7. Beltway fops and courtiers, indeed!!!!

And ya know what their problem is, ASIDE from their cravenly whorish attitudes and their refusal to get with the times??? They are NOT ready for TV. They never have been. They all look alike, sound alike, and they are gonna feel the pain when those appearance fees on the talking head shows stop being a regular feature of their bank balances.

Who wants to listen to the meanderings of a dinosaur with bad teeth, when you can get cogent opinions, biting humor, and infotainment from someone who knows how to hit the mark, has strong physical communications skills, and is experienced in front of a camera...like Colbert. It's a whole package, not just a flapping jaw.

[myrna minx]

8. "succumbing to the vapors " LOL! "fops and courtiers"

Oh me oh my that was a true pleasure to read. LOL!

[Inland]

9. "Courtiers" is the perfect word.

These press guys are in the business of getting close to the person who can give them what they need, like minor nobility buzzing around the Sun King at Versailles.

[Inland]

10. "Courtiers" is the perfect word.

These press guys are in the business of getting close to the person who can give them what they need, like minor nobility buzzing around the Sun King at Versailles.

[myrna minx]

11. Isn't it though?

:rofl: