beltane - March 18, 2010 | 9:32 pm · Link

David Broder might like Richard Cohen’s columns, although there is a good chance he never actually reads them. By the way, my mother recently told me that David Broder was a nice, well-intentioned old man and that it was mean to pick on him. Sigh.

Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist - March 18, 2010 | 9:32 pm · Link

Cohen? Everybody likes him because he makes them laugh.

Srslychixdigit.

Jim, Foolish Literalist - March 18, 2010 | 9:34 pm · Link

Does anyone like Richard Cohen’s columns?

think… think… think….

Smarter Republicans must view Cohen as a useful idiot. I can imagine Tom Delay chuckling over RC’s 2000 column that Al Gore should concede because Republicans, specifically Delay, are meaner than Dems.

Nothing funny about his “therapeutic violence” column, which was evidence of some mental illness.

beltane - March 18, 2010 | 9:36 pm · Link

This could also apply to Ross Douthat aka Chunky Bobo. Besides Andrew Sullivan, does anyone read his column other than for the purpose of mocking him?

Linkmeister - March 18, 2010 | 9:36 pm · Link

Actually, if the Post just dumped Fred Hiatt as the page’s editor that might solve some of the problems. Surely a new editorial page editor would want to bring in “new blood,” wouldn’t he or she?

Ron Beasley - March 18, 2010 | 9:37 pm · Link

Washington Post OP-ED page = washed up pundit welfare.

Anne Laurie - March 18, 2010 | 9:38 pm · Link

Richard “Caligula’s Horse” Cohen is the starchy filler in the Kaplan Daily’s sausage—there’s nothing objectionable about his columns except that they’re taking up space that should be occupied by something meatier.

And I believe that Cohen’s place-holder qualities are exactly what’s endeared him to the WaPo lords of the Media Village. Publishing Cohen columns is their way of telling their readers that, yes, they could do better, but they don’t feel like it and we can’t make them. He is the insult added to the multifocal injuries of his fellow WaPo columnists.

DougJ - March 18, 2010 | 9:40 pm · Link

@beltane:

I cede to no one in my dislike of Chunky David Brooks, but he’s nowhere near as bad as Richard Cohen. Scarier, yes. If you asked me who of the two is more likely to barricade himself in his home, shoot at the police, and issue confused manifestos, before torching the place, killing all within, I would go with Douthat. But his columns are much better than Cohen’s.

Litlebritdifrnt - March 18, 2010 | 9:41 pm · Link

Really stupid question but isn’t this a bit like Gordon and Marcus sitting in an Indian Restaurant at 1am waiting for the newspaper reviews of their new restaurant coming out? I mean how many people pay attention to this stuff? We are all wonks, obviously, and we have all been rivetted by twitter today seeing how a “no” turned to a “yes”, but in all seriousness how many of the vast majority of the population of the US even gives a shit? How many of the population of the US even KNOW that this stuff is going on? My guess is about 1% at best. The rest of them are just going to work, doing their jobs, and watching American Idol.

Napoleon - March 18, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link

@Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle:

or Myerson.

But regardless the less of the WaPo the better.

beltane - March 18, 2010 | 9:47 pm · Link

@DougJ: True. Douthat is mostly just silly whereas Cohen is toxic.

Brian J - March 18, 2010 | 9:47 pm · Link

I don’t know the last time I read a Richard Cohen column, so I can’t say. In fact, the last time I read a Post column regularly was when I did a research composition on newspaper columnists and picked George Will, not really knowing who he was.

I’m sure there are a lot of great columnists out there, but the Internet isn’t short on opinions, to say the least. And many of them are even expert. So is there really a need for a lot of newspaper columnists? I’m not sure how they make, but wouldn’t the money be better spent by contributing to the budget for investigations by one or two (at minimum) really good reporters? I don’t expect this to happen any time soon, but perhaps a major paper could turn its opinion section into something like The Huffington Post and divert the resources into something that most ordinary people can’t do, which is actual news gathering and reporting.

Jim, Foolish Literalist - March 18, 2010 | 9:47 pm · Link

Actually, I remember Richard Reeves years ago saying that he thought Cohen was overdue for a Pulitzer. I like Reeves, and I wonder when I read his columns if he still thinks Cohen should get a Pulitzer.

Ash Can - March 18, 2010 | 9:57 pm · Link

Does anyone like Richard Cohen’s columns?

Who?

jl - March 18, 2010 | 10:01 pm · Link

Richard Cohen is a spoof. He is long running David Letterman absurd comedy gag.

Everyone knows this.

Mark S. - March 18, 2010 | 10:17 pm · Link

Here’s a Cohen column where he refutes the notion that Israel is an apartheid state:

The West Bank, more or less under Israeli military rule, is a different matter. But it is not part of Israel proper, and under every conceivable peace plan—including those proposed by Israeli governments—almost all of it will revert to the Palestinian Authority and become the heartland of a Palestinian state.

See, you can’t really count what Israel is doing in the West Bank because it’s not part of Israel, even though it more or less controls it militarily, and it won’t be part of it in the future (stop pointing at those settlements!)—hey, why don’t we talk about how awful Saudi Arabia is to women?

freelancer (itouch) - March 18, 2010 | 10:19 pm · Link

@beltane:

This could also apply to Ross Douthat aka Chunky Bobo. Besides Andrew Sullivan, does anyone read his column other than for the purpose of mocking him?

wasn’t it sully who posted shrill Larison in response to Mr. Witherspoon’s obviously silly tract about comity and naïveté? I think even he is having a frustrating time carrying water for idiots like Ross and Megan.

gnomedad - March 18, 2010 | 10:25 pm · Link

OT, Michael Moore is fat.

binzinerator - March 18, 2010 | 10:30 pm · Link

Assuming the existence of an infinitely idiotic Fred Hiatt, can a Hiatt-hired columnist write a column so inane that Hiatt himself cannot read it?

An affirmative answer to this could very well become the benchmark for determining the existence of the Wingularity.

It’s a bit like an inverted Turing Test.

Sly - March 18, 2010 | 10:35 pm · Link

People who have an emotional attachment to conventional wisdom like reading Richard Cohen. I’d say the same for Broder, Friedman, Ignatius, Joe Klein, etc. This isn’t to say that all of these writers are fully wed to the conventional wisdom on every subject at all times, or that even what they’re writing is either conventional or wisdom in any respect. A lot of it is just the common perception within the circle of NY/DC local elites, unconsciously framed as conventional wisdom.

Anyway, it’s that they ultimately prefer the safety of being associated with it, for a variety of reasons. As do their loyal readers.

ajr22 - March 18, 2010 | 10:36 pm · Link

OT Why does Hannity hate the troops? http://bit.ly/bBbsOI

R. Johnston - March 18, 2010 | 10:48 pm · Link

Richard’s column is one that only a mother could like. Per Cohen’s infamous Bernie Madoff column, he graduated high school in 1958. I don’t find any information about his mom in a quick search, but if Cohen was born in 1940 or 41, she’s significantly more likely than not to be dead by now. Therefore we can conclude that the chances are indeed quite slim that anyone, anywhere, likes Richard’s column.

Sly - March 18, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link

@ajr22:

The guy went on to tell me about Hannity’s “Freedom Concerts,” which are staged across the country with the proceeds going to children of slain soldiers. Of course, as the guy tells it, there’d be a lot more money every concert to go to the cause if Hannity didn’t demand–and get–use of a Gulfstream 5 plane to fly him and his family/entourage to the concerts; a “fleet” (that’s the word the guy used) of either Cadillac or Lincoln SUVs for him and his family/entourage; and several suites at really expensive hotels for him and his family/entourage. The promoter apparently values Hannity’s star demands at well over $200,000 per event. The source says he heard that Oliver North pulled Hannity aside at one of the concerts and told him that this had to stop. But that may mean that, from now on, Hannity has to fly on a G4 instead of a G5, gets only a few luxury SUVs, and two or three suites.

When Oliver North tells you that you’re acting like a self-serving asshole….

Glenn Burke - March 18, 2010 | 11:19 pm · Link

Richard Cohen provides fodder for Wonkette. What better qualification could he strive for?

SRW1 - March 19, 2010 | 6:03 am · Link

“... is it possible that there exists a creature who likes Richard Cohen’s columns.”

You sort of answered your own question: Fred Hiatt. Or maybe Cohen has something on him.

Doctor Science - March 19, 2010 | 8:48 am · Link

@ajr22:

Get your umbrellas, folks, the pigs are cleared for liftoff. Debbie Schlussel has done actual investigative journalism. Hot damn, wonders really will never cease.

I hope she mounts Hannity’s malodorous hide on her wall.

Howlin Wolfe - March 19, 2010 | 1:29 pm · Link

@beltane: “Chunky Bobo” is an NYT writer, isn’t he? Either way, I love the moniker! Inanity, pomposity, concern trolling, and cluelessness all rolled into one – Bobo or C-Bo, take your pick.