Radar Digs Up Corpse Of Joe Klein, Kills It Again

The story so far: A few days ago, Time Magazine's Joe Klein wrote a bunch of stuff about the Democrats and the FISA bill that managed to confuse and depress everyone with a brain. Salon's Glenn Greenwald staged his own version of the Night of the Long Knives, devoting a week's worth of writing to leading the charge of outrage. Klein later took to the Swampland blog to explain that all the issues were, like, totally complicated, and that he didn't have the time or the desire to learn anything about the topic. Time ended up having to write a correction, which was later followed by a correction to the correction, neither of which were technically corrective. And then, presumably, they handed Joe Klein a big fat paycheck anyway.

Well, whatever part of Klein that remained untrammeled by the Dresden-like firestorm of last week has been filleted anew by Radar today. And, admirably, Radar's John Cook takes in the fullness of Klein's online oeuvre, and discovers a man with bottomless vanity and who is both "preposterously arrogant and ham-fisted," and "insufferably cloying." In one of many, many serrated lines of analysis, Cook says: "Combine that posturing style with a vanishingly thin skin, put it online, and you get the periodic hissy fits that have seized Klein since he started blogging." Frankly, it makes Greenwald's attacks seem respectful by comparison. And maybe no respect is deserved. As Cook relates:

In a bizarre and revealing podcast that Time posted on Swampland as a companion to the column, Klein railed wildly against the insolence of those who dared to criticize his reporting, repeating four times that he'd been doing this for 38 years, which is apparently long enough to have earned the right to be wrong without people hassling you about it.

Indeed, it's pretty fatuous of Klein to fall back on thirty-eight years of experience when a few additional hours spent actually learning something about what the hell he was writing about would have spared him a trip to the iron maiden. But hey, act in dumbass haste, repent in dumbass leisure.

Comments

[ProfessorDuh]

Klein has the principles of vomit.

[swift goat pet for truth]

Paul Krugman's version of Time's "correction" (paraphrased):
"I say I'm 6'4" and slim. Other people say I'm 5'7" and fat. Different people have different opinions."

Time mag also refused to allow responses from Dem Senator and Dem Congressmen. I guess Time is suggesting that only their lies count, and the truth is not allowed.

[MinerSam]

klien can be creditted for the erroneous remark that for the last 28 years its been Clinton, Bush, Clinton, Bush.....
(which the dysfunctional talking heads grasp on to as if original)

At the same time he failed to point out that (1) Republicans have been controlling the Executive branch for 20 out of the last 28 years, as well as the following:

(2) Since George Washington our government has accrued $9Trillion in debt and that 70% of it has been under REAGAN, BUSH1, and BUSH2!
And that 25% of people's pay checks is going to pay the interest on the so called conservative debt.

The other thing Mr. Klien is responsible is an offort to stop Democrats from Framing the issues consisely.

While the Democrats only have 1 Talking Point
Period (We can do better) versus 3 a day for the Republicans, when someone suggested a another one (I believe: Democracy Starts at Home) He mocked it as a part of his book tour.

[footsore]

Was he ever a legitmate journalist? Or are we just looking back and assessing him in the vane of whores and old buildings? They gain respect with age.
footsore

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

What does it matter? These 'elite' pundits never lose their jobs no matter how wrong they are. Is their any wonder people are relying on the blogs more and more?

[johnson1]

I read the Swampland pretty much every day and don't recall ever seeing a Klein podcast. Do you have a link?

[elkabong]

He's called Joke Line for a reason.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"Klein railed wildly against the insolence of those who dared to criticize his reporting, repeating four times that he'd been doing this for 38 years"

Long enough to be connected with Operation Mockingbird?

[ebbasta]

used to like him. now i know he's full of shit and a hack for the clintons. how pathetic they all look trying to relive their hey days in the 90s. oh what misery..

[TXfemmom]

Screw Klein, and not in a good way.

He is insufferably arrogant, and thoroughly discredited as a legitimate journalist.