Richard Cohen Displays Delicate, Wafer-Thin Skin

Via Yglesias, it seems that Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen has soured on the whole notion that he should be subject to criticism, and has decided to simply start insulting people:

"If you're a little bit critical of Barack Obama, you get really a pie of vilification right in the face," Cohen said, adding that his liberal critics "were born too late, because they would have been great communists."

At first blush, I'm afraid I have to return to one of my constant refrains: No, this simply isn't as funny as Stephen Colbert.

But more to the point, the problem with Cohen's "critical" take on Obama is that it's simply vastly uninformed. Whether Cohen's smart enough to realize this is something he's basically copped to in his own writing. I've pointed it out before, in the wake of an article he wrote at the end of July:

But here's what Cohen's editors should know: the man is repeating himself. Today's fulmination hinges on the idea that Obama is "unknown." "I know that Barack Obama is a near-perfect political package," Cohen says, "I'm still not sure, though, what's in it." Back in January, Cohen was saying the same fracking thing: "But the rap on Obama is that he is a fog of a man. We know little about him, and, for all my admiration of him, I wonder about his mettle."

Well, at this risk of being called a Stalinist, I may as well refile my complaint of July:

At what point does Cohen's failure to know Obama cease to be the candidate's fault and come to be properly seen as a function of a columnist's utter laziness?

Indeed, one realizes that Cohen is not the sort of intellectual you should count on to serve as a bulwark against totalitarianism.

RELATED:
I'm a Brilliant, Original, and Idiosyncratic Thinker But Don't Ever Disagree With Me [Yglesias]

PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST:
WaPo's Richard Cohen Continues Empty Headed Flacking Of McCain

Comments

[SCG2]

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit
of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor
is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."

-Abraham Lincoln December 3, 1861 - Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress


"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to
tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of
corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the Country will
endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until
the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed."

- Abraham Lincoln

Of course, I'll hold my breath for Cohen's official pronouncment, but who knew Lincoln was a communist too?

Call me old fashion, but I'll take Lincoln's council, over Cohen's petty biased nonsense.

[Hirnlego]

Communist? Cohen lives in the past.

[arvay]

My guess is he's still eating neocon digestive residue after having written this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071701154.html

one of the few really sober assessments of our nutty Mideast foreign policy. The AIPAC thugs have shown they are experts at intimidation, and this looks like a frightened man who keeps blinking and blinking.

[lovethesinner]

He's a regular guest on "Morning Joe." Doesn't that qualify as proof?

[Tommygun264]

This guy isn't used to being criticized by now? He doesn't get out enough.

[DocWylie]

I expected to read "what, me worry?" under the authors picture

[Bettysdad]

You have "Cohen" and "intellectual" separated by only four words.

They shouldn't be in the same piece.

[ajax2]

The long time supporter of the Bush murders in Iraq calls his critics communists, even O'reilly and Fox have given up on finding communists. Richard Cohen, just another example of how low the U.S. media has sunk.

[VivaZapata]

Red baiting is never out of style, not even when there is no world wide communist conspiracy. Although I do not accept the premiss that communism is inevitable, Marx must have really touched a nerve somewhere for these jerks to get so worked up about it even after the collapse of so many so-called communist governments.

[GoCards1978]

You could've added "vapid" to your description of Richard Cohen. Talk about an empty shell...he's it.

[kcirderr]

Barack Obama's friends are Jerimiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Father Flagger & Tony Resko. To me character is an issue.
Barack will make the USA weaker both economically and militarily.
The USA helps other countries more than any other on the planet through economic and humanitarian aid. A weaker America will not allow us to continue to provide that help. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the world will think of us when we have to say "sorry we can't help you this time, we don't have the resources."
Barrack Obama is a Socialist. He spent time in Hawaii with a known Communist and studied Marxists theory. He could send $25.00 to his half brother in Kenya thereby doubling his half brothers annual income. So much for his "what you do for the least of my brethern you do for me" comment.

Where has Socialism worked better than the freedoms we enjoy in the USA? We are becoming a divided nation & are not invinceable. I remind you of the fall of the Roman Empire. The USA is the one country where we enjoy freedom of speech. Permit me to remind you who the 'Bad Guys' are. The radical Muslims attacked us on 9/11. If you say bad things about them they will cut your head off. The radical Muslims want to take over the world. I'd love to see how you far left extremeists would survive under their rules.

[jOke]

sheep!

[jOke]

ur a fool... and a sheep.

[SneathLane]

There is so much information out there about Obama's life, his economic policies, his foreign policies, his taste in breakfast, etc. that it's pretty obvious that the "he's unknown" comment is code for "I don't know how a black man will act as President".

That's the only major way in which Obama is "unknown" at this point.

I sincerely hope that voters who are worried about his racial background, and who fear anti-white or ant-hispanic or pro-black actions from him as president take a good look at his long and public history.

McCain is much more likely to hurt the lives of white working Americans than Obama. Much more likely. McCain is ideologically opposed to government actions which protect all citizens from polluters, food adulterers and natural resource destroyers.

McCain is the truly anti-white candidate, if that's what you're worried about.

[jeanrenoir]

Cohen must be a typical journalistic agent of AIPAC, trying to smear Obama in a "liberal" way, in order to elect the new ventriloquist's dummy for Likud, McCain. The idea that Obama is "unknown" is absolutely absurd. Did we "know" Clinton or Bush so much better when they first ran for president? Did we "know" Kennedy more? AIPAC is in panic because Likud is determined either to bomb Iran itself, or, better, have its new ventriloquist dummy American president, McCain (but Hillary would have worked just as well), "obliterate" Iran for them. In any case, Israel is desperate to have someone either do the dirty deed for them or defend them to the hilt when Americans suddenly get $12 gas at the pump as a result, not to mention wiped out world stock markets which destroy their retirement, etc. Israel is desperate to have a president to defend them from American wrath by spinning it all the way Israel needs it spun, in order to deflect the incredible rage Americans will feel from the economic fallout of this fiasco with Iran.

[rosal]

Typical MSM tr0//. He ran out of subjects, and since his creativity must be non-existent, he has to repeat the same thing 59 times, hoping nobody would notice. How do these lazy, brainless leeches, keep their job?

[fedupwiththis]

"I don't know much about Senator Obama" are quickly become the accepted code words for some very unpleasant aspects of our national zeitgeist.