The Hack Thirty

I actually thought about getting together with the Ropers to compile a list of the worst political columnists. I did a poll on a prior blog and Ann Coulter was the winner. Salon beat me and made the Hack Thirty list.

The Top Ten

Richard Cohen

Mark Halperin

Thomas Friedman

David Broder

Marty Peretz

Marc Thiessen

Jonah Goldberg

Maureen Dowd

Laura Ingraham

Peggy Noonan

Alex Pareene gives a summery to the lowlights to all of the thirty columnists

Martin Peretz Has A Dumb Idea To Deal With Dove World Outreach Center

Martin Peretz has the horrible idea that President Obama should have the Supreme Court order an injunction against the Dove World Outreach Center's plan to burn the Koran.

In fact, it is uncivilized. I believe that the Obama administration should go to the Supreme Court or maybe tactically to the most sensible and civilized appellate court and seek an injunction against this atrocity that 1. will encourage Muslim madmen to respond in kind and 2. will also encourage primitive Christians to extend and expand the auto da fé.

The Supreme Court will not even hear the case. As stupid as the plans Pastor Terry Jones and his followers are the Supreme Court is not going to rule against the church's freedom of religion and expression. There has to be a serious constitutional question for the Supreme Court to step in. The Koran burning will likely place U.S. soldiers in harm's way Providing security for U.S. military personal is the role for policymakers and the Department of Defense. The Supreme Court is to be used to rule on the law. Not to give the President free reign to silence people he disagrees with.

A legal way to stop the Koran burning is Gainesville fire ordinances. Deputy Chief Tim Hayes has already stated that the planned burning on September 11th is illegal.

Under Section 10-63, "Open burning and outdoor burning are prohibited in the City of Gainesville unless otherwise specifically permitted as provided by this article."

Peretz is the blogging equivalent of Kanye West. A post will appear online and insanity ensues.

Martin Peretz Channels Ann Coulter

Lindsay Beyerstein points out the latest piece of bile from Martin Peretz. He has the audacity to go after Mariane Pearl: the wife of slain Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Daniel Pearl.

There's a tacky story on today's "Page Six" in the New York Post about Mariane Pearl -- yes, the widow of Daniel -- and her conflicts with the Wall Street Journal. It's about money and celebrity and Mariane's desires to use the Journal as the instrument of her fame. You see, when Muslim terrorists kill your husband it's only fair to profit off his death. Wasn't that a clause in Daniel's insurance policy?

There was something that bugged me about Peretz's post. The hatefulness is standard issue Peretz. His quote reminded me of something I read somewhere. I then remembered Ann Coulter made a similar attack against the 9-11 widows known as the Jersey Girls.

These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzies. I have never seen people enjoying their husbands’ death so much.

Peretz and Coulter feel it is their patriotic obligation to spit venom at those that have been personally victimized by terrorism. They are so emotionally insecure that they need to go after women that have questioned America's post-9-11 national security. Years from now, people will read the vicious things Peretz and Coulter wrote and wonder just how fucked up these Bush apologists are.

Lindsay accuses Peretz of being sexist. I'm not going to argue the point. I just think that is the beginning of his problems. Peretz tells everyone within shouting distance he is a diehard Democrat. He ran a publication that's specialty is bashing Democrats and producing Left-wing haters such as Michael Kelly, Andrew Sullivan, and Mickey Kaus. His publication had fact-check problems with Stephen Glass, Ruth Shalit and Scott Thomas Beauchamp that could be spotted by a high school editor.

Peretz has long ties to the American Enterprise Institute, publicly defended the convicted Lewis "Scooter" Libby, accused Jimmy Carter of being an Anti-Semite and a list of misdeeds goes on. Any respectable would of had Peretz removed for his conflict of interests and turning the New Republic into a money-losing laughing stock. Washington operates under a different set of rules. No other major American publication would let a former publisher run blog posts that makes Instapundit seem civil.

Eric Alterman's article of Peretz and the TNR horror show is worthy of reading.

A big thanks to Eric Alterman for linking to this post.