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

Maureen Dowd Banned From McCain Planes

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd was stranded in Pittsburgh. The columnist was banned from flying on both of John McCain's (who doesn't have two planes.)

"I had had a great relationship with John McCain for 16 years, through columns he liked and didn't like. So at first I thought it was a mistake and doublechecked with the press office. They said I was banned from both planes for 'the foreseeable future.' Then [McCain spokeswoman] Nicolle Wallace was gloating about it to reporters on the Palin plane," Dowd wrote in an email.

"It was disappointing because I didn't think John McCain would ever be as dismissive of the First Amendment as Dick Cheney."

Think again.

The famous McCain temper is getting out of control.

The Trouble With the Times

The key to understanding Thomas Friedman is that he is a buffoonish clown. His proposal of offering the "Bin Laden Scholars" scholarship program for Middle Eastern students is highly offense and unproductive. Any serious thinker would know that universities would be terrified being assiociated with any scholarship named after a man responsible for the murder of thousands. Offering free education to young Middle Easterners has positive merits. Friedman's brainstorm is flaky. Even coming from an auther whom wrote the factually inaccurate book The World Is Flat.

Friedman nearly tops the "Bin Laden Scholars" op-ed with his latest opus.

I have no idea who is going to win the Democratic presidential nomination, but lately I’ve been wondering whether, if it is Barack Obama, he might want to consider keeping Dick Cheney on as his vice president.

Friedman once was a serious Middle Eastern journalist. The time has come to put him out to pasture. A twenty year-old blogger can write better columns than this drivel. Friedman isn't pushing interesting ideas or so great wordsmith that can get any with faulty arguments.

The New York Times op-ed section is New Orleans after Katrina. There is one disaster after the other. Maureen Dowd compared Hillary Clinton to a dominatrix. David Brooks wrote a highly dishonest defense of Ronald Reagan's Philadelphia, Mississippi campaign kickoff. The town is famous for the murders of three civil rights activists. Racists legally used state rights to block segregation. T

The paper of record can do better than this. There are sensential that could make The Times op-eds pages relevant again. The talent pool at The American Prospect and within the paper is a good place to start looking for replacements. The newest columnist is John Tierney. His writing is so bad it's good. Not qualities that should apply to Murderers' Row.

“When you hear politicians calling you an addict and warning that you'll be cut off, try my plan for energy independence…. After you fill up your tank, twist the rear-view mirror so you can gaze at yourself. Repeat these words: ‘I'm good enough, I'm rich enough, and doggone it, people in the Middle East like my money.’"

The above quoted text is reason why fewer people read newspaper op-ed sections.

Straight Shooters

Tennessee Guerilla Women has a Maureen Dowd op-ed and it's a killer.

By the way, the New York Times Select sucks ass.