Since we’ve been on a rant against the establishment media, Phillipe + Jorge count ourselves among the legions appalled by how the country’s purported organ of record, the New York Times, has hired William Kristol as an op-ed page columnist (?!?!).
This is the disgraceful hiring of a political operative, not a journalist. One blogger calls Bill “an intellectually bankrupt neocon shill.” Never mind that Kristol can’t even write well.
His first offering was laughably poor, and he misattributed a quote that led to the publication of a correction. Nice debut. This is a simple case of capitulation by wimp liberals to ruff-tuff right-wing conservatives, lest they creep up behind them and say “Boo!,” potentially leading folks such as the guilty parties, Times’ publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. and editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal, to pee in their Dockers.
Sulzberger and Rosenthal are merely self-absorbed New York liberal “intellectuals” throwing a sop to the Podhoretz/Kissinger/ Kristol neocon cabal, with Wolfowitz and Perle ascendant. But hey, leave Billy alone. He actually criticized the mighty NYT, yet we will still let him write for us. Wow! Bow-wow.
This was such a hideous, offensive choice of a blatant right-wing activist that even the Times’ public editor, Clark Hoyt, criticized the decision in his January 13 column (“He May be Unwelcome, But We’ll Survive”).
Phillipe + Jorge are all for airing opposing points of view, but Kristol, the unspeakable little GOP Gollum, hasn’t the smarts or the chops to warrant the opening of his mouth in the Times. Nice work, Messrs. Sulzberger and Rosenthal. You must be quite proud of yourselves. Wussies.
Do the RI bump
You gotta love how the state government layoffs show such respect for a person’s education and job skills that, once laid off, they are forced to enter into the union “bumping” scheme.
The bump allows them to take the position of a less senior employee. P+J cite the follow-up news on four Southeast Asian interpreters from the Depart¬ment of Human Services who did the bump: one retires on June 30, and one is going to a much-desired job at the Department of Motor Vehicles, while two others will be telephone operators at DHS.
That’s the way for the state to benefit from specialized abilities and training.
Three cheers for Dennis
Your superior correspondents are happy (for him) and sad (for ourselves and for Rhode Islanders) to see that our old friend Dennis Riley retired from public life on New Year’s Day.
Dennis was a top staffer for Senator Jack Reed, and before that, Senator Claiborne Pell. Witty and wise, Dennis was well known for being the first congressional aide to wear a thong and heavy mascara to work.
But on a more serious note, he is one of those folks who simply got things done behind the scenes, and who helped more people through the years than even he could keep track of — all the while retaining a great disposition and sense of humor.
You don’t miss your water, but we will miss Dennis being on patrol. Good luck in your future endeavors, you old sharpie.
