Jay Rosen asks if my post on the profusion of mediocre NYT columns means I'm giving up on the DarkTimes feature. Nope. There's still a lot of important stuff hidden behind that Times paywall, and I plan to share it with the world. I'm just not going to spend a lot of time recapping the columns that don't add much to the mix -- even ones by often-worthy writers like Krugman, who today ("Heck of a Job, Bushie") mails in a round-up of the ways 2005 sucked for George W. Bush.
I believe the poor thought processes and analysis you reference as a characterization of the trend and direction of NY Times columnists writing is simply a reflection of how our country is moving with Bush as President.
It is now acceptable to do a half-assed job, to fail to perform, to lie and send our troops to die.
Why should we expect a lack of any critical analysis or thought process in most of the national news media columnists?
The columnists are merely reflecying back to their clients what the clients want to read.
They are like Woodward - they are on the inside no longer on the outside evaluationg but rather inside supporting the spin.
Posted by: pfknc | Dec 30, 2005 at 10:25 AM