Joe Klein: What Immigration Issue
I just saw Joe Klein in Chris Matthews argue that illegal immigration is a non-issue, that very few people's lives are affected by illegal immigration, that those most concerned about illegal immigration are from counties with less than a 5% immigration population. The issue will blow over, he assures us.
What can you say about someone like Joe Klein? Or better, what does Joe Klein say about the political punditry - the people who get to opine on the state of the nation on national TV?
What can you say about someone like Joe Klein? Or better, what does Joe Klein say about the political punditry - the people who get to opine on the state of the nation on national TV?
posted by ziel | 5/21/2006 10:33:00 AM
4 Comments:
"What can you say about someone like Joe Klein?..."
I say that opinions are like a**holes...everybody has one.
I've seen Joe Klein in action. Looking into his face is like staring at a pool of stupidity. Any thought would just slosh the water to and fro and then the thought would sink out of sight, and out of what passes for his mind.
By the way, I work in a liberal dominated profession. I have had four folks, complete liberals, tell me -- usually in a whisper or after looking around --this immigration needs to be stopped.
These are folks that I would not have even brought up the subject with, not wanting to cause a political flap at work. The GOP is missing such an opportunity. The fact is the media and pundits have no idea of the strength of the opposition to amnesty. These liberals would never admit it to a pollster, but they are ready to save their country and their own lives. Too bad the Republicans are not ready to do the same.
Steve N
Joe Klein. Yes, I used to read him regularly in New York magazine before it turned into a Gen Y toxic waste dump. Occasionally, in a waiting room, I'll pick up a Time or Newsweek or whatever rag he pontificates for now and read the latest Thoughts of Chairman Klein.
His secret is that, although he's manufactured from recycled liberal platitudes, he is a fairly old guy, like me, which means he grew up reading books rather than playing video games and can write fluently.
So even when he's parroting the most clueless liberal talking points, he can sound thoughtful. He doesn't mind needling Democratic politicians (as well as Repubs, naturally), so he gives a passable imitation of being "fair." In short, he has nothing worth saying and says it well.
What really gets me about our elite "opinion leaders", is how they rely so heavily on their own gut feelings, which arise from the isolated environments in which they seem to dwell, while hardly ever citing any objectively documented facts to make their case. I never read Joe Klein's articles, but if he's anything like the media's favorite darlings of punditry, Tom Friedman and David Brooks, I'm sure his op-ed pieces follow this same pattern (as opposed to someone like Paul Craig Roberts who, whatever you think of his opinions, at least extensively cites his sources of information in making his argument).
Speaking of pundits in the media in general, John Tierney of the NYT had a hilarious piece on that subject today. He mentioned a snafu that happened in the London studios of BBC, where a Congolese immigrant there to apply for a computer job was mistaken for a computer industry expert invited to give his take on a court ruling in England involving Apple Computers. The guy didn't know a thing about the court case, and barely spoke English, but he was able to improvise and bluff his way through the interview, deeply impressing the BBC interviewer, who never realized the man was an impostor.
Tierney cited this incident as proof that anyone can be a pundit, as the real "experts" are so fond of using vague and noncommittal platitudes when they go on the air, that anyone who comes in from right off the street is guaranteed to sound at least as convincing.
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