Jeffrey Goldberg
This is interesting. I regard Jeffrey Goldberg as a master navigator of his own career, but in his latest blogpost, his sextant is off. He suggests that Roger Cohen of the New York Times is not a real journalist and also attacks the editors of the Atlantic, where his blog appears. The Cohen bit:
I would like to draw your attention to this Haaretz piece, in which Ari Shavit schools Roger Cohen on how to be a journalist.
Nasty. Cohen is universally admired. He’s had a long distinguished career, he’s actually a gentleman and a scholar, plus he’s got intellectual honesty.
As for attacking the editors of the publication that runs your stuff– wow, that’s a CLM (career-limiting move; Jim Cramer taught me that great line when he was at Goldman, Sachs; some guy was wearing loud ties). Goldberg’s take on his editors comes in a riff about a Daniel Levy piece in favor of boycotting settlements that appeared on the Atlantic site and that criticized Goldberg.
The intricacies are too much to go into, or follow– but Goldberg twice questions the wisdom of the editors:
Always nice to find out on the Atlantic website that I’ve failed the intellectual scrutiny whiff-test. Of course, I never mentioned the Holocaust in this tweet, and I wasn’t thinking about the Holocaust.
And as a bonus, Levy shamelessly mischaracterizes my interview with President Obama… I’m sure Levy knows this, having read the interview, which was about only one thing. So, here’s Levy’s neat trick… Of course, Levy could have called me, or e-mailed me, to ask me what I meant, but he didn’t. Nor did his Atlantic editor apparently suggest that he do so, either.
I know, I keep predicting Goldberg’s eclipse by other Jewish writers; and I keep being wrong. But I do believe the sungod has passed his apogee.
As for attacking the editors of the publication that runs your stuff– wow, that’s a CLM (career-limiting move; Jim Cramer taught me that great line when he was at Goldman, Sachs; some guy was wearing loud ties)
Maybe he thinks he’s Dwight Howard.
http://video.cinesport.com/cinesport-trending-topics/magic-mess-howard-van-gundy-at-odds/
i read this the other day and noticed the undercurrent of hostility running thru the post. personally, i think he’s stuck. he was sounding all excited in bloomberg about filling us in about what netanyahu was thinking (“next week” which came and went). how bombing iran was going to be a cakewalk (poor paraphrasing on my part). the news bombing iran was being delayed set him back. and sullivan set him back.
but i think this is one time you may have missed the juicy part of the cohen segment phil. in that one liner (I would like to draw your attention to this Haaretz piece, in which Ari Shavit schools Roger Cohen on how to be a journalist. ) he directs his readers to a 10 day old story about himself. he’s defending himself against all the smears being made about him (as being a mouthpiece for the goi/netanyahu) and he’s doing it byway of Ari Shavit’s article. the bolded headline title and opening:
and here’s the money:
so it’s not so much about roger cohen per se. he wants his audience to read the story. he misses bomb iran. what’s he gonna do now? he’s peeved.
“Cohen is universally admired… he’s actually a gentleman” Um, really?
“They claim that an Israeli attack on Iran (with no American support and cooperation) is insane and therefore would never happen.”
Perhaps the reasoning is faulty. Insane -> would not happen. ???
Corporal Goldberg’s infatuation with himself is as unbecoming as it is obvious.