Opinions - For Trained Professionals Only!

Tom Elia mocks Molly Ivins so we don't have to.  From her latest:

Bloggers are not news-gatherers, but opinion-mongers. I have long argued that no one should be allowed to write opinion without spending years as a reporter -- nothing like interviewing all four eyewitnesses to an automobile accident and then trying to write an accurate account of what happened. Or, as author-journalist Curtis Wilkie puts it, "Unless you can cover a five-car pile-up on Route 128, you shouldn't be allowed to cover a presidential campaign."

Oh, gosh.  I haven't covered a five-car pile-up, but I have blogged on Maureen Dowd, so I guess I'm ready.

Ms. Ivins, whose theme is the problematic business cliamte for newspapers, also amuses with this:

I've thought for years that newspapers should all be owned by nonprofits.

Headed that way!

UPDATE:  More swimming against the tide.  But which tide?

UNFORGIVEN: Maybe the subtle Molly Ivins had someone other than bloggers in mind - what well-known pundit is neither a reporter nor capable of covering a five car pile-up without blaming Bush?

Comments

[Larry]

Ivins blew her wad in the '80's when she wrote the same column every week about how Reagan's defense spending was gonna be DISASTER and we're all gonna DIE!

[clarice]

We do know that psychiatrists like Krauthammer and Dr. Sanity do a far better job than most journos. And lawyers are , of course, well-trained to deal with weighing conflicting accounts and complicated arguments.Engineers are trained to be accurate as are others in the hard sciences and math.
Perhaps we ought to set up a contest--set out a number of professionals from different disciplines, put on a scenario, let them interview the actors, and write up what happened and their opinion .(Let Ivens and Froomkin, Isikoff and Ivens represent the Fourth Estate. Video the event and let the viewers decide who did the most accurate and fair minded analysis and report.

[clarice]

Oopps--should read:
Let Ivens and Froomkin, Isikoff and H. Thomas represent the Fourth Estate. Video the event and let the viewers decide who did the most accurate and fair minded analysis and report.

[Jake - but not the one]

For all the defense spending, we still have a military that is too small and is too ill-equipped to do the jobs the Pres has in mind. Good work, Rummy!

Anyway, mockery is so easy. I am glad something prevented Tom from going for the low hanging fruit. :)

Nonetheless, this is a confusing article by Molly. Maybe it was a hard week to get into things. I mean, what with Ben and all.

Jake

[Larry]

Jake - but not the one | March 26, 2006 at 01:10 PM:

"...a confusing article by Molly."

Jake, Molly's been confused all her life.

"For all the defense spending, we still have a military that is too small and is too ill-equipped to do the jobs the Pres has in mind. Good work, Rummy!"

To be fair, the military reductions we see the result of today began in GHWB's administration and were carried out in Clinton's.

[Sue]

Cool. My favorite pastime. Mocking Molly Ivins. I will say this much for her, she gave our governor a rather cool name. Rick "Goodhair" Perry.

[richard mcenroe]

I would accept Ivin's suggestion the next time I see a reporter accurately report an event I witness.

Of course, that next time would be the first time...

[kim]

Me too, richard, yet we've continued to believe.

Jake, civil order ain't cheap. Good cops ain't in it for the money.
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[azredneck]

The sappiness of ivens, drabble of dowd, hatred of thomas--all unfortunately appearing more and more regularly in my local newspaper. Thanks for TM, AJ and Mac. If Scott ever writes frequently enough to completely replace the comics section of the Az Republic, I'm outta there!
Their stock must be looking like the NYT already!

[PeterUK]

Blimey! A whole year and I can have my own Times op-ed. Beats the hell out of the lifetimes work real professionals have to embark on.
Is she sure that ambulance chasing really qualifies one to pontificate on the OIF,OFF,UN,IMF,WMD or any other acronym and global warming?
Isn't there an intermediate stage reporting pythons in ladies baths and kittens being born in libraries?

[kim]

Hi, P. Some cat just sailed forty feet out of a tree after eight days aloft. Thumped into the ground and immediately took off, unhurt. The picture looked like Bullwinkle's partner's prototype, Peter.
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[clarice]

I say we challenge her to the contest I outlined.

[larwyn]

That other great journalist, Amy
Goodman was on CSPAN this morning.

Darn, she was mumbling something about starting a paper or something to get away from The
Corporate Publishers. I couldn't get to the remote fast enough.

Emmett Tyrell followed her and her followers called in to tell Tyrell that he was a liar and that Amy had given the truth and facts. One fellow from FLA actually threatened Pres. Bush and V P Cheney. Tyrell kept saying I hope the secret service gets on that.
After several more "Amy fans" called, Tyrell said "I hope by now
that fellow from FLA is in custody".

Think Soros's pockets are deep enough to give the "ladies" their own rag?

That "non-profit" Ivins quote seems quite interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for Amy's replay. Tyrell won't get one - but
Amy will.

[larwyn]

Famous "journalist" David Corn is on Fox right now sticking up for...

...are you ready?

CHARLIE SHEEN!

[Barry Dauphin]

I have long argued that no one should be allowed to write opinion without spending years as a reporter

...allowed...? It's always interesting to see liberty for me but not for thee at work among Democratic hacks. Ivins wants to see newspapers run like LBJ's first Senate race. What Ivins reveals is that she does not actually support a Free Press. But then, that's old news.

[PeterUK]

Just the ticket Kim,can you knock together an article on agrarian reform in the Ukraine?

[SteveMG]

Oh, gosh. I haven't covered a five-car pile-up, but I have blogged on Maureen Dowd, so I guess I'm ready.

Actually, that'll make you over-qualified.

Nasty, TM, nasty.

SMG

Let me add, as a former reporter, it's not that "enlightening" of an experience.

[beautifulatrocities]

You could also say no one should be allowed to pontificate who hasn't read at least one bonehead economics book, which would rule out Ivins & the rest of the Nation editorial staff

[Jake - but not the one]

No, Molly hasn't been confused all her life. Quite a bit of her commentary is spot on.

And not just the "Goodhair" thing.

And if we had only kept reducing the armed forces even futher, maybe GW would have realized that the the army you have just isn't good enough to take and HOLD Iraq. Hold in the sense of providing security, not just blowing stuff up - you remember, all the shock and awe? Well, I'm awed alright - awed at the incompetency of this whole administration.

I guess you just have to take your awe where you find it.

Jake

[PeterUK]

Yes Jake,If Bush had only gone to journalism school,none of this would have happened.

BTW Holding a country,in the sense you mean it, entails killing as many of the opposition as possible and interning the rest for the duration.But isn't your party political broadcast on the subject somewhat late?

[Rick Ballard]

But where are the clowns?

Quick, send in the clowns.

Don't bother, they're here.

Isn't it interesting that there are lyrics for almost any occasion?

[clarice]

No--we were to deploy one soldier per hectare in Afghanistan to give the coots with 100 year old rifles an equal chance, to make useless our technological advantage and to have the quagmire they all predicted.

[MarkD]

I hate Bush. Me too. I've saved you all the trouble of reading anything Ivins, Dowd and Helen Thomas will write for the rest of their lives.

No need to thank me. Following the NY Times stock price on its descent is thanks enough.

[Jake - but not the one]

Holding a country in the sense I mean it means killing as many of the opposition as posible and interring the rest? I don't think so. Perhaps in the sense YOU mean it. Bloodthirsty comes to mind.

That is, if you could even identify the opposition in Iraq. At the moment, it's everybody against everybody. We seem to be rather low on the list right now. That is a good thing, but it comes at a high price.

For me and for this discussion, holding means assuring some continuing security after we remove all existing constraints on uncivil behavior. Something at which we have failed miserably.

And I'm sorry, but we already tried sending in the clowns. Chalabi didn't work out so well.

Neither did Brownie.

Shoot, we need a clown graveyard for this administration, sort of like an elephant graveyard, where all the old and used up clowns go.

The World Bank comes to mind.

Jake

[Rick Ballard]

MarkD,

Here's one for you to print and tape to the refrigerator.

As they have sown, so shall they reap.

[Jake - but not the one]

Is that "As they have sown, so shall they reap" for Ben? It certainly fitz, doesn't it?

Jake

[richard mcenroe]

"If only Bush had gone to Journalism school..."

Hell, if Ivins and Time Magazine's Michael Ware are any indication, he might never have sobered up...

[JM Hanes]

MarkD --

"Following the NY Times stock price on its descent is thanks enough."

LOL!

Rick --

Great Graphics.

[clarice]

Should we start a pool on when Pinch will be pitched? How long will family loyalty outweigh fiinancial interests?

[kim]

Kulaks got hungry.

For more details I defer to the Pulitzer winner, an Ivins predecessor, Walter Duranty.
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[kim]

Awe, Jake, purple fingered majesty not awesome enough for you?
=================================

[kim]

Rick, as you have shown, so shall I refrigerate.
===========================

[topsecretk9]

I have long argued that no one should be allowed to write opinion without spending years as a reporter

I.E Trained Opinion

[Daddy]

Heck, I was in a five-car pile-up once. Does that count?

[noah]

Nobody should be allowed on a refrigerator magnet without spending years in the refrigerator.

[PeterUK]

Kim,
Kulaks got hungry.

For more details I defer to the Pulitzer winner, an Ivins predecessor, Walter Duranty.

There is not enough about the evils of Republican foreign policy here,try "Because of Bush, Kulaks got hungry"

Daddy,Did you ask yourself why?

Jake the Peg,You are clueless.

[maryrose]

Molly Ivins got one thing right-she sees Hil as a big loser in 08. Otherwise ; she's a MODO wannabee.

[kim]

How about: It's the Shrubs grandfather's fault that the Ukrainians weren't rescued from the quagmire of their own inability to admit mistakes in agricultural policy.
============================

[Neo]

They say that Congress has 535 members and 536 opinions.

[Sue]

Actually, what you don't realize about Molly is she is a sit down comic, as opposed to a stand up comic. For instance, take this line in her article referring to bloggers..."A) How do you know if it's true?...." If comedy wasn't what she was shooting for, I can't explain that line. Because surely she isn't saying if 'real' journalists tell the story, it is nothing but the gospel truth.

[PeterUK]

Kim,That is the right direction,just needs zapping up a bit," Grandpa Lied Ukrainians Died". Journalists have to learn to think in cliches.It is the ability to juggle these abstract soundbites which distinguished the run of the mill journo from the opinion maker.

[beautifulatrocities]

Ivins is like the piney woods lovechild of David Brock & Minnie Pearl

[bandit]

'I've thought for years that newspapers should all be owned by nonprofits.'

There's some sound business advice for you. I'm sure she'd like to do some volunteer reporting.

[clarice]

Remember on the left, profit is a dirty word.But getting paid well to write that isn't.

[Joe Mealyus]

"I have long argued that no one should be allowed to write opinion without spending years as a reporter -- nothing like interviewing all four eyewitnesses to an automobile accident and then trying to write an accurate account of what happened."

"CROW EATEN HERE: This is a horror. In a column written June 28, I asserted that more Iraqis (civilians) had now been killed in this war than had been killed by Saddam Hussein over his 24-year rule. WRONG. Really, really wrong.

The only problem is figuring out by how large a factor I was wrong."

The second quote is from a completely different Molly Ivins - just an odd coincidence that two columnists would have the same name.