Travel Much

Richard Cohen sure is weird. In the course of a totally unfunny satirical column, one item is "A survey of political bloggers showed that 94 percent of them had never been out of the country or read anything other than a Harry Potter book."

This seems like a curious premise for a joke. Political bloggers, being wealthier and better-educated than the general population, are surely much more likely to travel abroad and read books than are the general public. Certainly the idea that bloggers don't read anything at all is ludicrous. All high-volume political bloggers do is read! Mock us for our poor social skills if you must, but we certainly read.

Comments

You're just jealous because I know what funny is.

Nyah nyah.

/Richard Cohen
.

Posted by Gee | September 5, 2007 4:30 PM

Conceptually, he seems to be implying the opposite if you read the rest of the column, if only by accident.

Can we compile a canonical list of hacky column ideas? The first will be list columns, of course

Posted by Jack | September 5, 2007 4:31 PM

Funny, I read that and assumed he was making fun of you, specifically. Viz this post:

I read a ton of stuff. Books, even! But novels? Almost never. But Harry Potter novels? Yeah, I read those.

But in the same paragraph you write about how much non-fiction you read, so I wrote off Cohen's column as silly and wide of the mark. Still think that.

Posted by Dave Weigel | September 5, 2007 4:32 PM

Richard Cohen's brain crawled up his heinie and died right before he wrote his infamous piece about how Bush was funnier than Colbert at the Correspondents' Dinner last year. He is still very intrepid, though.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 5, 2007 4:36 PM

And he clearly hasn't been paying attention to Atrios and his seemingly endless European vacation.

Or Dr. Black to you Cohen.

Posted by Andruw | September 5, 2007 4:39 PM

Maybe it was a typo.

He probably meant to write:

"A survey of right-wing political bloggers showed that 94 percent of them had never been out of the country or read anything other than the back of a bag of Cheetos."

Posted by UncommonSense | September 5, 2007 4:43 PM

MLJ,

I think it happened along time before that, probably the Reagan admin

Posted by Eric K | September 5, 2007 4:43 PM

It almost seems cruel to pick on Richard.

Here's a guy who's never been that bright, or had a lot of original ideas...and here he is stuck having to write columns week after week, year after year...

How could he possibly not write stupid things?

Posted by peep | September 5, 2007 4:43 PM

I thought the officially approved faux-populist righty critique of the lefty blogger set was that it's a bunch of overeducated foreigner-lovers? At least that characterization makes them sound alien to middle America. Calling them minimally educated stay-at-homers -- that makes them sound *just like* middle America. How is that supposed to function as a putdown coming from a conservative like Cohen?

Posted by Ryan | September 5, 2007 4:55 PM

Ryan,

Richard Cohen is a liberal -- a consensus-seeking centrist liberal, but still a liberal.

This had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with Richard Cohen's completely justified feelings of insecurity.

Posted by peep | September 5, 2007 5:03 PM

Cohen has previously admitted his terrible math skills.

Undoubtedly he meant "9 point 4" percent of them have never been out of the country or read anything other than a Harry Potter book.

Posted by Jinchi | September 5, 2007 5:04 PM

you should have stopped at unfunny, which is what it was. you may well read, but please don't read/link to richard cohen anymore. teh stupid, it burns.

Posted by John | September 5, 2007 5:06 PM

OMG - is Cohen seriously trying to rip off Larry King's USA Today column?

Posted by blah | September 5, 2007 5:17 PM

The Famous Matt said, "All high-volume political bloggers do is read!"

And watch a lot of TV, and go to NBA games, and watch fair to bad movies, and see whatever the popular bands are these days, and so on.

Posted by Matt (not the famous one) | September 5, 2007 5:22 PM

Wow. That's the least funny thing I've ever read. I don't know who Richard Cohen is, but he shouldn't be allowed to attempt comedy.

Posted by too many steves | September 5, 2007 5:38 PM

Problem is that the books you political bloggers read are mostly bullshit "social studies" crap instead of fact-based stuff like science and technology - even economics and straight history probably has a better basis than the sort of crap I see being cited in most political blogs.

I mean, the book writers who get invited to TPM tend to get trashed by the posters as having written unmitigated garbage because they have zero evidence in the book for their opinions as expressed in the book.

Most of it is better termed "propaganda" for whatever social and political theories the writer has.

The fact that in another post Matt is criticizing lousy social research posing as "evolutionary psychology" is appropriate here. That's the same level of content most political blogs and texts have.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | September 5, 2007 6:09 PM

You're just jealous 'cause you haven't had Peter Jennings's sloppy seconds.

Posted by Dicky Cohen | September 5, 2007 6:20 PM

The French sure knew how to deal with out-of-touch, useless elitists.

Posted by r€nato | September 5, 2007 6:29 PM

Richard Cohen is a liberal

Only in Hannity's America.

Posted by Steve J. | September 5, 2007 6:40 PM

i wonder if richard has ever even read a harry potter book?

Posted by dirk gently | September 5, 2007 6:40 PM

I think " . . . never been out of the country or read anything other than a Harry Potter book" is left over from a description of George W. Bush's experience before being elected President.

Posted by Cautious Man | September 5, 2007 6:51 PM

A survey of Washington Post columnists found that 94 percent of them thought they were in a different country when they were in upstate New York.

Posted by thehim | September 5, 2007 6:54 PM

Shorter Richard Cohen: do I really have to file something substantial the first week after holidays?

It's the preferred meal of Vietnamese columnists: pho ning ee ting.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | September 5, 2007 7:01 PM

That's a good one UncommonSense. You forgot to call them hacks. Thats' always funny.

Posted by Mark Adams | September 5, 2007 7:06 PM

Yet another sign that we have Richard Cohen scared and on the run: he's resorting to grade school-type jokes.

We must be doing something right.

-

Posted by Hank Essay | September 5, 2007 7:14 PM

The column wasn't very funny, no, but I interpreted the whole political bloggers thing as just the opposite. But then, I actually read political bloggers on a regular basis. I know about them, so it was obvious that statement was just a joke. Richard Cohen? I'm not so sure he gets the big funny.

Posted by CT Voter | September 5, 2007 7:15 PM

The fact that in another post Matt is criticizing lousy social research posing as "evolutionary psychology" is appropriate here. That's the same level of content most political blogs and texts have.

How far you want to take this down the rabbit hole -- the same critique you just made could be made of your generalization.

And please do let us know when you've heard of these things called "links", which often give factual context and even "numbers" which buttress the point the political blogger may be trying to make.

Posted by Jay B. | September 5, 2007 7:22 PM

What Cohen meant to say was "anywhere outside the country other than France and the French speaking parts of Canada."

Posted by Spud1 | September 5, 2007 7:23 PM

I am on a list at Zogby polling that has me participate in online polls/surveys frequently.

It's quite fascinating and fun, actually... If you're interested for yourself you can sign up here:

http://interactive.zogby.com/pollregistration/registration/index.cfm?refsite=features

Anyway, at the end of every survey they ask the questions that qualify you, the respondent, demographically... Where do you live? How much money did you earn last year? To what political party do you belong? What is your education level? Etc., etc...

The BEST questions, IMO, are these:

X. Do you consider yourself to be a NASCAR fan?

Y. Do you currently hold a valid passport?

On some level, I think that these two questions in particular are very, very important.

Posted by Adam Stanhope | September 5, 2007 7:34 PM

Back in the day, I used to have lunch with Cohen before his wits left him. He used to be charming & a bit whimsical. Now he's hitting the wall of pain.

[FYI, Dick, I've been to 50 countries, lived in six & speak & read several languages, including Arabic.] But since I'm not a registered journalist, my opinions and having read as many books as Richard Cohen and about fifty in several foreign languages, my opinions are discounted cuz I blog.

Methinks the ink-stained wretch doth protest too much.

Posted by daveinboca | September 5, 2007 8:14 PM

...had never been out of the country or read anything other than a "My Pet Goat" book.

============

Isn't that Bush that renowend comic Richard Cohen is referring to?

Posted by OxyCon | September 5, 2007 8:20 PM

for the record, im a political blogger, and ive read a few books. and ive left the country once. so there. :)

Posted by Chris from Maine | September 5, 2007 8:59 PM

A surreality check: Richard Cohen receives less hits than the bloggers whom he derides as uneducated and untraveled. Maybe if he spent less time coming up with such zingers as "Timm Romney" and more time on writing substantive op-ed pieces, he wouldn't have to insult those who freely do the work he gets paid to not do.

Posted by Media Glutton | September 5, 2007 9:13 PM

Wow. I read the whole thing, and it's not in the least bit funny, but there's this:

Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal after vowing to no longer be Rupert Murdoch. Timm Romney said he understood.

"Timm" Romney? Oh, I get it, Mitt the flip-flopper. That's not just unfunny, it's embarrasingly unfunny. And it just gets worse from there.

Every time I see that happy-go-lucky smile of Cohen's, all I can think of is The Poor Man's Keynoard Kommando Komics and Richard's endless pining for the beautiful Broderella.

Posted by commie atheistt | September 5, 2007 9:14 PM

For the record, I've only been out of the country twice, both daytrips to Mexican border towns to get drunk. And while I have never read Harry Potter, I usually only read science fiction from the fifties, sixties, and seventies; and have never read a policy or political book of any sort. But then again, no one ever reads my blog, so I guess I probably don't count.

Posted by Doctor Biobrain | September 5, 2007 9:48 PM

Doctor Biobrain writes: "And while I have never read Harry Potter, I usually only read science fiction from the fifties, sixties, and seventies; and have never read a policy or political book of any sort."

Well, I have... but on the science fiction from those decades front, who still cares for these guys?

John Brunner
Harlan Ellison
Philip K. Dick
Barry Malzberg
Frank Herbert
R.A. Lafferty
And so on...

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | September 5, 2007 9:57 PM

That was about as funny as one of Cohen's series of lame columns where has a conversation with his dead grandfather. Ugh ...

Posted by Sailor Art Thomas, Jr. | September 5, 2007 10:13 PM

C'mon, Cohen gets a little credit for:

William Kristol called for an invasion of Venezuela and East Hampton. Instantly, the proposal was debated throughout the entire weekend on TV talk shows.

Posted by mq | September 5, 2007 11:43 PM

How's this for a rule: All comments old guard journalists make about bloggers are really about what old guard journalists think of themselves. Bloggers are the "other" that journalists use to firm up their sense of self. Rather than point out the inaccuracies of their statements about bloggers we should look at how accurate the statements are about journalists.

"A survey of political bloggers showed that 94 percent of them had never been out of the country or read anything other than a Harry Potter book..." says nothing about bloggers. As Matt observes, it's wildly in error; it's just Cohen conveying how cosmopolitan he and his colleagues are.

Posted by Jay Rosen | September 6, 2007 12:02 AM

How's this for a rule: All comments old guard journalists make about bloggers are really about what old guard journalists think of themselves. Bloggers are the "other" that journalists use to firm up their sense of self. Rather than point out the inaccuracies of their statements about bloggers we should look at how accurate the statements are about journalists.

"A survey of political bloggers showed that 94 percent of them had never been out of the country or read anything other than a Harry Potter book..." says nothing about bloggers. As Matt observes, it's wildly in error; it's just Cohen conveying how cosmopolitan he and his colleagues are.

Posted by Jay Rosen | September 6, 2007 12:04 AM

Richard Cohen's brain crawled up his heinie and died right before he wrote his infamous piece about how Bush was funnier than Colbert at the Correspondents' Dinner last year.

Well, he was basing it on audience laughter.

Posted by Jim Treacher | September 6, 2007 12:17 AM

"Problem is that the books you political bloggers read are mostly bullshit "social studies" crap instead of fact-based stuff like science and technology - even economics and straight history probably has a better basis than the sort of crap I see being cited in most political blogs."

Richard Steven Hack - You don't know what you're talking about.

Do you suppose that Dr. Duncan Black (aka Atrios) a Phd in Economics has maybe read a bit about economics or Dr. Joshua Micah Marshall (talkingpointsmemo) a Phd in history has just possibly read a bit of history? Or Dr. Juan Cole (Informed Comment), a professor of Middle Eastern history, can speak with some authority concerning the middle east.

These are just a few of examples. The liberal blogosphere is loaded with people with degrees in disciplines like history, economics and law (Markos Moulitsas, Dailykos).

Today's top celebrity "journalists" are no match for the intellect of the top liberal bloggers.

It's not even close.

One of my favorite, most revealing quotes:

"When they start talking about policy my brain just turns to mush"

... Ted Koppel

Posted by cal1942 | September 6, 2007 1:11 AM

peep, classing Cohen as "a liberal" would be understood as an insult by both Cohen and liberals. Get real.

Posted by Ghost of Joe Liebling's Dog | September 6, 2007 1:29 AM

"I read very few books."
-- Markos Moulitsas

Posted by Jim Treacher | September 6, 2007 6:39 AM

Richard Steven Hack is a bit of a puzzle. He's a huge sociobiology fan -- altho whether he's one of the vile race-obsessed ones or merely annoying sex-obsessed ones isn't clear. But his views on IP, on the other hand, are very sound.

Posted by lemuel pitkin | September 6, 2007 6:54 AM

Isn't this the same guy who said that Algebra wasn't important for high schoolers, and writing is the ultimate intellectual pursuit?

Because that was the jackass column of all time.

Posted by winner | September 6, 2007 9:12 AM

"I read very few books."
-- Markos Moulitsas

Posted by Jim Treacher | September 6, 2007 6:39 AM

OK, and? Here's the quotation:

"A survey of political bloggers showed that 94 percent of them had never been out of the country or read anything other than a Harry Potter book."

It's "read anything", not just books. Matt's point was that high-volume political bloggers read a lot, period. You do know words come in other collections other than in books, right?

Posted by jvill | September 6, 2007 10:12 AM

I'd ask John Avarosis his opinion on the column in question, but HE'S IN GREECE. Goddamnit!

Posted by Jamey | September 6, 2007 10:23 AM

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair.

There, I've just explained 95% of all reporters and pundits for you. Repeat as needed.

Posted by Phoenix Woman | September 6, 2007 11:53 AM

Cohen's problem is that the only blog he reads, apparently, is mine. I happen to have a master's degree, but it's fairly worthless, and I've never been out of North America and, lately, the only books I've read are the Harry Potters. I need to get out more. So does Cohen.

Posted by Lance Mannion | September 6, 2007 2:23 PM