Site Meter

Friday, November 30, 2007

Overconfindence ?

Waaay back in 2006, commentators older than about 35 were confident that the Democrats were going to crush the Republicans. Relative youngsters couldn't quite believe it as they had never seen such a thing. Now a real youngster seems to me to be going too far the other way.

Ezra Klein who is old enough to drive a car, vote and even drink (although he does get carded) writes

The danger we face in trying to pressure the media to report stories like the US Attorney purge or Giuliani's criminal misuse of NYC money is that we'll only be able to change the prevailing narrative rather than actual journalistic practice. Broder is mythologically committed to his perverted "centrism" rather than ideologically committed, and the same is true for the rest of them. We can change the myth; the GOP has the route all mapped out, and that destination is easier to reach with all of the technological tools available to us now.


OK so just changing the myth isn't enough for Mr Klein. Nooooo we have to not only crush the Republicans but also reform the media and find the holy grail.


A commenter named Klein Ezra* writes: I didn't write that. Stephen did. And he's a bona fide adult, with a kid! (One might wonder if this calls into question the utility of using age as a framing device for accuracy...)


OOOOOOPs (blush) but at least he noticed me. I didn't mean young therefore inaccurate I meant young therefore with fewer emotional scars from horrible elections from 1980 on (and also to make me feel old).

correction correction: The commenter called himself "Ezra" not "Klein". I am not senile, I was always this sloppy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't write that. Stephen did. And he's a bona fide adult, with a kid! (One might wonder if this calls into question the utility of using age as a framing device for accuracy...)

Robert said...

Ooops. Sorry. Also thanks for noticing me. I meant young so not as emotionally scarred by elections from 1980 on, not young so unreliable. I have noticed that your facts are facts. I however just posted your comment saying the commenter called himself Klein rather than Ezra.