Farewell to Monkeys
Good lord how we'll miss him.
Who? Him. The most fiskable columnist to come along since... well that Fisk guy probably... is apparently getting the axe. (h/t Mitch) I'm talking about Nick "I'm Nobody's Monkey" Coleman, of course.
I mean just in the past week he wrote a column straining a Titanic metaphor in an attempt to blame the eeeeevil Republican governor for taking a trip abroad... which was highly symbolic of how the governor doesn't want to do anything to help Minnesotans because he won't raise taxes... which segues into the contention that we need a federal bailout for the Minnesota state government... which without transition leads back into a call to raise state taxes on the wealthy... because it goes without argument (Nick doesn't bother with any) that you simply can't think of shrinking state government in a time of acute budget deficit (and we're back to the Titanic metaphor)... and the Democrats are being wimpy for even trying to be nice to Republicans... and concludes with his punchline for a poignant call to action "Before the wheels come off." That's the powerful image Nick leaves his readers with: The wheels coming off... the Titanic.
That kind of column goes well beyond the usual whiny pap you get from your average liberal pundit. It's almost like the liberal media screed taken to the level of a crazy art form. It's not just a couple of lazy cliches and recycled old arguments twisted in support of a personal agenda cast in the name of the people. It's EVERY lazy cliche and recycled old argument twisted in support of Nick's personal agenda cast in the name of the people. And he so regularly does it in imitation bordering on parody of an old gumshoe reporter, with a "Press" tag sticking out of the band in his fedora while he chews on an old cigar banging away at his Royal typewriter. A little self-deprecating humor might soften the effect, but there's little evidence of that from Nick. He holds his "professional newsman" role with a seriousness crossing into pomposity.
If this buyout stuff leads to the end of Nick's columns (and if this round doesn't do it, the writing is on the wall), where shall the conservative league of snark turn for reliable mocking material?
Who? Him. The most fiskable columnist to come along since... well that Fisk guy probably... is apparently getting the axe. (h/t Mitch) I'm talking about Nick "I'm Nobody's Monkey" Coleman, of course.
I mean just in the past week he wrote a column straining a Titanic metaphor in an attempt to blame the eeeeevil Republican governor for taking a trip abroad... which was highly symbolic of how the governor doesn't want to do anything to help Minnesotans because he won't raise taxes... which segues into the contention that we need a federal bailout for the Minnesota state government... which without transition leads back into a call to raise state taxes on the wealthy... because it goes without argument (Nick doesn't bother with any) that you simply can't think of shrinking state government in a time of acute budget deficit (and we're back to the Titanic metaphor)... and the Democrats are being wimpy for even trying to be nice to Republicans... and concludes with his punchline for a poignant call to action "Before the wheels come off." That's the powerful image Nick leaves his readers with: The wheels coming off... the Titanic.
That kind of column goes well beyond the usual whiny pap you get from your average liberal pundit. It's almost like the liberal media screed taken to the level of a crazy art form. It's not just a couple of lazy cliches and recycled old arguments twisted in support of a personal agenda cast in the name of the people. It's EVERY lazy cliche and recycled old argument twisted in support of Nick's personal agenda cast in the name of the people. And he so regularly does it in imitation bordering on parody of an old gumshoe reporter, with a "Press" tag sticking out of the band in his fedora while he chews on an old cigar banging away at his Royal typewriter. A little self-deprecating humor might soften the effect, but there's little evidence of that from Nick. He holds his "professional newsman" role with a seriousness crossing into pomposity.
If this buyout stuff leads to the end of Nick's columns (and if this round doesn't do it, the writing is on the wall), where shall the conservative league of snark turn for reliable mocking material?
Posted by Doug Williams on
Tuesday December 16, 2008 at 12:37pm
