Re: In defence of Krugman and against Alexander Cockburn: choice of t...

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Brian McKenna wrote:

> You have taught me so much -- via LBO and your radio show which I
> love to tune in via the net (I even once met you at the Socialist
> Scholars Conference in NY in the 80s. . .I believe on a panel w/
> Kovel). . .but so as Cockburn taught me much. . .
>
> that's all a way of saying that I respect you both. . .

Thanks.

> Anyway, AC once lauded LBO as a great alternative to the muck in the
> business press (something I believe you used to advantage in your
> PR). . .so my question is, how serious is your criticism of AC? and
> what are the most telling instances of shotgunnism deserving of
> rebuke? Have you guys had a falling out?
>
> Just curious. . .if you don't want to respond on the list, that's fine. . .

There's a lot I admire about AC. In fact, a good bit of the reason I
entered the lucrative business of radical journalism is having read
him from his early days in the Village Voice. He's a brilliant
stylist and can be extremely funny. I think he's gone rather off the
rails in recent years though. A friend of mine attributes it to the
collapse of Communism - AC's strength, he said, was as "an ironic
defender of Stalinism," and when that vaporized, he lost his
political direction. I don't know if that's true, but it's a
possibility. But through the 90s, he got way too friendly towards the
oddball right - neo-Confederates, gun nuts, Wise Users. There's
something really wrong about having nothing but good words for Ron
Paul and nothing but bile for Bernie Sanders. I don't know why he had
to devote 3000 words in New York Press a few years ago to attacking
Katha Pollitt. One of the things I learned from him 25 years ago is
how awful liberals can be, but really, they're not our major problem
right now.

Doug