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You are here: Home / TNC for the NYT

TNC for the NYT

by John Cole|  March 25, 20116:19 pm| 65 Comments

This post is in: Daydream Believers

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Someone mentioned it, and I think Ta-Nehisi would be a great replacement for Bob Herbert.

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Previous Post: « Herbert Leaving the Times
Next Post: “What Kind of Liberal Are You?” Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    Cris

    March 25, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    The fact that they already pulled one columnist from the Atlantic suggests that it’s at least a possibility. The hope you (and I and others) had that they would pull somebody from the American Conservative was, let’s say, a lot more remote.

    (pardon the repost)

  2. 2.

    Bob Loblaw

    March 25, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    What exactly is the point of this thread that couldn’t just have been said in the other one?

    It’s this stream of consciousness mindset that keeps getting you into trouble about Libya…

  3. 3.

    wasabi gasp

    March 25, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    That’s if they don’t get Morgan Freeman.

  4. 4.

    meh

    March 25, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    that would be awesome as he is the last remaining reason I have for reading the fucking Atlantic at this point…

    edit – as a related note, imagine the fucking whining here if they picked mcmegan…the luls would. be. epic.

  5. 5.

    Alex S.

    March 25, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    I don’t know… Ta-Nehisi sounds too much like Tunisia.

  6. 6.

    Scamp Dog

    March 25, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    I’d love to read his stuff in the Times, too. He’s a thoughtful, liberal voice. Of course, that probably totally disqualifies him from the Times: they mostly hire pseudo-libs.

  7. 7.

    joeyess

    March 25, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    I fully expect Teh Pantload to get the gig.

  8. 8.

    asiangrrlMN

    March 25, 2011 at 6:29 pm

    TNC would be amazing, but I don’t think HE would like it so much. But, as I said in the thread below, they can hire ME. I am of a color; I write reasonably well; I can TRY to keep my posts to 800 words. Call me, NYT.

    @joeyess: Why you gotta bring down the crowd like that? Though I did read it in the thread below. Sigh.

  9. 9.

    Zifnab

    March 25, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    Someone mentioned it, and I think Ta-Nehisi would be a great replacement for Bob Herbert.

    Quiet down you idiot. You know if liberals support him he’ll never get the job. Just act natural and try to play it off.

    I, for one, think Ta-Nehisi Coates is a pompous ass and a wingnut welfare queen! I hope he gets fired from the NYT tomorrow! Certainly hope he doesn’t get his own column or become a regular guest on a Sunday Morning Round Table. That would be TERRIBLE and I would not support it.

    I can’t cover your ass forever, Cole. Don’t fuck up again.

  10. 10.

    Erik Vanderhoff

    March 25, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    Don’t make me pay for my TNC, you bastard!

  11. 11.

    jenn

    March 25, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    On the one hand, it would be great to have his voice given an even bigger megaphone – on the other, I’d miss him at the Atlantic – he has a fantastic comment-space, which I can’t imagine would be replicable at the NYT.

  12. 12.

    Don

    March 25, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    I can’t cover your ass forever, Cole. Don’t fuck up again.

    Pile that wish up in one hand and shit in the other; see which one fills up first.

  13. 13.

    Cris

    March 25, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    @asiangrrlMN: TNC would be amazing, but I don’t think HE would like it so much.

    One of the things I enjoy about TNC is his free use of language. He peppers his prose, even on very serious and scholarly subjects, with slang phrases and flexible grammar, so you really get the feeling he’s speaking instead of writing. There really wouldn’t be room for that at the Times.

  14. 14.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    March 25, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    Any way we can get M_C *and* Allan banned? I don’t know why it’s always so goddamned binary around here.

  15. 15.

    asiangrrlMN

    March 25, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    @Cris: I agree. Plus, he has a very strict hand in modding his column. While NYT would benefit from having him, for sure, I think he would chafe under the restrictions.

  16. 16.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 25, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    Patricia Williams writes for The Nation, but she would be great with a perch at the NYT. Same goes for Melissa Harris-Lacewell.

    ETA: It’s embarrassing that the scant space the NYT gives to women writers gets wasted on the simperings of Dowd and Collins.

  17. 17.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    March 25, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    OT: The Wisconsin GOP is even scarier than I thought. They’re going to ignore the court ruling and start implementing the collective bargaining rollback:

    MADISON, Wis. – It appears the explosive Wisconsin law stripping nearly all public employee collective bargaining rights could take effect as early as Saturday despite a court order that blocked its publication by the secretary of state.
    …
    That’s because the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau has published the law instead. The action was noted on the Legislature’s website Friday. Publishing a law allows it to take effect.
    …
    A judge last week issued a temporary restraining order blocking Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing the collective bargaining measure amid court challenges.
    …
    But the Reference Bureau says it’s required to publish every new law within 10 working days after it’s signed. Gov. Scott Walker signed the measure March 11.
    …
    Walker’s office says Friday that the administration will carry out the law as required.

  18. 18.

    CB

    March 25, 2011 at 6:46 pm

    seconded. its hard to find a more thoughtful, intelligent writer on these intertubes. hes got a bit of establishment cred too, so why not?

  19. 19.

    Bob Loblaw

    March 25, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    You really went and upended your too-cool-for-school image there. Bad form.

  20. 20.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    March 25, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    @asiangrrlMN:

    TNC would be amazing, but I don’t think HE would like it so much. But, as I said in the thread below, they can hire ME. I am of a color; I write reasonably well; I can TRY to keep my posts to 800 words. Call me, NYT.

    You could have the first “naked in a chair” byline photo.

  21. 21.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    March 25, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    @Bob Loblaw: Really? I never considered I had a form other than whatever stupid shit I was thinking at the moment.

  22. 22.

    slag

    March 25, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    What Erik Vanderhoff said.

  23. 23.

    Suffern ACE

    March 25, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    I still think that the best thing that could happen is for the times to announce that it was doubling the output demanded of one of its columnists as a temporary measure to help out while it tried to find a new body to fill the role for no additional pay-and then not hire anyone. Or decide to try off-shoring its Tuesday and Thursday slot to a firm in India, while Friday would be worked out of Ireland. Until that opinion clique starts to feel the pressure of the market, it will continue its downward spiral.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    March 25, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    @asiangrrlMN: Call me, NYT, brought to mind the Harold Ford “call me” commercials. Not what you intended? :-)

  25. 25.

    Bob Loblaw

    March 25, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    So then what compelled you to think about Hermionechan and ABL’s little lapdog at the moment? They been up to anything?

  26. 26.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    Reading The Beautiful Struggle, which I bought based on James McBride’s endorsement. I had high hopes and, once again, Coates has met them and then some.

    If you really want TNC to get more exposure, buy his book.

  27. 27.

    Tokyokie

    March 25, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    I want Angry Black Lady to get the gig.

  28. 28.

    Maude

    March 25, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    @Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people):
    I read that and I wonder what will happen now.

  29. 29.

    Elizabelle

    March 25, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    TNC would be great. He deserves the bigger megaphone way more than Douthat. Is it too much to hope he might help keep Bobo Brooks honest ? Coates being someone who can write and reason and knows actual history?

  30. 30.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    By the way, can you imagine a few Civil War pieces thrown in there every year?

    People underestimate the draw of TNC’s interests there. If you want certain readers to sit up and take notice of a writer they’d otherwise ignore, I can’t think of a better way. And I’m not just talking about the people with Confederate flags on their porches – but them too.

  31. 31.

    cleek

    March 25, 2011 at 7:12 pm

    i almost suggested him on that other thread, but then i thought exactly what @Cris said: his style isn’t exactly Times. plus, a lot of his best stuff is personal in a way that seems better on a blog than in a once-weekly column.

  32. 32.

    Mark C

    March 25, 2011 at 7:12 pm

    I loved TNC, read him long before he “arrived” at the Atlantic. But along the way his head got big and, my heart breaks, he lost his sense of humor.

  33. 33.

    J.W. Hamner

    March 25, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    I disagree. Not because I think TNC is unworthy (I most definitely do not) but because I think a column would neuter his writing style. I think he’s awesome in long form or blogging, but I feel with a strange certainty that a tightly word limited column would kill a lot of the magic. Though maybe most of this is just because I hate the column format.

  34. 34.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 7:14 pm

    UNC’s band’s first song? Africa. Nice.

  35. 35.

    kindness

    March 25, 2011 at 7:14 pm

    I like TNC. I would just hope the Times weren’t the kiss of death for someone who is thoughtful.

  36. 36.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    Anyone who thinks TNC’s “style” can’t work for a Times column has never read his Serious Business work for TIME.

    What’s key is to make sure he still blogs, and that his blog is still active, free, and accessible to everyone. That’s where the Times might cramp him – I imagine they’re looking to exercise leverage to get people on their own site right now.

  37. 37.

    Bob Loblaw

    March 25, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    @Mark C:

    Ah, the old “I liked them before they sold out and went mainstream” argument. The hipster classic.

  38. 38.

    Warren Terra

    March 25, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    I’ve never cared for T-NC. I respect him, but somehow his writing doesn’t do it for me. More generally, I’d like someone more interested in policy and legislation than T-NC often appears to be – Bob Herbert was a brilliant crusader, but often tackled local incidents and even diffuse social issues without achieving the more systemic impact he might have had.

    In other New York Times–related news, they have a really touching feature story on Sean Penn’s philanthropy in Haiti.

    ETA I knew that starting a word with a hyphen implemented a strikeout tag, and a hyphen in the middle of a word didn’t – but if you italicize the first part of a hyphenated word (like Times from New York Times) then it is no longer in the middle of a word, and it’s a strikeout. Oy.

  39. 39.

    Joe Lisboa

    March 25, 2011 at 7:22 pm

    ETA: It’s embarrassing that the scant space the NYT gives to women writers gets wasted on the simperings of Dowd and Collins.

    YES. Sometimes I feel like Dowd is an experiment in misogynistic technology. Like an anti-feminist spambot or something. I would call her musing inane if that was not an insult to the adjective inane. Utter garbage.

  40. 40.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 7:22 pm

    What a messed-up looking ball game this is so far (the real one, not the thread).

  41. 41.

    Joe Lisboa

    March 25, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    Also, too: I blame Dowd for single-handedly framing the Libya debate (such as it is) around the Playboy-era framework of cuckolded POTUS nagged into war by harpies. What fucking century is this again?

  42. 42.

    srv

    March 25, 2011 at 7:25 pm

    My money is on Juan Williams.

  43. 43.

    Sad Iron

    March 25, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    To be honest, I like TNC but find him a little light. His blog has its moments, but Bob Herbert brings the hammer every time out–he’s focused and relentless.

  44. 44.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 7:28 pm

    If someone wants to see a combined yard of extra height wasted on the court, tune in right now.

  45. 45.

    gex

    March 25, 2011 at 7:28 pm

    Doesn’t TNC have some really interesting takes on what happens to a writer/pundit when they have to keep putting out opinions on schedule and not when motivated and how that pushes you in a direction that gets ossified. His awareness of that would probably save him, I suppose, and it’d be great to see him on NYT. But I love his Atlantic blog, and would worry about what would be lost at the new joint.

  46. 46.

    cmorenc

    March 25, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    I actually think it would be a great idea if the NYT WOULD hire Andrew Breitbart to be the replacement columnist for Bob Herbert, and have James O’Keefe help co-author some pieces;
    PROVIDED
    that it’s a job requirement that they have to submit every prospective column to the collective Balloon-Juice community with their bare feet strapped in to damp electrodes, with a jar of delicious jelly beans on the counter beside them, and we here at BJ got to take a vote after reading each sentence whether it contained too much bullshit and lies and deserved a mind-jolting electroshock, or else was worthwhile substantive and truthful enough to deserve some candy instead.

    This brings to mind Vincent Price and the commercial where he was promoting some outfit where you could use the rewards point for purchases toward buying an electric bug zapper, and it ends with Price giggling with delight as a bug hits the zapper with a loud zzzzt!

  47. 47.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    And I’ll say it if no one else is going to: TNC has a lot on Herbert when it comes to engaging the reader.

  48. 48.

    Yevgraf (fka Michael)

    March 25, 2011 at 7:35 pm

    @Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people):

    The Wisconsin GOP is even scarier than I thought. They’re going to ignore the court ruling and start implementing the collective bargaining rollback

    They’ve gone fascist enough and are so full of propagandized victimization that they intend to follow through regardless, and are capable of violence.

    The only thing which can calm their winger asses down is the consequences of a true general strike – and not a pussified current notion of one. I’m talking power employees who don’t show up. Cops, firefighters and paramedics staying home. Corrections guys don’t show up.

    Make it frightening.

  49. 49.

    AAA Bonds

    March 25, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    My suggestion is to sell the Times to Gannett and ship all copies directly to a wood pulp biofuel recycling center.

  50. 50.

    despues76

    March 25, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    WHY?!? Why would he make a good replacement? because he is black??

  51. 51.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    March 25, 2011 at 7:43 pm

    It Sucks about Bob Herbert leaving, but I hope he will succeed wherever he goes, also I see Light’s Out got cancelled, now that sucks!

  52. 52.

    jackie

    March 25, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    It would be great if they drafted one of the great daily commenters: Marie Burns, Karen Garcia, Winning Progressive, or Phil in K-somethingorother Japan. Straight from the grassroots, so to speak,to the Grey Lady. How cool that would be.

  53. 53.

    J.W. Hamner

    March 25, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    @AAA Bonds:

    Anyone who thinks TNC’s “style” can’t work for a Times column has never read his Serious Business work for TIME.

    This is true of me.

    A column just reminds me too much of the “5 paragraph essay” where I just feel like it’s a medium that can’t exceed mediocre, no matter the skill of the writer.

  54. 54.

    Ija

    March 25, 2011 at 7:57 pm

    Two liberal columnists leaving in quick succession? NYT is not rebranding, is it? Are they going to hire more conservatives for “balance”?

    And I don’t think it’s ridiculous to expect that it should be a non-white person replacing Herbert. It would be ridiculous if in 2011, all the Times op-ed columnists are white. If only because of demographics.

  55. 55.

    Downpuppy

    March 25, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    You know in your heart it’s going to be Warner Todd Huston, because they don’t want Bobo to feel inferior.

  56. 56.

    FlipYrWhig

    March 25, 2011 at 8:26 pm

    There’s only one way to ascertain the most deserving unknown pundit in America.

    Reality show.

  57. 57.

    Suffern ACE

    March 25, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: Meh. The panel of judges would be boring. They’d just all sit around and agree with each other.

  58. 58.

    abrxas

    March 25, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    Great idea. Hope it happens!

  59. 59.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    March 25, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    what we need is a columnist/blogger et al mock draft.

    everyone gets to represent an outlet, the order is chosen in random order of who has the most money to throw at columnists/bloggers et al , and the person representing that outlet picks a columnist/blogger et al.

  60. 60.

    fraught

    March 25, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    It’s going to be a black woman. She’ll be from Princeton. She’ll be cheaper than Herbert and will not mind being behind a paywall. And she’ll be good.

  61. 61.

    Yutsano

    March 26, 2011 at 1:28 am

    @despues76: Troll fail. Notice we’re all discussng his actual work. Y’know, the shit that has zip to do with his heritage. Try harder.

  62. 62.

    bob h

    March 26, 2011 at 7:32 am

    Digby, whoever she is?

  63. 63.

    Capn America

    March 26, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    Great idea, and hopefully TNC’s replacement at the Atlantic will be a movement liberal, not a guy who pretty much only writes about the Civil War (however eloquently).

  64. 64.

    Richard S

    March 27, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    I’m sorry but as much as I admire Paul Krugman I have to hold my nose to go to the nyt web site – It’s become a worthless rag, why wish that on Mr. Coates?

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  1. The Sorry State of the NY Times Op/Ed page | Poison Your Mind says:
    March 26, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    […] job, I don’t know why this responsibility should fall on them alone.  Any thoughts on who the Times should bring in to take Rich or Herbert’s […]

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