Coffee with the Pundits
On a regular basis, I sit down and have coffee with David Broder. He’s about my age and we have some prejudices in common which always makes for better understanding on contentious issues. David Talks, I listen. It’s pretty one-sided. My coffee at hand (cream and two sugars), David’s words appear first on my computer screen and then enunciate themselves as my brain’s spoken words.
That’s both the strength and weakness of the opinion column as an argument---it’s a conversation with one’s self and devoid of the give and take, point and counterpoint of debate. If I don’t take David or Maureen Dowd (maybe especially Maureen) or Tom Friedman too literally, they suit me better and I come away wondering about some of my own positions. Whatever the particular horse they ride that day, I’m likely to run it through my bullshit filter in the shower or walking the dog.
Which suits me.
I write these things as well as read them and from time to time I wonder if my readers feel I’m a know-it-all or at …