Abe Rosenthal, Former Editor of the NYTimes: He Kept the Paper Straight

Imprimis -- Hillsdale College Publication ^ | 6/22/2017 | Michael Goodwin

[poconopundit]

What I'm hearing from you and others is Rosenthal was far from a saint.

I had never read anything witten by Rosenthal, but prompted me to look at some of his columns

I ran across a 1999 story McCain's Fresh Air and it somewhat confirms what you said.

The point of that article was to say that McCain's support of the Iraq war was good and Buchanan's protest was Jew-hating.

But I've read Buchanan enough to know he's solid and a terrific writer -- and he presaged Trump. So Rosenthal savaged a good patriot and praised that nut-case McLame.

In what I read, Rosenthal wasn't particularly clear or engaging. He reminds me a bit of George Will, a windbag who could convince the average reader he's super-smart without saying a single thing profound.

An executive editor doesn't need to be a great writer. He simply needs to ensure a story hangs together technically and conforms to certain policies set by the editor in chief or publisher.+

So if scanning a couple of showcase columns by Rosenthal indexed on NYT don't thrill me, then "He Kept the Paper Straight" -- as in tidying up and being a good policy cop --was an appropriate epitaph for him afterall.

I honestly think FReepers could get put together a nice publication and put that worthless Never-Trumper National Review out of business.

[miss marmelstein]

He put himself on the editorial page and constantly ran his own stuff. He was a nasty man who publicly fired a friend of mine...at a party. He wasn’t drunk, just coldly clinical in his axing of a long time friend and colleague.

Also, his disgusting vilifying of the good people of Queens (and all middle-class city people) when Kitty Genovese was murdered is unforgivable. Even when Kitty’s brother tried to tell him his book was a crock, the high-and-mighty little creep dismissed it with an airy wave of his hand.

[Gay State Conservative]

I remember an Op Ed that Rosenthal published during BillyBob's era.This was before PerjuryGate...it was about Whitewater.I can't recall exactly what was going on at that time but in response to some big revelation he wrote "We Never Knew".

It was a scathing piece in which he essentially called ILLary a filthy crook.

Back then the NY Times was at least occasionally calling a spade a spade.

[poconopundit]

Real interesting to hear the NYT attacked Hillary once. Thanks.

[x]

Abe Rosenthal was Target #2 of Spy, the 1990s satire magazine.

Target #3 was somebody called Bret Easton Ellis or Bret Ellis Easton.

Target #1? He's in the White House now.