Why oh why can't we have a better press corps? The Washington Post's Richard Cohen:
James Bond and the new sex appeal: Daniel Craig takes off his shirt…. Bond is in pain from his wounds. I am in pain from all the hours he has spent in the gym. This Bond ripples with muscles. Craig is 44, but neither gravity nor age has done its evil work on him. Nothing about him looks natural, relaxed — a man in the prime of his life and enjoying it. Instead, I see a man chasing youth on a treadmill…. In “North by Northwest” and other movies, Grant — for all his good looks — represented the triumph of the sexual meritocracy — a sex appeal won by experience and savoir-faire, not delts and pecs and other such things that any kid can have. He was not alone in this. Gary Cooper in “High Noon” wins Grace Kelly by strength of character, not muscles. He was about 50, and Kelly was a mere 23…
"[She] was… a mere 23." Where have I seen that before?
Ah. Here: Warren St. John:
Mr. Cohen… accused of engaging in “inappropriate behavior” toward Devon Spurgeon, a 23-year-old editorial aide…. Post management went into… crisis mode: Staff members… forbidden to discuss the matter….
Ms. Spurgeon… [a]mbitious and eager… earned the respect of political columnist David Broder…. Cohen… a well-connected insider journalist… close friend of the paper’s reigning power couple… pals around with media elites…. Mr. Cohen… reading a Lewinsky-related article that referred to oral sex as “casual sex”… engaged Ms. Spurgeon in a discussion on the subject that other staff members found offensive…. Mr. Cohen asked Ms. Spurgeon to “stand up and turn around.” Mr. Cohen has denied to friends that he made that last comment and said that the other comments on Ms. Spurgeon’s appearance were made innocently….
Mr. Cohen’s defenders said discussions of oral sex are unavoidable in newsrooms…. “Anyone who has worked in a newsroom knows these are not sedate places,” said Mr. Auletta…. Mr. Cohen was interviewed about the matter in New York with a lawyer present, Ms. Spurgeon was flown to Washington and interviewed alone by Post attorneys and personnel officers… management put Ms. Spurgeon on paid leave, sending her home for two weeks. The move outraged some employees, who felt it gave the impression that “she was the screwy one”…. Cohen’s friends mounted a defense of their colleague, using a familiar tactic--they trashed the young reporter… depicted as unstable by critics in calls to Post management…. Post management recently concluded that Ms. Spurgeon suffered a “hostile working environment” but not sexual harassment, and later changed the finding to conclude that Mr. Cohen had committed “inappropriate behavior”…
The only people who are able of properly dealing with Richard Cohen's envy of Daniel Craig and delusions of Gary Cooperhood are (i) Princess Sparkle Pony:
Richard "Please Punch Me In The Face" Cohen... : I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe he should stick to writing about politics? His latest column is, for some reason, about how Daniel Craig is too damn sexy and buff… has no business being so studly and ripped…. And then Cohen bemoans kids today –tsk– with their hours spent in the gym and their protein powders 'n' such. Cohen also uses the word "zeitgeisty," which is not a word, and alone should get him fired from the Post…. And then Richard Cohen finished the last drop of scotch from his bottle, hit the "send" button, and passed out.
And (ii) Wonkette:
Richard Cohen… is absolutely “mortified.” How could they print something a powerless lady said about a powerful Supreme Court justice? “In elementary school, some kid must have plastered a ‘kick me!’ sign on Clarence Thomas’s back — and it has never been taken off. Every 20 years or so, some woman surfaces to accuse the now-Supreme Court justice of being a male chauvinist pig — to resurrect an old term from the tie-dyed era — but falls frustratingly short of making a case for true sexual harassment.” Cohen can objectively say that this is not evidence that Clarence Thomas maybe was a sexual harasser — it’s evidence that women are mean and like to tell stories about sexual harassment all the time, all of which are basically always false. Oh, but wait a second, didn’t a woman once accuse Cohen of sexual harassment?
I have nothing against McEwen, but I hope her book fails to find a publisher. Some of this is self-protection. I was young and boorish once myself and have turned out to be a veritable saint. I venture to say we all did and said terrible things when we were young, which is why nature protects the elderly with failing memories. I want to forget both Hill and Thomas.
Hmm! Very interesting! We will help you cross the street on this one, kindly old man. From 1998, in The New York Observer…
