I can’t argue with Mike Allen topping Alex Pareene’s annual hack list but the actual article isn’t any more readable than Allen’s PLAYBOOK. Also, in reality, I can argue with Mr. Allen topping the list because any hack list that doesn’t have Richard Cohen in the top slot just isn’t taking its job seriously. It is literally impossible to be more of a worthless hack than Richard Cohen. But, at least you can read the Cohen entry without it feeling like you’ve dropped a bag of hammers on your head.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
That’s the point? He wrote it like Allen.
I thought it was a brilliant parody.
Yes, agreed that it was EXACTLY like Allen.
But I also agree that a 2013 Hack List that doesn’t have Cohen at the top is flawed. Perhaps it was just too “Inside Baseball” a critique of journalism, rather than talking about who was the worst person who practiced journalism in 2013.
Well, you can’t have Cohen at first every year. It’s good to mix up the hacks a little bit. Every hack has their unique bit of awfulness to offer.
IIRC Cohen topped it last year, so he probably wanted to mix it up. But that in itself is a hack move – giving primacy to the needs of the format over the actual facts of the matter. And the fact of the matter is that Cohen deserves his own category, some sort of Hack Emeritus award. You could name it after David Broder. (I almost said George Will, but contrary to appearances, he’s not dead yet.)
Meanwhile the conceit of writing each entry in the style of the hack profiled was hilarious. The Cohen, Noonan, and Freidman entries were particularly good. Sure, it’s shooting fish in a barrel, but sometimes fish just need to be shot.
To paraphrase Todd Berry from the Chevy Chase roast, making fun of them isn’t as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. It’s as easy as looking at fish in a barrel.
Or shooting them with a Howitzer.
I found the Mike Allen #1 slot truly educational. I avoid “Politico” aka “Tiger Beat on the Potomac” like the plague, and was actually unaware of this worm’s existence. Still, Booman may be right that Richard Cohen deserves the top spot again. What other print hack could possibly get away with such racism and misogyny in his work?