WHAT DOES THE FORMER EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES THINK OF YOU?

I have said before that I think the Times has gotten, without a doubt, better since Howell Raines resigned. But I also think that Raines reflects a sense of elitist condescension that you can sense coming from a lot of these people. (What's the other reason Fox News does well? They're very careful to make sure they talk to you, never down to you. Think about the difference in tone between Aaron Brown and Brit Hume.)

I've also said you can't do more than analyze texts without specific evidence of intent, say, interviews.

Well, now we have a piece written (in a British paper, of course) by Howell Raines offering advice to John Kerry. And because it's meant to offer advice on how to persuade, it offers us a glimpse into how Raines views us -- and that view is not pretty, as Ed Morrissey makes clear (hat tip Instapundit.) (One other thing: Raines says we'll be out of Iraq in thirty days. That isn't even close to true. The handover of soverignty is in thirty days. A "cut and run" type estimate would have us out in a year).

Update: James Taranto notes that since Howell Raines is listing not war hero presidents but war hero candidates he also forgets, between JFK and Kerry, George McGovern, Bob Dole and John McCain. Which made me realize he was also leaving out Bob Kerrey -- so Kerry isn't even the first war hero from Vietnam to run.

Comments

[Media Hound]

Andrew Sullivan has an excellent post on this Raines article:

http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php?dish_inc=archives/2004_05_30_dish_archive.html#108619323193186277