Fisking Frank Rich

Mark Finkelstein shreds the resident clown and washed-up theater critic from the Old Grey Hag.

Rich begins by mocking the the "collection of sallow-faced old Beltway pols" who flanked McCain during his victory speech on the night of the Potomac Primaries. Adding insult to injury, Rich replays Letterman's line about the GOP presidential hopefuls looking like “guys waiting to tee off at a restricted country club.”

Of course Rich doesn't offer any evidence that any of the candidates do in fact belong to restricted clubs. Rich would nevertheless invite readers to engage in the worst kind of stereotyping based on age and race. Imagine the outcry if a conservative columnist did the same about a group Rich might favor, say older black women. And if older white guys are so irrelevant and unappealing, shouldn't Rich himself have the grace to step aside? After all, he is a person of pallor who next year will begin his seventh decade on earth.

Read the whole thing.