Coultergiest Coultergiest I agree with most (not all) of your ...

I agree with most (not all) of your verdicts for the ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/26), but to give the top spot to Keith Blanchard sounds suspiciously like a personal vendetta by someone in your editorial department. Most New Yorkers have never heard of Blanchard. The illustration of Ted Rall by David Chelsea (a vastly more talented artist than Rall) would have looked a lot funnier if Chelsea had drawn Rall in Rall's own execrable style: three-quarter view, little polka-dot eyes, with the eyes and the eyebrows slanting downstage.

But whichever of you who described the delectable Ann Coulter as "horse-faced" is a poor judge of horseflesh. Your contributor who imagined George Steinbrenner "sitting...in a big playpen with rainbow wall-to-wall carpeting," Muppets and model trains is mistaken. The last time I visited George Steinbrenner's office, his wall-to-wall carpeting was a tastefully subdued earth tone. No playpen, no Muppets, no trains. Steinbrenner's office does, however, have a leather armchair shaped like an overgrown catcher's mitt, and a leather couch shaped like a gigantic fielder's glove. Just thinking about that gigantic leather fielder's glove and Ann Coulter in the same paragraph makes me want to take my stance in the batter's box.

Fergus G. MacIntyre, Glasgow, Scotland

Ah, the Old Days

There was an idiosyncratic charm and quality to Russ Smith's New York Press, an often appealing mix of Smith's personal biases when it came to life and restaurants, and a writing staff that seemed to have been set loose by more than Smith's mere largesse. There was certainly more than casual wisdom to his having had John Strausbaugh as his editor, one of the best around; Strausbaugh's personal wide-ranging interest in books and the way he wrote about them always came as an added bonus of discovery. Now things have changed and the result is meant to look and feel zippier, but it doesn't. Whatever ongoing editorial risk you're trying to imply by the Press' redesigned pages, it doesn't succeed. The new book feels and reads thin and watery.

George Malko, Manhattan

Ah, the New Days

Matt Taibbi: I have been a regular reader for 12 years or more, and have never written to the letters column until now. You are a welcome addition to the staff.

Many thanks to you for pointing out the aspects of this heinous clusterfuck that's passed for journalism over the last few weeks ("Cage Match," 3/26). One egregious violation of journalistic integrity has been the repeated use of the words "they may..." or "it has been reported..." in reference to such matters as chemical weaponry, etc. The resulting imprimatur of legitimacy given to these (often specious) assertions will leave a blemish on news-gathering organizations that may affect the citizens of this nation in unforeseen ways, with potentially dire consequences for us all.

Oh, yes, my new favorite. Anything reported by the news agency of an Arab state is snidely referred to as "propaganda" by people like CNN's Carol Costello, while all unsubstantiated (and often scurrilous) coalition-friendly reportage is immediately sanctioned as "breaking news."

I love this paper, and take great interest in the comings and goings of its editorial staff and columnists. I refuse to be pinned to an ideology, and perhaps for that very reason I have always enjoyed reading Alexander Cockburn and Russ Smith under the same banner (though they both seem to have equal distaste for the left). My hearty regards to the new regime. You guys are the best free deal in town.

Jahn Bonfiglio, Manhattan

If 6 Were 9

You put Michael Moore way too high (#3) and Ann Coulter way too low (#4) ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/26). I come to praise Michael, not to bury him (it would take way too long). Yes, he can be a boorish, bloated, ultra-liberal windbag. But any man who tries to expose corporate corruption, political crimes, the access of illegal handguns and wants to stop a war can't be that bad. I would like to believe the man has very honorable intentions.

It just seems that in time of remarkable nationwide apathy?where Americans can have the convenience of food deliveries, 24-hour war coverage and all the sex and violence they can want without leaving the safety of their Lazy Boy?sometimes people like Moore have to go over the top in order to make a point.

James L. Simon, Manhattan

Straight Edge

Mike Signorile: Perfectly on target ("The Gist," 3/26). I'm straight, 53, a father of four and I'm constantly perplexed by the bizarre coverage of gay issues. As you suggest, the closer things get to skin, the less rational the stories are. I'd love to read just one conservative pundit write: "Gays validate importance of marital bonds through their desire to be allowed this basic right." Won't see it, of course. The first few times I read the "homosexual murderer" trope on Andrew Cunanan, I half hoped, while knowing better, that this was merely an inept identification of his victims. I do not read Andrew Sullivan, having decided some time ago that he is a blowhard. I'm disappointed to find he gets something right; is nothing sacred? Will idiots continue to confuse us good folks by occasionally lining up on the correct side of issues? Do we have to think about everything?

Joseph Dougherty, Ann Arbor

Too Easy

Lizzie Grubman is easily one of the most loathsome New Yorkers. Does she or her father have you guys over a barrel? That's the only possible reason to omit her ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/26). She has everything to loathe that the others on your list have. In fact, she is virtually a composite of them. The talentless luck of filial money, the scandalous crime of injuring little people during a "don't you know who I am" temper tantrum, sliming her way through her career stepping all over former mentors and allies, all in the name of partying with erstwhile A-listers who are on your list. Come on guys, how could you let her slip by? She had a good ass-beating coming to her when she went to the big house that she never got, and she has been re-absorbed into the New York social scene without anybody batting an eyelash, aside from a few under-the-radar shots in the New York Post?and who listens to them?

John Lazzeri, Manhattan

Red, Red Whine

MUGGER: Thanks for your skewering of Eric Alterman ("MUGGER," 3/26). I heard an interview with him on NPR about three weeks ago (a brief venture into enemy territory). Alterman was whining incessantly, comparing the listeners' scope of choice of news in this country to that of Stalinist Russia. He then seethed about Rush Limbaugh's take on a U.S. congressman, saying, "He literally said that [so and so] is the devil!" He was so emotional, so over-the-top, that I was almost embarrassed for him. It's the growing prominence of self-appointed, condescending pundits like Eric Alterman, Paul Krugman, etc. that continues to alienate moderate, Jewish Democrats like myself (call us neocons if you must), hastening our departure from the party of our parents.

David Sobel, Brooklyn

Ding-Dong?

Wow. This has to be the most low-class, mean-spirited, tasteless piece of writing I've ever read ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/26). It serves no purpose. It isn't even entertaining. The miserable wretch that pitched this article must have a character as microscopic as his ignored little ding-dong.

Dianne S. Shattuck, Manhattan

Original Meaning?

Your ranking of loathsome New Yorkers (3/26) hit the bull's-eye except for one glaring omission: Michelangelo Signorile, your single-minded, humorless and relentlessly preachy columnist. It's ironic that he and Andrew Sullivan seem to despise each other when each is the other's perfect mirror image. Both of these dull navelgazers are as far removed as possible from the original meaning of the word gay.

Marius Meland, Manhattan

Shem on Us

We're at war and in a serious recession and the worst New Yorker you can come up with is some no-name magazine editor? You guys are lame.

Shem Cohen, Brooklyn

Listless

The 50 worst New Yorkers feature is easily one of the funniest pieces of character assassination I have seen in my recollection (3/26). We should do one in Miami. But there is no way you could limit it to 50.

Patrick Ogle, Miami

Yes, Apparently

Jeff Koyen: I just read "All the Useless People" ("The Intro," 3/12). My question to you is, are you serious? Did the hilarity and genius of The Hipster Handbook elude you entirely? Apparently it did. My advice to you is to lighten up a bit?otherwise I fear you will be tragically un-hip for the rest of your pathetic life. (That last line, by the way, is called "sarcasm," another style of exaggerated humor that you also might not know about. Ooooh?there I go again!)

Carolyn Weiss, Brooklyn

#16 Blows

I found this article very entertaining and sadly, mostly true ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/26). I was just a little disappointed to find that in the paragraph dedicated to #16, Woody Allen, nothing was mentioned of his self-serving, look-at-me, poor attempt at playing the clarinet at the Cafe Carlyle. That alone deserves a paragraph. Thanks for the reality check.

Michael Cotten-Ward, Manhattan

See You Next Year

So Mayor Bloomberg is nowhere to be found on your "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers" list (3/26). Great?the asshole who's criminalized smoking in a bid to drive small businesses out of NYC and make this city even more of a fucked-up shopping mall, gets a pass from New York Press. This marks the death of the Press as a real alternative to the Village Voice. Nice knowing you.

Paul Sherrard, Manhattan

#s 51, 52, 53, 54?

What a great list ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/26). You guys should consider delivering to Harlem?I bet you'd find a lot of people like me. Anyway?the list was great, but you forgot Russell Simmons for claiming he's a vegetarian and being the cultural antichrist. And Bill Lynch, the fake "black leader" who helped relieve a few poor ignorant and black Queens residents of their homes while managing to keep his self-satisfied "advisory" position with NYC white leaders. And Hazel Dukes, convicted embezzler of folks' bank accounts and other resources. And Roy Innis, the head of NYC Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E), such a white-man's boy that he celebrates racists in his annual fete of C.O.R.E. heroes. And so on.

Bill Diggs, Manhattan

We Know Wenclas Well

I don't usually read your newspaper but my attention was brought to the fact that you included both Jonathan Franzen and Rick Moody in your list of the most loathsome New Yorkers (3/26). At least bother to mention that the Underground Literary Alliance brought their corruption to light in the first place, as any Nexis search will prove.

Chris Zappone, Queens

Kool Keith

Your much-anticipated "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers" feature (3/26) was a big disappointment. Keith Blanchard the most loathsome New Yorker? As if anyone outside of publishing cares what your staffers think of Maxim. Several other loathsome New Yorkers on your list seem to be esoteric choices of media insiders. You should have compiled the list of the reader's poll. I can understand why people hate Sheldon Silver, but Keith Blanchard?

Bill Hough, Manhattan

Just a Week?

I just wanted to say this is the funniest line I've read all week?keep up the good work(3/26): "#1 Keith Blanchard, Editor, Maxim?honestly thinks his glossy is a populist organ of substance and not a sheep-herding, post-frat social crutch for drooling, entry-level, corporate cogs."

Mildred Pitt, Seattle

Useful Idiots

MUGGER: I hate to say it, but as a former leftie, you have hit the damn nail on the head ("MUGGER," 3/26). I wonder whether all of these idiots would have cheered Hitler and the remilitarization of the Rhine. They danced in the streets of London as well in 1939. Idiots. I also live in Tribeca, and on Sept. 11, I would have walked right on through the plaza to the American Stock Exchange, where I worked at the time, if I hadn't been hung over. I was in WTC 4 in 1993?probably one of the last ones out. I count my blessings and mourn my dead friends every day.

The Noam Chomskys of the world need to recognize that their freedoms are protected by the people whom they loathe. Let's be realists. The United States is the greatest country on earth. Let the Atlantic Monthly readers try protesting in Saudi Arabia.

Howard Alexander, Manhattan

Bully for W

Come on, Russ?either you continually write dreck like this to purposely attract hate mail, or you actually relish being a huge Republican tool. Does anyone really take your column seriously? You sound like every other flag-wavin', Dubya-lovin' "patriot" who equates a desire for peaceful reconciliation to (God forbid!) anti-'Mericanism. Yee-haw! Let the war machine rev away?forget about loss of innocent lives, forget about how this war will spin the U.S. economy ever-faster into its inevitable downward spiral, forget that Dubya's foreign policy credibility will be exactly nil with anyone but his own sycophants. The way Georgie boy and his administration have handled this debacle of a "war" is deplorable, reminiscent of the bully on the grade-school playground who just wants what he wants, when he wants it.

Michael Sidoti, Larchmont, NY

Truth Online

Matt Taibbi: I can feel your pain ("Cage Match," 3/26). But I saw it coming, and decided to avoid it. When I read my newspaper's editorial stating that "the time for debate was over" and "we must all now rally around our president and troops," I cancelled my subscription. And, I decided to boycott all tv news. The internet is really the only place to find any truth.

Chris Hern, Valencia, CA

What Credibility?

By not including Russ Smith in the "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers" (3/26), your list loses credibility. I mean, c'mon, if Ted Rall makes the list, then surely you could find a place for the nasty, shrill, reactionary and simple-minded MUGGER.

Pete Hausler, Brooklyn

MUGGER's Made of Straw

RUSS SMITH: Okay, you disagree with Eric Alterman's take on the media ("MUGGER," 3/26). Lots of people do. But if you can't counter his argument with anything more substantive than an ad hominem attack on what you perceive as his elitism?an astonishing trick for a man of independent means, by the way?you make me think you're either too lazy or too dumb to do your homework. Pretending to speak in his voice while spouting ludicrous, straw-man arguments diminishes you, not him.

Peter Ames Carlin, Portland

 

Shortcut Keys Rock

MUGGER: Regarding your column (3/26): Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V. Golly, can I write for the Press too? Please have the balls to give me your opinions instead of just taking potshots at everyone else's.

Michael Gilliard, Brooklyn

So Many to Loathe

How did Eric Alterman escape the "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers" (3/26) list? He's obviously a self-proclaimed New Yorker, according to what MUGGER wrote: "I'm a New York chauvinist and love my lifestyle in Manhattan." Perhaps he's the only one considering himself to be a resident of that great city.

Mike Daley, Jackson, CA

D.C. Sucks

Ben Smith: Someone finally noticed? We got here from Brooklyn five years ago and the local stupidity never stops ("New York City," 3/26). Illiterate cabbies negotiating Canal St. have better road etiquette than the fleets of soccer hags in their empty SUVs hereabouts. Milk and bread fly off supermarket shelves and schools close when an inch of snow is threatened; yeah, the suburbanites are going to wait out the blizzard on toast and cocoa cooked up on the Coleman. If all it takes is friggin' Tractor Man to soak up press and grind some things to a halt, imagine what, oh, shit, I'll stop now.

Pat Gillis, Alexandria, VA

War Doubts

MUGGER: I read with interest your commentary on the recent peace march in New York (3/26). You are clearly enjoying your pissing match with the antiwar sentiment (it isn't coherent enough to be a movement) at large in the country, and I wouldn't dream of stepping into the middle of it, at least not without a raincoat.

However, I would like to make a couple of observations. I wasn't at the march. But I've been told by people who were that the empty-headedness you describe was plentiful. On the other hand, not everyone opposed to the war is a child or an idiot. One does not have to be a reflexive Democratic sorehead to feel deep misgivings about this little foreign-policy adventure. I agree entirely that it is simple-minded to describe it as "blood for oil." It is, alas, equally simple-minded to believe that the mishmash of excuses and half-truths the administration has handed out amount to a justification for war. I confess to some relief at the thing's finally having started, because?once the dust has settled a bit?we will at last find out why, in fact, our leaders decided to invade and conquer Iraq, and what they propose to do there.

Whatever it is, it will be done, at your expense and mine, by a group of men and women who conduct themselves with a breathtaking self-confidence that seems to have very little basis in reality. They are adept at political infighting; I haven't seen such a bracing display of name-calling, intimidation, buck-passing, and the art of the bald-faced lie since the early days of the Nixon administration. Otherwise, these folks seem to do even simple things not very well, and to do complex things (managing Afghanistan, for example) very poorly. This is not heartening, given the complexity and dangerousness of what they are doing now. Which is why many of us would like to have seen a little better evidence that the government of Iraq, which seemed to many to have been reasonably well-contained as it was, suddenly needed to be overthrown. Sooner or later the president is going to have to produce such evidence, and it had better be good.

Because if there are no weapons of mass destruction, no anthrax bombs and so on, and no clear connection to the people (non-Iraqis to a man) who blew up the World Trade Center, then a lot of Americans, including some who currently support Bush, are going to want to know why. Why did we spend many tens of billions of dollars and the lives of however many American soldiers and Iraqi soldiers and civilians are to fall and the goodwill of virtually the entire world? On what? Who benefited?

It is a sense that these questions have yet to be seriously addressed, much less answered, that I think is driving the nascent antiwar movement in this country, regardless of the fact that it draws people like Erika Bernabei. (Whose manifesto, incidentally, is as logical, if not as elegantly put, as that of Harvard's Jason Steorts.) It is certainly driving my skepticism about the Iraq undertaking. I am by no means a pacifist; I believe there are circumstances in which war is not only appropriate but also necessary. I am, however, opposed to war waged by dreamers, liars and fools. I devoutly hope we are not in one.

Peter Johnston, Manhattan

One Love

I am astounded by the outpouring of mean-spirited hatred from the feature by Matt Taibbi, J.R. Taylor, Jeff Koyen, Alexander Zaitchik, Matt Callan and Adam Bulger?about the 50 most hated people in New York City (3/26). "Drew Barrymore's well-worn snatch?" Was that necessary? And the comment about Sean Lennon, who hasn't done anything to anyone and lost his peace-loving father to more hatred? That's as far as I got, because I am sick to death of the hatemongering the mainstream press engages in on a daily basis. I don't care who wrote this crap; it is offensive and hurtful and should never have been published. You should be ashamed of yourselves for using your forum to promote such hatred and mean-spiritedness! It is just appalling.

Suzanne Rauer, Harrisburg, PA

See the Introduction

Obviously a biased poll (3/26), you didn't include the worst witch of all?Hillary Clinton.

Trisha Cook, Murrieta, CA

And Moore Criticism

MUGGER: Thank you. Finally, someone is writing accurately about the Michael Moore incident ("MUGGER," 3/26). I got so sick of hearing, "Maybe they're not as bad as we thought." Yes, there was some booing, but there was also cheering, and the shots of the elite actors showed them smiling during Moore's rant. You are exactly right?they would have cheered if they hadn't been afraid that it would ruin their careers.

Craig Caughman, San Jose

Go Google It

I am not very old, having only participated in the 1970s for one month of my life. But I'm curious about the blurb concerning Patti Smith (3/26), number 24 on your list, having read it thanks to the wonders of the internet. What is the "n" word all about?

Katie Finley, Birmingham, AL

Money Shot

Matt Taibbi hit it right on the money ("Cage Match," 3/26)! Don't forget, this war is all about money. If we lose, the euro could take over the oil economy and all those trillions Uncle Sam printed may be of little value worldwide. It is the economy, stupid!

Back to Taibbi: the military and media have always slept together. And, Hollywood has always embedded with the Pentagon. Remember An Officer and a Gentleman, Top Gun, Black Hawk Down?all "filmed with glowing pride and assistance" from the military? This war, however, is the ultimate Reality TV?complete with real contestant interviews pre-, during and post-action. And the best trick of all: running ads for the military right after a pro-war segment or interview so that the viewer is blurred into thinking it's still program content. Greatest movie of all time describing the American audience: Dumb & Dumber. Just the way the Pentagon likes it!

Alicia Conway, St. Louis, MO

Leftie Blowhard

Great article! I hate Michael Moore (3/26).

Karen Candelori, Short Hills, NJ

Piss-taker

Matt Taibbi: I don't know if you read these things, but real nice job of explaining that disgusting piece of bullshit called war coverage ("Cage Match," 3/26). Let me come up with a good acronym that sums up the country we currently inhabit. CWAS, or Communism With A Smile! The thought of any of those guys getting whacked in the face with an oar on national television makes me piss my pants! Thanks!

Frank Jerrett, Kearny, NJ

Citizen Hubert

I am so encouraged that I?a lowly, insignificant, tax-paying citizen?got the same observation of that circus show that you have comprehensively editorialized. Thank you!

Hubert Mask, New Lenox, IL

Free to Trash Everyone

It is nice to read someone exhibiting freedom of speech these days. How refreshing!

Ken Krall, Rhinelander, WI

Not at the Deli Counter, Though

MUGGER seems stoked to see U.S. flags in store windows ("MUGGER," 3/26). No doubt he envisions a silent army of patriotic, hawkish shopkeepers masturbating to scenes of bombed Iraqi markets, always on the lookout for treasonous trial lawyers. Sadly, his inference may be incorrect. Many shopkeepers of Middle Eastern heritage, super-patriotic or not, decorate their windows with flags at times like these. Not only does it lead to fewer broken windows; it also helps to ensure the continued custom of super-patriots such as MUGGER.

Terry Benoit, Manhattan