So Howell Raines--remember him? Once upon a time, he was an important person in America; he was the editor of the editorial page of The New York Times, and then the executive editor of the paper, until he was fired over the Jayson Blair scandal, in which Raines hired Blair, a serial plagiarist, and then defended him when it was obvious that Blair was guilty. (Of course, what should one expect from the Times, which, according to Henry Blodget, pays its managers according to their ability to hire and promote non-whites over whites.)
Actually, though, the Blair scandal was not the only reason, or even maybe the biggest single reason, that Raines got bounced. The real reason is that he was a first class jerk, he got even jerkier as he rose in the organization. He became so totally full of himself that his colleagues and superiors couldn't stand him anymore. Take a good look at the picture, above, from Gawker, and you can see for yourself. Clearly not a fun fellow to have a drink with, mostly because he could obviously drink you under the table.
Raines was fired back in 2003. Now, seven years later, after bouncing around on various books and magazine gigs, Raines has written a screed in The Washington Post, attacking Roger Ailes and Fox News.
Where to begin? Let's start with his byline, as it appears in the Post; it is not exactly very revealing about his true career history:
Howell Raines is a former executive editor of the New York Times and the author of "The One That Got Away: A Memoir."
That's it? Nothing in the byline about his own demonstrated problems with bad journalistic judgment--only the bare sub-minimum of a byline, coming after he spent 1400 words trashing Fox and Ailes.
