I’ve read an interesting article by Pinkerton in ‘Newsday’
Short of reading all the stuff in ‘Newsday’ and find out for myself, how reliable is Newsday and James P. Pinkerton, in your opinion?
[I don’t know whether this belongs in ‘General Questions’. Please move this post, if so. Thanks.]
In reading the article it doesn’t appear he’s making any outlandish assertions that would cause his “credibility” to be questioned. It seems pretty much matter of fact stuff and themes I’ve seen repeated in other news articles about this same issue.
He’s one of the participants on “Fox News Watch,” a weekly half-hour show which comments on how the media is covering current events. He’s on the “Conservative” side of the panel, but seems somewhat more moderate (well, at least moderate compared to Cal Thomas, the other conservative on the show).
I like him for the most part. He seems fairly rational. Or at least he has when I’ve seen him.
Originally posted by astro
I agree. His article made a lot of sense. I wasn’t so much questioning his credibility, but to find out whether he’s considered a ‘left-winger’, or perhaps more of a ‘Conservative’.
Which yosemite answered.
btw: Isn’t ‘Fox News’ seen as conservative? There is, ofcourse, nothing wrong with conservatism, imho, but I’m a fairly rabid lefty myself 
and I’d hesitate to quote from a conservative columnist, even when I agree with him.
Yes, that’s nonsense and cowardice. I know.
Thank you both. 
And - if I may - According to Pinkerton:
"Yet the most compelling figure in Netherlander politics was herself born a Muslim. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an immigrant from Somalia, was genitally mutilated as a girl, according to cruel tribal custom. Having worked with the late van Gogh on a documentary film critical of Islam, she now serves as a right-tilting member of the Dutch parliament.
By virtue of her own story, Hirsi Ali offers Holland its best hope for peaceful accommodation through tougher-minded assimilation - in other words, an end to naive multiculturalism. Unless of course, one of the many death threats against her is successfully carried out."
But
"According to the Volkskrant, she was flown out of the country from a military airbase on November 10, as Dutch police and secret services were raiding a house in The Hague, where they made arrests in connection with suspected terrorist offences.
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment but did not deny the report.
Ali Hirsi has not appeared in public since the murder of Van Gogh on November 2. Van Gogh’s killer pinned a letter to his body with a knife in which threats were uttered against the parliamentarian.
According to her political associates, she is expected to return to parliamentary work on January 18, at the end of the Christmas recess"
So, Let us all hope she can make a difference, huh.
And stays alive.
Go, Ayaan.
Where to place Pinkerton on the political spectrum? Well, there’s not a neat, easy answer. I’d say he’s… an old-fashioned liberal who understands why conservatives don’t buy into what he believes, and sees their point.
That often makes him SOUND like a conservative!
I think there are so many commentators on both the left and the right who CAN’T see any validity on the other side that they dismiss it too facilely. Pinkerton is one of the rare, intelligent liberal commentators who grasps the appeal of conservatism (even though he doesn’t buy it), much as David Brooks is a rare conservative who grasps the appeal of liberalism (even though he doesn’t buy it).
I really know little about Pinkerton, but Newsday is a well-respected daily newspaper based on Long Island, New York, with circulation into New York City. It is part of the Tribune Company family of newspapers, and has won several Pulitzer Prizes.
There was one mistake (or at any rate misunderstanding) in his column:
The Netherlands and Belgium are both part of the Schengen area. This doesn’t have anything to do with the Dutch tradition of liberal tolerance and multiculturalism, but with European integration. When first entering into the European nations participating in the Schengen area visa union, you would have to clear border controls, the same as if you arrived in the United States on an international flight into New York or Atlanta, but thereafter travel within the Schengen area is essentially like travel within the United States–you don’t have to clear border controls to take a train from JFK over to New Jersey, or to drive from Atlanta to Birmingham or Chattanooga.
astorian, It makes him sound as a sensible man, imho. One who doesn’t think in black and white.
Billdo, Thanks. Pullitzer, huh. Excellent.
MEBuckner, That’s correct. He also misspelled ‘Zentrum’. heh.
Thanks all.
Go Ayaan.
Not really on topic, but Pinkerton used to be my father’s intern. Nice guy, and about 9 feet tall.
OK, maybe 6’7", but from an 8 year old’s perspective, that’s HUGE.
Nothing of any substance to contribute, I’ll just toddle back to my coffee here.
All I know about Pinkerton is what I see on Fox News Channel. He doesn’t strike me as a liberal there. He’s obviously playing a position on the Fox team: center right.
The way he cramsinabunchofuninflectedwordsreallyfastattheendofasentence makes me think he may be borderline autistic.
Also, in profile, he looks EXACTLY like a character out of Doonesbury.