Mouthing Off

The New Republic Online: Easterbrook

"Nothing's worse, as a writer, than so mangling your own use of words that you are heard to have said something radically different than what you wished to express. Of mangling words, I am guilty."

After Rush Limbaugh, it is no surprise that Gregg Easterbrook lost his position at ESPN for writing a blog post that suggested that Jewish business executives were promoting violence out of cupidity. Limbaugh's comment about a black quarterback shocked but did not surprise. It does come as a surprise that a writer for the New Republic, a magazine with a liberal history and deep sympathy to Judaism, should make the kind of statements Easterbrook did.