You Might Be A Hack

Jack Shafer has famously little patience for the drone of cable television. He, in fact, has famously little patience for any reporter/analyst grandstanding, playing pundit, or talking about “what all this means.”

So if your name is any of the following, Shafer thinks you’re sort of a hack: David Gilliard, Jenny Backus, Kirsten Powers, Terry Holt, Tara Setmayer, Julian Epstein, Steve Murphy, Robert Zimmerman, Rick Davis, Mary Anne Marsh, Brad Blakeman, Genevieve Wood, Steve McMahon, Michael Brown, Bill Pascrell, Jamal Simmons, Charles Hargrave, Jim McCarthy, Doug Hattaway, Todd Webster, Jack Burkman, or Flavia Colgan. Just FYI.

His latest column goes after all the stupidity of lame TV bookings: “What do you have to do to qualify for the title of strategist? Nothing! Like journalists, political strategists aren’t credentialed. If you can get somebody to call you a Democratic strategist, you are one! Just make sure not to take offense if you happen to be a Republican.”

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