On Wednesday, the columnist I have called the village idiot of WSJ’s writing crew, Thomas Frank, revealed that he has done his last piece for the Journal. That elicited a number of letters. Here’s the one I particularly like:
“Goodbye and good luck,” writes Thomas Frank in his last weekly column for the Journal (“The Economic Crisis: Lessons Unlearned,” Tilting Yard, Aug. 11). On the surface, this conservative libertarian might feel exuberant, but as I rethink the matter it appears the readers of the Journal’s editorial pages will suffer a loss that would occur with the disappearance of no other contributor.
Mr. Frank taught us ideas, economic fantasies and a degree of political hostility that we will only be exposed to if we elect to read other publications. His political/economic perspective was misinformed enough to keep those of us with a different viewpoint aware of what was going on in the minds of our most misguided leftists. It is ironic that he despairs not only with middle America, he also has lost faith with our most leftward president and his administration.
I will miss him.
Alan Berenson
I’ll only add that Frank’s invincible ignorance in the realm of political economy would have been tolerable if it weren’t for the fact that his writing often had a nasty, vindictive tinge to it. Like Obama in the White House, Frank was out of his league at The Wall Street Journal.