The Mirror

Jeffrey Goldberg: Goddammit, he’s not Richard Cohen

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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In the past few days when people are all up in Washington Post syndicated columnist Richard Cohen‘s grill for making a presumed explosive racist remark in one of his columns, Cohen is a little like a skunk at a garden party — no one wants his stink anywhere near them. And for what it’s worth, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, a columnist for Bloomberg View and a national correspondent for The Atlantic, does not want to be Washington Post syndicated columnist Richard Cohen, no matter how well-known he is. 

On Tuesday HBO’s “The Wire” star Wendell Pierce, who is black, confused Goldberg for Cohen. Both are white men and presumably Jewish. The mistaken identity, of course, upset Goldberg, particularly on a day when Cohen was getting eviscerated. At 1:31 p.m. Pierce wrote, “Jeff Goldberg @washington Post says you have to suppress a gag reflex when seeing a White man married to Black woman like Bill deBlasio.”

The Jewish Policy Center was none too pleased about it.

By 1:38 p.m. Pierce had realized the incredible error of his ways.

He later added, “I apologize. Richard Cohen. What kind of Freudian slip was that? My apologies to Jeff Goldberg.” And by 2:45 p.m. all seemed forgiven. “Oh, hey, just saw the retraction, thanks,” said Goldberg. But no matter. People were still giving Pierce crap about it. And look what a mensch Goldberg is! He started defending Pierce and attacking the Jewish Policy Center. Is this a random act of kindness or what? “Oh, get off his back, seriously,” wrote Goldberg. “I tweeted criticism of Cohen, and he probably just glanced at it before tweeting.” Starfish Media Group’s Soledad O’Brien, who has anchored a series on race in America for CNN, wrote to Goldberg, “Wow, devolving.” Goldberg replied, “It’s Twitter.” Later Pierce seemed to really, preposterously see the glass half full after making his mistake. 1. “Wow! My twitter mistake attracted folks I’ve have followed for years: @JeffreyGoldberg @Soledad_OBrien Mike Doran @Doranimated & others.” 2. “It was a real honor to feel like a cub reporter in the beltway that dropped the journalistic ball.” 3. This is my favorite. Now he’s MISTER Jeffrey Goldberg. “Mr. @JeffreyGoldberg colleagues were quick to your defense. That speaks volumes.” See? A lesson for everyone. Sometimes accusing people of doing sh-t they didn’t do has the best possible outcome.