Violent Lefties? Shales Says Feminist Wanted to 'Attack Me With a Knife' Over Anti-Amanpour Column

Change font size:  A |  A

On his Washington Post online chat today, Post TV critic Tom Shales smacked at liberals and feminists who objected to his column saying Christiane Amanpour was a terrible choice for ABC's Sunday show This Week, and even suggested they were a "coven" (of witches). Near the chat's beginning, he reported: 

Last week I wrote a column that maintained Christiane Amanpour is a poor choice to host ABC's "This Week" because (A) she is no expert on U.S. politics, and (B) she has shown bias against Israel in her foreign reporting. For this I have been lambasted, pilloried, villified and called any number of obscene names. One "feminist" said she wanted to attack me with a knife. True -- on one of the many rabid blogs that are the twisted gifts of the computer age. It proves to me one thing: that if you go far enough to the left or far enough to the right, you meet the same person: a mindless posturing thug.

Shales also shocked readers by declaring that his evidence of Amanpour's anti-Israel and anti-American reporting was removed by Post editors: 

I did cite examples of Amanpour being criticzed for anti-Israel leanings, and for anti-American leanings too, by the way, but these were EDITED OUT of the piece. Anyway, I am happy to drop the subject, I don't like being called a vicious mad werewolf by those pious and holy "liberals" out there (I have been "accused" of being a liberal myself about 10,000 times in my tattered career. I like to take things issue-by-issue....)

Shales is a liberal, and has been a consistent gusher over Barack Obama (okay, except when Obama raised troop levels in Afghanistan). Check our Tom Shales page for plenty of evidence. Still, he's upset at the feminist "covens" for suggesting that looks matter in picking TV talent. A chatter suggested Amanpour was replaced on 60 Minutes by Lara Logan because Logan was "much more attractive," causing Shales to reply: 

If you say "more attractive" you will get in big trouble with the feminist-liberal covens. We are not supposed to pay any attention to men's or women's appearances even if they are on television. I guess by the same token it would be unfair to require that people on radio have good voices.

Respondents suggested the ongoing TV careers of Andy Rooney (age 91) on CBS and Candy Crowley on CNN suggested looks weren't everything.