Why Pete Hamill is The Man

Because he says stuff like this:

Q: What was your response [when you heard the news about Osama bin Laden's death]?

A. Nothing dramatic. I didn't jump for joy because after 50 years of being a newspaperman, I realize that if you think you know what it's all about at the moment, you're usually wrong. I was also hopeful that nobody would say, "This brings closure." [emphasis mine]

There are a good many people -- yours truly included -- who could learn a lot from those words.

More:

In Tabloid City, part of the story involves an Islamic terrorist. You describe this young man who goes around like an ordinary person—yet he has what you call a "secret script" in his mind. As a country, do we really understand people like him?

I hate to generalize about 310 million human beings. Any of us who've been newspapermen for a long time hate generalizations. When I hear a politician begin to say, "The American people want...," I know the sentence is horseshit. But I hope Americans do understand the enemy. [emphasis mine, again]

And if you haven't read Pete Hamill's A Drinking Life, I hereby order you to do so now.

/via Ta-Nehisi Coates