“To those who came to this space every week, whether you agreed or not with what you found, thanks for reading. You made it fun.”
That’s the way E. Thomas McClanahan formally signed off after 28 years with the Kansas City Star in his final Sunday (4/28) column.
As reported here earlier, McClanahan will retire on Tuesday.
He joined the McClatchy-owned paper in 1984 and has been a member of the newspaper’s Editorial Board since 1987. As the lone conservative voice at the Star, it will be interesting to see if he is replaced.
“I came to The Star 28 years ago, seeking a lifeboat from a foundering United Press International,” wrote McClanahan. “I was one of many who arrived in the mid-1980s and thought, well, a couple of years and then off to some place better.
“But I never got around to looking for that better place. I knew there were worse places. I’d worked in a couple of them. This one had turned out pretty well.”
WORKING WITH LIBERALS
In his final column, McClanahan writes that he’s often asked about working with “all those liberals” at the Star. Notice that he didn’t take issue the premise of the question.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Great job, Tom. I think about how you came to work everyday and everyone you worked with was a liberal ideologue, and how that had to have gotten old. I think about how your voice on the EB columns was drowned out, and how you must have wondered why they even had you there. I also wonder if there’s more to it than just “retiring”, but we’ll probably never know.
I hope to see some guest columns from time to time. I’d also like to read a column from you about how it really was to work there.
All the best!
TROLLS…
cue the Star trolls
INSIDE SCOOP
Tony — Now that it’s official, I can tell you that Tom has been talking about retiring for several years. He would tell me that every time I saw him at the grocery or somewhere else in Brookside. And he would swear me to silence…After a while, I joked with him that he must have decided to keep working indefinitely.
I can assure you, then, that there is “nothing more to it” than a straightforward retirement. I’m sure nearly everyone at The Star hates to see him go (I always hesitate to say everyone)…For one thing, where else is The Star going to find such a reasonable, likable Republican who can write that well?
At The Star, Tom was the equivalent of David Brooks at The New York Times. Most readers, including this Democrat, will miss his voice very much.
Best of luck, Tom. I hope you stay happy and healthy.
WENT OUT ON OWN TERMS
Thanks, Jim, for the info. Nice to hear he went out on his terms. It will be interesting to see how the Star deals with replacing him and his column. My guess is they will go with a syndicated columnist(s). That will leave a conservative hole on the EB, but from appearances, they didn’t let much of his conservatism bleed into the EB column.
BELITTLING OTHER OPINIONS
The folks in the 18th and Grand “bubble” will determine, unanimously, that there are no other opinions than their liberal opinions worth spewing out each day, and will belittle those who challenge them on that premise.
We’re liberal, we’re caring, we’re correct, and if you disagree, you hate______________(fill in the aggrieved group).
See how simple that is?
NOT ENOUGH COUNTERPOINT
I agree with Jim’s “equivalent” statement. We do not have enough thoughtful counterpoint. I will miss Tom’s column. Happy retirement.