Frank Rich moves on and there is one less reason to visit The New York Times website.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see what he does with the new gig. And I understand where he’s coming from when he says that after 17 years he didn’t like “what the relentless production of a newspaper column was doing to my writing.”
“That routine can push you to have stronger opinions than you actually have, or contrived opinions about subjects you may not care deeply about, or to run roughshod over nuance to reach an unambiguous conclusion. Believe it or not, an opinion writer can sometimes get sick of his own voice.”
Preach it, brother, preach it. There are days — many, many of them — when I long to shut the fuck up but a deadline insists otherwise.
Mad Blog Media 
Resist the temptation Patrick – at least on this blog of yours…
When was it that we all decided that the old axiom that “opinions are like assholes…” not apply to media pundits?
Honestly, I think sometimes it’s hard not to face burn out no matter what the job. I think change can be good for the soul. I feel lucky to still have a corporate pension and I know that someday all of this will make more sense when I’m getting some mailbox money each month. But at the same time, a it can be sort of like a prison keeping you in a place/situation when you really should make a change.
Wow. “The relentless production of a newspaper column.” And that’s at the rate of once a week. Imagine what three times a week did to my writing. And I started off way behind Rich to begin with. He’s right, though, about columnizing causing forced opinionating. Especially if, like me, the columnist’s guiding principles were learned from the guru in Zap comix who, when asked what it all means, replied: It don’t mean shit.