Liberal media critic Eric Boehlert dies in bicycle collision

[ZiprHead]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/04/06/eric-boehlert/

Eric Boehlert, a liberal critic who offered blistering takedowns and analysis of mainstream and conservative media, died Monday in a bicycle collision in his New Jersey hometown. He was 57.
“Through his journalism, social media, books, and appearances on CNN and MSNBC, Eric was a fierce defender of democracy, social justice and truth in media,” Boehlert’s family said in a statement released Wednesday. “He was fearless and brilliant in his investigation of hypocrisies and double standards in the media, and his contribution was priceless.”

Boehlert’s wife, Tracy Breslin, told the Bergen Record her husband was the cyclist that N.J. Transit said was struck by a train on Monday night. The couple have two adult children.

News of Boehlert’s death provoked an outpouring of grief online from friends and fans of his media criticism, which started appearing in liberal publications such as Media Matters for America, Daily Kos and Salon in the mid 2000s, before he later became prominent on social media and cable news.

“Adored his kids Jane and Ben, his dogs, biking and running and basketball and good friends, a fierce and fearless defender of the truth,” veteran journalist and commentator Soledad O’Brien wrote on Twitter. “Eric was an amazing friend. He fought to rescue journalism and democracy, which need saving.”

Gifted link: https://wapo.st/37oPmze
This was posted on the morning of his death:

Why is the press rooting against Biden?

Like clockwork, the first Friday of the month brought another blockbuster jobs report. The U.S. economy under President Joe Biden added another 400,000-plus new jobs in March, it was announced last week.

Biden is currently on pace, during his first two full years in office, to oversee the creation of 10 million new jobs and an unemployment rate tumbling all the way down to 3 percent. That would be an unprecedented accomplishment in U.S. history. Context: In four years in office, Trump lost three million jobs, the worst record since Herbert Hoover.

Yet the press shrugs off the good news, determined to keep Biden pinned down. “The reality is that one strong jobs report does not snap the administration out of its current circumstances,” Politico stressed Friday afternoon. How about 11 straight strong job reports, would that do the trick? Because the U.S. economy under Biden has been adding more than 400,000 jobs per month for 11 straight months.

The glaring disconnect between reality and how the press depicts White House accomplishments means a key question lingers: Why is the press rooting against Biden? Is the press either hoping for a Trump return to the White House, or at least committed to keeping Biden down so the 2024 rematch will be close and ‘entertaining’ for the press to cover? Is that why the Ginni Thomas insurrection story was politely marched off the stage after just a few days of coverage last week by the same news outlets that are now in year three of their dogged Hunter Biden reporting? (“ABC This Week” included 19 references to Hunter Biden yesterday.)

His intellect and the work trying to keep the media honest will be sorely missed.

 

[Politesse]

Describing having been hit by a train as a "bicycle collision" is a bizarre editing choice. It wasn't the bicycle that killed him.

If I ran over a pedestrian with my jeep, would the news report it as a "walking collision"? Do the cows at the abbatoire die of grazing accidents?

 

[Thomas II]

Describing having been hit by a train as a "bicycle collision" is a bizarre editing choice. It wasn't the bicycle that killed him.

If I ran over a pedestrian with my jeep, would the news report it as a "walking collision"? Do the cows at the abbatoire die of grazing accidents?

Those cows that are too big to be killed at the abattoir are killed while grazing...( a "grazing accident")...

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Describing having been hit by a train as a "bicycle collision" is a bizarre editing choice. It wasn't the bicycle that killed him.

If I ran over a pedestrian with my jeep, would the news report it as a "walking collision"? Do the cows at the abbatoire die of grazing accidents?

I can picture it making sense--he's riding near a train track and hits something that throws him into the path of a train.

 

[Thomas II]

Describing having been hit by a train as a "bicycle collision" is a bizarre editing choice. It wasn't the bicycle that killed him.

If I ran over a pedestrian with my jeep, would the news report it as a "walking collision"? Do the cows at the abbatoire die of grazing accidents?

I can picture it making sense--he's riding near a train track and hits something that throws him into the path of a train.

Hmmm...He was an expert rider...He either hits something, or someone or something hits him, and throws him into the path of a train...hmmm...Any witnesses?...Any videos?...Details of the accident?

 

[Jarhyn]

Like, at first I was like "OK, this seems normal, an older person maybe getting hit by a... Wait, a fucking train? You can see a train coming from a literal mile away... Hear it even."

And it's a fucking bike it's not like you can't just... Get off the damn thing.

Last time I was in the process of getting hit by a vehicle on my bike I was off the bike before the car had finished properly hitting it... I bent a wheel, but not much else. Of course if I hadn't jumped, I would have bent a foot...

But a train? Really?

I really want to know the story of that.

 

[Thomas II]

Like, at first I was like "OK, this seems normal, an older person maybe getting hit by a... Wait, a fucking train? You can see a train coming from a literal mile away... Hear it even."

And it's a fucking bike it's not like you can't just... Get off the damn thing.

Last time I was in the process of getting hit by a vehicle on my bike I was off the bike before the car had finished properly hitting it... I bent a wheel, but not much else. Of course if I hadn't jumped, I would have bent a foot...

But a train? Really?

I really want to know the story of that.

"While N.J. Transit would not confirm that Boehlert was the victim, the agency reported a passenger train struck and killed a cyclist at about 9:40 p.m. on Monday near Watchung Avenue station in Montclair. No other injuries were reported."

 

[TV and credit cards]

Likely broken concrete near the track took him off his bicycle. Anyone living in freezing temps and snow plows, know how bad railroad crossings can be. I assume he was struck by a short in length commuter train. I used to regularly cross one of these crossing in The Flats in Cleveland. The duration of the crossing gate dropping, the train passing, and the gate rising again can be quite short. So it is possible he caught his tire in the broken concrete at the rail while the crossing gate was up and still managed to catch the train, as it were.

With bicycle accidents, I think it is assumed that it is car on bike. 70% of all bicycle deaths are by being struck by a motor vehicle. Actually I find “collision” very appropriate as “accident” is often not the case, especially in the US and AU who during my research on bicycle helmets awhile back found that both countries are standouts in their abundance of impatient dickhead drivers who think cyclists have no right to the road.

 

[Jarhyn]

Likely broken concrete near the track took him off his bicycle. Anyone living in freezing temps and snow plows, know how bad railroad crossings can be. I assume he was struck by a short in length commuter train. I used to regularly cross one of these crossing in The Flats in Cleveland. The duration of the crossing gate dropping, the train passing, and the gate rising again can be quite short. So it is possible he caught his tire in the broken concrete at the rail while the crossing gate was up and still managed to catch the train, as it were.

With bicycle accidents, I think it is assumed that it is car on bike. 70% of all bicycle deaths are by being struck by a motor vehicle. Actually I find “collision” very appropriate as “accident” is often not the case, especially in the US and AU who during my research on bicycle helmets awhile back found that both countries are standouts in their abundance of impatient dickhead drivers who think cyclists have no right to the road.

I mean, all my commute is by bus, train, and bike. And short of one really fucked up moment where I just wasn't paying attention to the fact that the commuter train was, in fact, passing a pedestrian crossing, even that has like, 3 minutes warning of "hey, there is a train coming"

I admit it's possible it just seems so bizarre!

Rule of large numbers and all that? Still, it's got my hackles up. Media persons should die boring deaths.

 

[ZiprHead]

He was also big on music so I suspect he was wearing headphones or earbuds at the time so his hearing was limited.

Chris Hayes did a very nice tribute to Mr. Boehlert last night on his program. He was also a weekly regular on The Stephanie Miller Show. Stephanie happened to have one of her dogs die suddenly that same day so there's been lots of tears on her program this week.

 

[Thomas II]

He was also big on music so I suspect he was wearing headphones or earbuds at the time so his hearing was limited.

Chris Hayes did a very nice tribute to Mr. Boehlert last night on his program. He was also a weekly regular on The Stephanie Miller Show. Stephanie happened to have one of her dogs die suddenly that same day so there's been lots of tears on her program this week.

He was riding at night, and used to it...EXPERT rider...Smart guy...Why would he want to limit his faculties at night?...
Also, According to the state Vehicle and Traffic Law, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle, motorcycle or bicycle “while wearing more than one earphone attached to a radio, tape player or other audio device.”Jul 19, 2018

 

[blastula]

Read a lot of his writing over the years. Sad loss.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Likely broken concrete near the track took him off his bicycle. Anyone living in freezing temps and snow plows, know how bad railroad crossings can be. I assume he was struck by a short in length commuter train. I used to regularly cross one of these crossing in The Flats in Cleveland. The duration of the crossing gate dropping, the train passing, and the gate rising again can be quite short. So it is possible he caught his tire in the broken concrete at the rail while the crossing gate was up and still managed to catch the train, as it were.

I would think he would have enough time to get out of the way of the train if this happened, but I could see him being too injured to do so.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Likely broken concrete near the track took him off his bicycle. Anyone living in freezing temps and snow plows, know how bad railroad crossings can be. I assume he was struck by a short in length commuter train. I used to regularly cross one of these crossing in The Flats in Cleveland. The duration of the crossing gate dropping, the train passing, and the gate rising again can be quite short. So it is possible he caught his tire in the broken concrete at the rail while the crossing gate was up and still managed to catch the train, as it were.

I would think he would have enough time to get out of the way of the train if this happened, but I could see him being too injured to do so.

It's the best I can come up with. If this were a work of fiction, it would have to make sense.

 

[Thomas II]

Likely broken concrete near the track took him off his bicycle. Anyone living in freezing temps and snow plows, know how bad railroad crossings can be. I assume he was struck by a short in length commuter train. I used to regularly cross one of these crossing in The Flats in Cleveland. The duration of the crossing gate dropping, the train passing, and the gate rising again can be quite short. So it is possible he caught his tire in the broken concrete at the rail while the crossing gate was up and still managed to catch the train, as it were.

I would think he would have enough time to get out of the way of the train if this happened, but I could see him being too injured to do so.

It's the best I can come up with. If this were a work of fiction, it would have to make sense.

"Breslin and Boehlert, married for 29 years, have two grown children and are longtime Montclair residents. The 6-foot-4 Boehlert was a familiar figure around town on his daily runs, and he loved to bike through town in the evenings, Breslin said. Though she doesn't know the circumstances of the accident, she said he had lights on his bike and wore reflective gear."
"Her husband "loved living in Montclair; this was his spot," she said. He was a member of the Commonwealth Club and loved to go to Tierney's Tavern and play in town basketball and softball leagues. He was a fierce defender of the truth, and at the same time a really sweet guy," she said. "

 

[Thomas II]

 

[Thomas II]

 

[Thomas II]