You simply cannot turn on your television these days without seeing New York Times editor Bill Keller expounding on something, or explaining something, or being made fun of. He is ubiquitous!

John Koblin points out that in the past two weeks Bill Keller has been talking and talking and talking to the media about various weighty issues, which is good! Better than not talking to the media, at least. From the (rest of) the media's perspective! Let's review:

  • Bill Keller graciously gives a sit-down interview to the Daily Show and is made to look like a fool, of course. He narrows his gaze and spits at the ground; Bill Keller will make this up to the world.
  • Bill Keller goes to Tehran to do some reporting. Some people say it is not "cool" for an editor to parachute into a foreign revolution and commence writing front-page stories which could have been written by his correspondents. Bill Keller is forced to refute this assertion, with the NYT version of scoffing.
  • Last Friday, NYT reporter David Rohde escapes his Taliban kidnappers after seven months. Everyone kept the whole thing a secret, thanks to the pleadings of Bill Keller! Bill Keller has to explain this all to his own paper, then to other papers, then finally over the weekend he has to go talk about everything on CNN's Reliable Sources and then there he is on Sunday on George Stephanapolous' show on ABC as some sort of chatty talking head and of course he has to tell the kidnapping story again, and by now the past two weeks probably feel like some sort of neverending cocktail party to Bill Keller, where he just tells the same three stories over and over again like a stump speech and smiles and wait to go home and play with the dog.

This paper needs a couple weeks without any "news," please! Bill Keller needs a nap. [NYO]