Thomas Friedman – keeping up with the Saudis
When I saw this aerial view of Thomas Friedman’s house today via Planet Gore and Mark Steyn, I have to admit I was surprised – not by its mammoth size (the gallumphing carbon footprint of enviro-hypocrites is a cliché by now), but by its atrocious aesthetics. At least from above, Chez Friedman seems like the most unimaginative of McMansions.
Why, I wondered, would the New York Times man invest his (semi) hard-earned millions on something so dull and pompous, pretentious even? Why not hire one of those expensive avant garde architects so often trumpeted in his own paper? At least then he could come up with something that looks as if it’s environmentally friendly (with solar panels on the roof, etc.), even if it is isn’t . And it wouldn’t be such an eyesore into the bargain.
Then I realized – how could I have been so stupid? Friedman spends a lot of time romancing the Saudis. It’s their Royal Family he wants to impress. What does Rem Koolhaas mean to Prince Abdullah? Not a lot, I would imagine. No, it’s excess excess excess. So keep it up, Tom. Good work. Pretty soon you might have something as environmentally smashing as this woman’s house. [They are so aesthetically square.-ed. Yes, and intellectually as well.]
Wait, Tom Freidman is a boring unimaginative suck-up? Get out.
Reading Tom Friedman is like watching grass grow while fertilizing it with rohypnol. Ponderosa.
Thomas Friedman the journalist/author? “The World is Flat” Thomas Friedman?
He can’t afford such a castle from just his writing career. Does he come from old money?
Old money not necessary, sinanju. Friedman is the author of many bestsellers.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Thomas+Friedman&x=0&y=0
Thomas Friedman is a lot less wealthy since General Growth Properties, a large real estate company in which his wife’s family, the Bucksbaums, held a 23 percent stake, filed for bankruptcy in April of this year. The stake had been valued in March 2007 at $4.3 billion. I understand that the Bucksbaum family, at least in relation to that particular company, were wiped out completely and also lost executive control.
Palatial Tom. I’m sure the wood is recycled, after all, his columns are.
“Friedman is the author of many bestsellers.”
Thomas Friedman charges $75,000 per speech. He probably gives the minimum of 12 a year. Pushing “green technology” is very lucrative. The money flows toward those embracing the global warming position. I also read somewhere that the New York Times pays Friedman $300,000 annually.
the internet is the greatest invention since the wheel. That photo of Tom Friedman’s house will ride around the ‘net, showing one and all exactly what a huge hypocrite he really is. And that is a good and healthy thing.
and, I might add, NO SOLAR PANELS! What a world we – and ol’ Tom Friedman – live in!!!
Tom Friedman needs no solar panels since he is a shining beacon to those of us great unenlightened masses hoping that a Saudi pulls out a Middle East Peace plan from his drawers… ooops … drawer at any moment.
“hoping that a Saudi pulls out a Middle East Peace plan from his drawers… ooops … drawer”
LOL, Barry, that is priceless!
I’m sure Thomas lives in a tent under the trees in the summertime. The house is probably preserved as a horrible example from which we can all learn the environmental costs of living well. Tours for school children are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Barry, Your one & two liners are really funny but always right on target. Your # 5 line is the best, will probably be stolen and used by one of the late nighters, just not with Tom F. as the recepient.
I wonder if its guarded by machine gun toting guards as are the saudi McMansion’s in my town, (in violation of clintons “assault weapons ban”).
Thanks Gary and Anita. Maybe Tom will invite me over sometime.
Breaking News: Noted Harvard Professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates was arrested trying to break into the home of NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman. He was quoted as saying, “Harvard never gave me anything like this!” He was released later when he confessed to having bought The World is Flat but to having never read it. Police figured he must be telling the truth.
But think of the jobs he’s providing to the local community. It must take dozens of people to keep that monstrosity in shape. I wonder if he provides medical coverage?
If he’s ever challenged on his lifestyle, I’m sure he’ll claim he “offsets” his emissions with “carbon credits” bought from Al Gore.
I wonder if he had John Edwards’ architect.
I’ll admit that if I was going to cough up that kind of cash for a house, I’d want something that didn’t look like it came from the Toll Brothers catalog.
Thomas Friedman made his money the old fashioned way. He married a very rich man’s daughter. His father-in-law is real estate developer, ironically named Bucksbaum.
I once lived in the Beverly Hills flats (the poor part of town below Sunset Boulevard) where once appealing California ranches were bulldozed flat and structures that can only be described as palaces that Saddam Hussein found too ostentatious were erected. Virtually all were in violation of civic codes for size and height, but that was never a problem once a few palms were properly greased.
At least Friedman has the decency to hide this example of Frank Lloyd Wrong behind some tall trees.
One thing of course you cannot see in the photograph are the specially lowered ceilings inside the house. Over the last decade or so these have become quite popular in France (a feature known there as a “Toulouse-Lautrec”), especially with those people who like Friedman possess a small stature. I have been led to believe that they were recommended to Thomas Friedman by his close friend, the equally diminutive Paul Krugman.
” He married a very rich man’s daughter.”
That explains a lot. Those who come by great wealth without ever having earned it imagine that nobody deserves to keep what they earn, so they advocate government confiscation of earnings.
-jcr
Joshua:
The super-rich who are vertically challenged have low ceilings built so they can feel better about themselves? How shallow.
I guess Howard Roark didn’t get the commission
I actually like the house, It’s not nearly as bad as presidential candidate all cash no class Edwards’ house.
Granted, the landscaping looks lousy, but the house itself isn’t bad, you are too harsh.
Gores house looks like something built by 3 retards, fighting over an architecture degree, this one, at least has much of the classical basicsl.
But again, lousy landscaping. And the pool should be in back, and set a little further away
that Saddam Hussein found too ostentatious were erected
I don’t laugh out loud from text often, but That made me laugh out loud.
as for taste, I don’t bash people for their taste, unless they are judgmental fools like friedman.
My brother, who is prosperous for this area of the country once said “Yeah I could have gone all fancy” when he built his house. “I was thinking about having an 100% stone facade, but I’m middle class dude, I was raised lower middle class, now I’m upper, and I can’t put on airs like that, I just want a nice house that I can have a family in, and a dog.”
I agree with my brother, unless you need security, just a nice sized frame house, with enough property to let the dogs and kids run around in is enough.
and if you need security I recommend a 210 pump action, or a walther ppk.
cheeper than gated communities.
OK to dump on Tom, but probably not for his palace. He strikes me as a guy who would be perfectly happy cooling his heels in a “modest” Manhattan penthouse in between flights to Davos and Riyadh. He’s just another poor schlub who’s been married over 25 years and who meekly agreed to whatever house the missus wanted. Arianna, of course, doesn’t have this excuse; that’s all on her.
he was really good as the Middle East reporter for the Times. A couple of good books came out of it. Now he’s just riding the gravy train.
So what was today’s Journo List talking point? Make your guess. LUN.
Hmmm. I didn’t make the Saudi connection.
But I was shocked at learning about his lifestyle. Now, when I read his scolds, I will know that inflated gas/energy costs won’t make even a tiny dent in HIS finances. So what if his power bill goes up $300 a month? He can also afford those nice (expensive) fuel efficient cars.
Going green, it turns out, won’t require ANY sacrifice on his part. So I resent his lecturing us that WE should sacrifice for his adopted cause du jour.
If only there was an institution in this country whose mission was to expose these hypocrites to ridicule. A “fourth column” of government, you might say, one charged with the responsibility of uncovering the truth wherever it is found.
One exculpatory note:
Give Mr. Friedman credit for the design of his driveway, considering that putting a car in reverse gear lowers its overall fuel efficiency. That otherwise extravagant oval asphalt-top we see in the image ensures that Mr. Friedman’s driver(s), not to mention Mr. Friedman’s servants’ Hyundais and his party-guests’ limousines, will never need while operating on the expanse to be shifted into “R,” as in many situations cars driven by us incorrigibly pollutinous humans have to do.
Wait, remember that Friedman got his millions the old fashioned way……….. he married into money.
Oh, come now. I’m sure he recycles.
He did marry Bucksbaum’s daughter. Bucksbaum’s company declared bankruptcy recently.
I always used to love Imus and Friedman railing against rich, despicable greedy Republicans going on and on about how global warming …two millionaire pots calling the millionaire kettles black!
That pool to the upper left is no pool and that pool house is no pool house. The “pool” is actually a co2 repository and the “pool house” contains the pumping equipment that pumps the co2 into the repository.
Have you people no shame? I think all of you owe Mr. Friedman an apology. Before jumping to conclusions based on a flimsy photo you might want to do what the NY Times would do and find out the facts first.
I’m sure Mr.Friedman being the pushover he is will forgo an apology in lieu of you buying one of his many books which he’ll sign gratis.
his wife has the money
“Friedman’s wife, Ann, is a graduate of Stanford University and the London School of Economics.[2] Her father, Matthew Bucksbaum, was the chairman of the board of General Growth Properties, a real estate development group.[3] As of 2007, Forbes estimated the Bucksbaum family’s assets at $4.1 billion, including about 18.6 million square meters of mall space, but the firm’s value later plummeted.[4][5] The family’s trust declined in value from $3.6 billion to $25 million.[6] On April 16 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after failing to reach a deal with its creditors. [7] The GGP collapse marked the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.[8]“
Is that a tiny For Sale sign I see out front and a teeny tiny lock-box on the door handle?
“Why, I wondered, would the New York Times man invest his (semi) hard-earned millions on something so dull and pompous, pretentious even? Why not hire one of those expensive avant garde architects so often trumpeted in his own paper? ”
S’funny. Wasn’t that in an Ayn Rand novel…?
The Saudis are very generous to their friends. Prince Bandar once bought a jaguar for Colin Powell on a whim. Saudis have donated millions to causes that friends like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton support. Like most of the people who benefit from Saudi generosity, I’m sure Friedman has done his friends more than a few favors.
Of course, given that our friend/enemies the Saudis paid for 9/11, sponsored al Qaeda’s war against America in Iraq and still sponsor most terrorist groups worldwide, including Hamas, Friedman should be ashamed of a lot more than his bad taste.
The weaker the argument the more personal the attack. Or it could be plain jealousy
Hypocrisy trumps jealousy every time.
The Shadow,
Never mind the fact that Friedman is a believer in human caused global warming and seems to be doing his part in making more than his fair share of co2 gases.
That house has, “I just won the lotto and now I’m going to live large just like a rap star” written all over it.
It has a main house which looks like your typical mcmansion with a Motel 6 attached to with a courtyard parking lot.
^attached to it^
Hey, isn’t that Tommy Motola’s old house — you know, the one Mariah Carey fled from?
Target coordinates. Predator drone. Hellfire missiles. But leave the pool intact.
Taunting global warming and yet got the biggest house. What a hypocrite is Thomas Friedman is!
I can’t believe what a dope I am. I have read all his books, read all his articles and really believed this guy was on the up and up. He is more of a hypocrite than Gore-I didn’t think it was possible..
Friedman does have a geothermal heating system.