Nicholas von Hoffman is an American journalist and author of German-Russian extraction, descendant of Melchior Hoffman and son of Carl von Hoffman. He became famous as a columnist for the Washington Post and later well-known to TV audiences as a "Point-Counterpoint" commentator for CBS's 60 Minutes, from which he was fired by Don Hewitt. . A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people. ... Melchior Hoffman (1495-1543) was an Anabaptist prophet and a visionary leader in northern Germany and the Netherlands. ... ... CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) is a major television network and radio broadcaster in the United States. ... The ticking TAG Heuer stopwatch from 60 Minutes. ... Don Hewitt, broadcaster, born 14 December 1922. ...

Von Hoffman never went to college; he worked in the Chicago stockyards and later served as a political organizer for the community activist Saul Alinsky; Ben Bradlee, then the editor of the Post, hired him from the Chicago Daily News. Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (born August 26, 1921) is the vice president of the Washington Post. ... The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois which published between 1876 and 1978. ...

He was said to have been a brilliant reporter, and wrote an incendiary column for the paper's Style section. In her memoirs, Katharine Graham, then the newspaper's publisher, wrote of him: “My life would have been a lot simpler had Nicholas von Hoffman not appeared in the paper.” She added, however, that “I firmly believed that he belonged at the Post.” [1] Katharine Graham Katharine Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was the head of The Washington Post newspaper for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that helped bring down President Richard Nixon. ...

Hoffman is the author of more than a dozen books, notably: Capitalist Fools: Tales of American Business, from Carnegie to Forbes to the Milken Gang (1992) and Citizen Cohen (1998), a biography of the late Roy Cohn, which was made into an HBO movie. His most recent title is Hoax: Why Americans Are Suckered by White House Lies (2004). Roy Marcus Cohn (February 20, 1927 – August 2, 1986) was an American lawyer who came to prominence during the investigations by Senator Joseph McCarthy into Communism in the government and especially during the Army-McCarthy Hearings. ... HBO logo HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network. ...

Von Hoffman was in Afghanistan and predicted that the United States and its allies would be defeated shortly after the fall of Kabul.[2] Shortly thereafter the Taliban went into full out retreat and the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar fell. Columnist and blogger Andrew Sullivan created a parody Von Hoffman Award which he gives out for egregiously bad predictions.[3] Flag flown by the Taliban. ... Kandahār (or Qandahār) is a city in southern Afghanistan, the capital of Kandahar province. ... Andrew Sullivan Andrew Sullivan (born August 10, 1963) is a British-American blogger and journalist, known both for his heterodox personal-political identity (HIV-positive, gay, libertarian/conservative and Roman Catholic) and for his pioneering efforts in the field of weblog journalism. ...

Hoffman also wrote a libretto, Nicholas and Alexandra for the Los Angeles Opera which was performed in 2003 season under the direction of Plácido Domingo and Citizen Cohn, a biography of the late Roy Cohn. The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. ... Plácido Domingo Plácido Domingo (born January 21, 1941) is a famous Spanish opera singer. ... Roy Marcus Cohn (February 20, 1927 – August 2, 1986) was an American lawyer who came to prominence during the investigations by Senator Joseph McCarthy into Communism in the government and especially during the Army-McCarthy Hearings. ...

Currently he is a columnist for the New York Observer. The New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987 by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. ...

External links

• New York Observer: index of von Hoffman columns
• New York Review of Books: articles by von Hoffman
• The Big Lie (excerpt from Hoax)
• Von Hoffman in the Wall Street Journal, Commenting on the Clinton-Dole Segments on Sixty Minutes, March 2003
• Von Hoffman in The Nation, Commenting on David Brooks, June 2004