Richard Cohen will not be chased out of the Washington Post by 'totalitarians

Washington Post abnormality columnist Richard Cohen started a stink Tuesday with a column in which he said some Tea Party Republicans "must repress a gag reflex" when they see interracial married couples.

Credit: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

The op-ed led to calls for the Post to fire Cohen by the Huffington Post and Salon, two outlets with sympathies on the left.

Past columns by Cohen sparked similar reaction, like over the summer when he said Florida teen Trayvon Martin "was wearing a uniform we all recognize" the night he was shot and killed.

But Cohen's not going anywhere until he's good and ready, according to a follow-up piece on him in the Post's Style section.

“I think it’s reprehensible to say that because you disagree with something that you should fire me," Cohen is quoted as saying in his own newspaper. "That’s what totalitarians do.”

And at the bottom of the piece:

Cohen said he still enjoys writing his weekly column and intends to keep at it as long as the paper will have him. Or “until Gawker sends over a hit man,” he said.

As for The Post dumping Cohen, don’t count on it.

“Richard doesn’t reliably follow any political line,” [Post Editorial Page Editor Fred] Hiatt said. “He also isn’t afraid to take on subjects where culture and politics and emotion overlap. Those traits make him a compelling, and one of our best-read, columnists. They also, not surprisingly, at times lead to controversy.”