1.   For two decades, David Letterman has personified an ironic detachment from the passions that roil the rest of us.

2.   He speaks with the ironic detachment of a French intellectual.

3.   Liebermann is too sophisticated to look back without a healthy dose of ironic detachment.

4.   The blessing of ironic detachment is that it separates you from the fervent believers who populate politics.

5.   The ironic detachment had given way to reverence.

6.   These mordant tales are filled with aging male hipsters whose ironic detachment and heightened self-awareness leave them unable to connect with the real world.