Letters to the Editor
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The truth never gets old
Another one out of the park Mr Grenwald! You have an uncanny ability to cut through the bullshit, and get to the heart of the matter. At a time when we are being bombarded with lies, and liers, in the press and, in our government, it is exhilirating to hear the truth spoken. It even reads differently, there is an ease, a flow, that only the truth could adduce. You have made the point once again that journalism is to imporant to be left to the journalists.
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Memo from the physician heal thyself department
One would be better of not saying anything at all, than revealing irrelevance. -- shooter242
Good advice.
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@Bodacious
Madame Zenobia Dowd and Monsieur Attila the Hun Friedman:
Please, please put down your pens, rush to your nearest Army recruiting office, and sign-up for duty so that you can put your lives and limbs where your pusillanimous mouths are located.
In their asses?
I suspect the periodic bursts of sulferous high-pressure hot air would just blow them right back out again.
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Not to Say...
Not to say that Friedman's a racist, because I really don't know if he hates Arabs or not, but just for predictive purposes...
Most of Friedman's pro-war perspective can be anticipated (even predicted) if you take for granted the idea that he's a racist who hates Arabs.
Again--whether he actually IS such a person, I make no claim to know. I can only point out that if you read everything he's written over the past few years, and observed him in some interviews on the subject, it all "fits" really well.
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'Judedeofascist'
"And what, I ask you, is a 'Judedeofascist'?"
I am also interested in the answer to this question.
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Yess!!!
Now we know why US foreign policy is in such a mess. Its because we didn't have the right metaphor!
Now here is Tom Friedman, swooping in to save us. Lets open the magic box, shall we?
And here it is, "Good Cop, Bad Cop"! Wow, who would have thought foreign policy could be as simple as a Dragnet episode!
I detect a couple minor flaws, hmm, what could they be? Maybe, that Cheney no longer has any credibility? He's the very definition of a loose cannon. He actually shot someone in the face.
I salute you, Tom Friedman. You have saved america, again.
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The cancer is everywhere
Meanwhile, Salon's own Tim Grieve and Joan Walsh attack Richardson for having said that, at times, human rights come before national security.
The cancer is everywhere. What's going on?
As for the Ledeen doctrine (I wrote this before but think it's worth repeating): every thirty years or so America's sense of superiority becomes so bloated and insufferable for the rest of us, that a scrappy little country has to take the US military and throw it against the wall, just to show the value of humility. Mr Friedman, I suggest you Suck.On.That.
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Friedman's idea of funny just ain't funny
Again--whether he actually IS such a person, I make no claim to know. I can only point out that if you read everything he's written over the past few years, and observed him in some interviews on the subject, it all "fits" really well.
-- blunderdog
I make no claim either. But just take this paragraph that Glenn quoted from Freidman, and then tell me if he isn't stupidly insinuating the the Iranian's are dumb as rocks:
If she[Rice] were taking advantage of Mr. Cheney's madness, Secretary Rice would be going to Tehran and saying to the Iranians: "Look, I'm ready to cut a deal with you guys, but I have to tell you, back home, I've got Cheney on my back and he is truly craaaaazzzzy. You guys don't know the half of it. He thinks waterboarding is what you do with your grandchildren at the pool on Sunday. I'm not sure how much longer I can restrain him. So maybe we should have a serious nuke talk, and, if it goes well, we'll back off regime change"...
I realize that Friedman thinks that was supposed to be funny. But that just shows that Friedman has yet another weak link in his writing and in his thinking skills - not seeing the difference between humor, and stabbing a whole people in the eye with a sharp stick.
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Rotting corpse
What is so sad, but no less infuriating about dreary and amoral poseurs like Dowd and Friedman is that they represent not the decline, but the virtual abandonment, of an art form, an industry, and the staggering responsibilty of the nationally syndicated columnist.
One must remember that all the hollowed out local newspapers across the country have to fill space on their op-eds are delusional nincompoops even worse than these two. Can anyone say Jonah Goldberg, Rich Lowry, or Charles Krauthammer?
Growing up, I was first drawn from the comics page by Mike Royko and Art Buchwald, who were able to skewer politicians of both stripes in a way both hilarious and enlightening; I was awed and envious at their work, their personalities, and the way the truly loved their country. They were quirky and snarky without being bilious or snide; one truly wanted to know them.
If I ever were to be in the same room with Dowd, on the other hand, I would be backing toward the door as rapidly as I could without drawing her attention.
There were also thinkers, like Anthony Lewis and Mary McGrory, who also inspired me to know more and learn about the world around me. Tom Friedman makes anyone think they need never read another word, except perhaps the balloons in a comic book, and nonetheless write a better column.
As someone mentioned earlier, it is no wonder no new readers are being drawn to newspapers; a child of average intelligence can easily see that they are no better than freeze-dried TV, and considerably less interesting.
A government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government?
It really doesn't matter anymore, does it?
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Is Friedman a racist?
My analysis of the recent textual evidence suggests that upper-class twit is a better description of Friedman's moral deficiency.
Even allowing for the vast differences between English culture and our own, I would submit that he resembles a kept member of the House of Lords more than he does a home-grown bigot. His contempt for the lower orders is a gentlemanly one, applicable equally to the lower orders wherever they threaten to make trouble. Their race is incidental.
There are, after all, countless others to do the dirty work of empire, and all TF need do to confirm his own status is to approve of it -- and them -- from a safe distance.