In the ArenaUncategorized
Zbigniew Brzezinski has a typically strong piece in the Washington Post today about the damage done by the Bush Administration’s “War on Terror.”
It is especially interesting to read it sitting here in Jerusalem, where the terrorist threat is real and constant. My immediate, uncomfortable thought: It is no accident that many of those …
In the ArenaUncategorized
For Democrats, from David Ignatius. I’d add that Congressional Democrats had best be careful of symbolic battles–however worthy–against the Bush Administration. They’d be better advised to step out with positive alternatives on issues life Health Insurance, Global Warming etc–pass them and challenge Bush to veto them–rather than …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Several readers have wondered why I’m wasting my time with Eric Alterman. (Here’s today’s attack on me, by the way).
Here’s why: I’ve noticed that a fair number of readers have, shall we say, a slightly inaccurate impression about who I am and what I care about. Where do they get these ideas? From intellectually dishonest bloggers like …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Nothing else needs to be said. She’ll fight it–anyone who’s read her remarkable book knows she’ll fight it, and live with it, make jokes about it, blog about it, and talk and listen to others about their cancers obsessively. What a wonderful spirit she has.
In the ArenaUncategorized
Yesterday, I wrote–based on incomplete reporting of ongoing testimony (no criticism of live-blogger Brian Beutler; the hearing was in midstream when I posted)–that Al Gore seemed to be backing away from his carbon-payroll tax swap. I haven’t seen the complete testimony, and the press reports are not sufficiently wonky to give all the …
In the ArenaUncategorized
First of all, I’m sure everyone is rooting, thinking, praying hard for Elizabeth Edwards right now, and so am I…She’s one of the most candid, no-bull and fun people I know in this racket. So, holding my breath till noon…
On to the Hillary-Obama Iraq tiff, which is a lot of noise about nothing:
Hillary’s wrong to engage in a …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Eric, still after me–still pathetic–pulls this quote from a piece I wrote in the New Yorker in 2000:
Quote of the Day: “Given the circumstances, there is only one possible governing strategy [for George W. Bush]: a quiet, patient, and persistent bipartisanship.” — Joe Klein, The New Yorker.
But I was right about that, wasn’t I? …
In the ArenaUncategorized
How strange am I? Sitting here watching the sun set and moon rise over the Dead Sea–spectacular lower half sliver–and following Gore’s testimony via Brian Beutler’s live-blogging. Hard to tell just exactly what’s going on, but it seems Gore has backed away from his prior support for a massive carbon tax-payroll tax swap…now he’s …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Do I really have to explain my jokes in each column?
Obviously, what I was trying to do here was look at the Republican field–with some irony–as a stalwart Republican might: Moderates like McCain, Newt and Rudy living as Pat Robertson would imagine a liberal to live–having serial marriages, cross-dressing (as a joke), appearing on …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Greetings from Jordan on the fourth anniversary of the gravest foreign policy mistake in American history.
Several Swampland commenters asked that I review what I was thinking four years ago. I thought it might be interesting to look up what I wrote the week the war began. Here it is. My feelings about war had been extremely skeptical, …
In the ArenaUncategorized
This is pretty amazing, and very effective, I think. It’s increasingly apparent that the Great Divide in 2008 isn’t black v. white, or male v. female, but young v. old.
By the way, I could put together a reel of Obama sound bites that sounds every bit as trite as Hillary in this guerrilla mashup. But I wouldn’t have the skills or …
In the ArenaUncategorized
You just knew that something embarrassing was going to come out of the AIPAC meeting in Washington–aside, of course, from the warm reception accorded Dick Cheney–and here it is. Obama is absolutely right: Palestinians are suffering more than Israelis. Anyone who denies this simple fact, or reads some ulterior motive into Obama’s …
In the ArenaUncategorized
This is a terrific piece of reporting from Spencer Ackerman, now in Baghdad. Ackerman’s interview with General Saleh–the ranking Iraqi soldier in Baghdad–is startling, but not entirely surprising. In fact, I think Saleh’s frustration with the generation that came of age during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s may be similar to the …
