The labelmaker
: Andrew Sullivan devalues his considerable intelligence when he engages in the inane name-calling:
It will be fascinating to see whether any of the usual left-liberal journalist watch-dog magazines or bodies say anything about Krugman. The flagship left-liberal media-zine, Jim Romeneskoís MediaNews, routinely recycles smears against conservative journalists, but hasnít mentioned this one. Figures.
That’s a ridiculous smear on Romenesko, who does a very good job of providing links to media stories quickly and reliably with very little opinion.This statement reveals far more about Sullivan than Romenesko. It is shallow, one-dimensional, and stupid; it is a sympton of the conservative paranoia I’ve been talking about, the tendancy to see commies (oops, that’s out of date: I mean lefties) under every rock ready to cause landslides that never happen. This insults the intelligence of the speaker and his audience.
: Sullivan strikes again. Dog: Meet your bone.
The Bin Laden Label
: An idiot Saudi sibling of bin Laden was planning to start a binladen line of clothing and accessories, though the Swiss are now trying to revoke his trademark on moral grounds. And now the Times of London reports that in Afghanistan bin Ladenmerchandise — bin Laden turbans and gym bags and snacks — are all the rage. Says a shopkeeper: “ìMany people here worship Osama… You must understand, the way he has stood up to the Americans, the way he has made them suffer and the way he has managed to escape them, despite all their guns and men, only increases the worship.î
We did it our way
: A fascinating column by Matthew Parris in the Times of London. He loves America, he supports America, yet he says he make a bad partner because we do things our way. Right.
America has simple gods and likes to keep her satan simple, too. Every populace has a tendency to see for a while evidence of a single demonís fiendish plans beneath every stone, but Americans take this to extremes. In Salem it was once witches. In Senator Joe McCarthyís heyday it was Commies. Now it is al-Qaeda. And September 11 offered tremendous provocation.
He tries to argue that we’ve made al-Qaeda bigger, fiercer, and smarter than it really is so we can have our way (the latest quibble: how things are run at what someone — wish I knew who — named Club Fed in Cuba). So read his column from the British perspective but then turn around and read it from the American side of the prism. Yes, we’re going to set the rules. We were attacked. We had to go to war. We remain a target. We are the biggest and most powerful and with that comes the responsibility and the risk and the authority. We’re doing a good job of creating and joining in coalitions — for American — but in the end, his is where the buck has stopped. So, yes, we’ll do it our way.
Maxwell Stupid
: Investigators find email Richard “Maxwell Stupid” Reid sent before trying to blow up a plane. After not getting on his first flight, he asked someone for instruction on whether he should go again and he was told, yes. Can’t wait to track down the handler.
