The Dearth of "Thoughtful Analysis"
The following is my reply to Fact-esque's BushCo is Fucking Up Friedman's Most Excellent War, which is a commentary on Thomas Friedman's George W. to George W. published in today's NYT.
You know, this hindsight is 20/20 crowd is mind-numbing.
As events like Abu Ghraib unfold, "experts" like Friedman portray serious concerns & objections as imaginary inventions of "the far left fringe" -- as though we want this kind of thing to be true. Then they'll exonerate the Bu$h Machine ever so thoughtfully using profoundly weak rationalizations - or worse, strong rationalizations which have no basis in fact. They say things like The Administration deserves the benefit of the doubt and other trite bullshit.
Friedman and rest of America's Royal Punditry have proven themselves wrong about everything from helping Bush sell the mountain of lies to invade Iraq to the rotten quagmire we're in now and the rosy picture he paints of "freedom" and "democracy" in the Middle East. The incessant - if occasionally cautious - cheerleading from him and his peers has only emboldened the lunatic grifters at the helm of American foreign policy.
If Friedman's so sensibilities are so offended, why doesn't he call for an outright end to torture? Why doesn't he name names? Why doesn't he mention the word "rendition" in his tidy little indignant column? Because he supports it. "Just don't kill 'em" he seems to be saying, "because it's rotten PR."
Thomas Friedman typifies all that's wrong with the Beltway types, these narcissistic "experts" comprising the ghost of The Fourth Estate; people who either can't or won't level with the American people out of fear of being tossed out of the D.C. cocktail circuit. He's got as much blood on his hands as the next Bush cheerleader and it makes me literally nauseous that he gets away with such transparent intellectual posturing.
"Thoughtful analysis" my ass. Thomas Friedman, you are a fraud.
You know, this hindsight is 20/20 crowd is mind-numbing.
As events like Abu Ghraib unfold, "experts" like Friedman portray serious concerns & objections as imaginary inventions of "the far left fringe" -- as though we want this kind of thing to be true. Then they'll exonerate the Bu$h Machine ever so thoughtfully using profoundly weak rationalizations - or worse, strong rationalizations which have no basis in fact. They say things like The Administration deserves the benefit of the doubt and other trite bullshit.
Friedman and rest of America's Royal Punditry have proven themselves wrong about everything from helping Bush sell the mountain of lies to invade Iraq to the rotten quagmire we're in now and the rosy picture he paints of "freedom" and "democracy" in the Middle East. The incessant - if occasionally cautious - cheerleading from him and his peers has only emboldened the lunatic grifters at the helm of American foreign policy.
If Friedman's so sensibilities are so offended, why doesn't he call for an outright end to torture? Why doesn't he name names? Why doesn't he mention the word "rendition" in his tidy little indignant column? Because he supports it. "Just don't kill 'em" he seems to be saying, "because it's rotten PR."
Thomas Friedman typifies all that's wrong with the Beltway types, these narcissistic "experts" comprising the ghost of The Fourth Estate; people who either can't or won't level with the American people out of fear of being tossed out of the D.C. cocktail circuit. He's got as much blood on his hands as the next Bush cheerleader and it makes me literally nauseous that he gets away with such transparent intellectual posturing.
"Thoughtful analysis" my ass. Thomas Friedman, you are a fraud.
posted by Arvin Hill at 3/24/2005 02:43:00 PM
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