Gasp! IOZ questions the “good war.” Can he do that?
Author: Matt Barganier
Obligatory Presidents Day Post
We all know what makes presidents great, right?
Taking a partial cue from Jesse Walker, I’ll list my 10 worst presidents in American history. Bush Jr. and Clinton are barred from competition. The links make for good holiday reading if you’re off, and anyway, it’s been a while since I got the full rainbow of hate mail from right to center to left. In chronological order:
1. John Adams
2. Andrew Jackson (Make of this what you will.)
3. Abraham Lincoln (See the link to David R. Henderson above; for opposing views – what you might call damnation by tainted praise – see this and this. And no, I’m not a fan of Jefferson Davis, either.)
4. Theodore Roosevelt (And let’s not forget the man who gave us TR, William McKinley. Today’s warmongers haven’t.)
7. Harry Truman (And see this.)
10. George W. Bush (So I broke the rules. Did you read the links above???)
Reynolds for Congress
Clark Stooksbury gets out front on what could be the hottest campaign since Irey ’06. Oh, wait…
David Brooks, Saddamist
Arthur Silber reads David Brooks, and finds him saying the darnedest things:
Brooks then describes how “order” and “obedience” will save us individually, and society in general, from our own depravity. He also says:
“Iraq has revealed what human beings do without a strong order-imposing state.”
If the horrors of what we have done in Iraq were not so overwhelming, the ironies in that single sentence would be delicious. In one sense, I suppose this represents an improvement: it’s no longer simply that the “ungrateful” Iraqis are awful, and unable to appreciate the marvelous “gifts” we’ve bestowed on them. No, now it’s that all human beings are rotten. And I must admit I derive no small amount of enjoyment from seeing those who championed this criminal catastrophe – and who vilified everyone who opposed it as being “pro-Saddam” and “on the other side” – finally reduced to impliedly saying themselves that Iraq was better off with Saddam. (Many Iraqis have been saying this for some time.)
Sunday Reading: All About Don
So What’s Stopping You, Tough Guy?
Ladies and gentlemen, Avigdor Lieberman:
Israel will have to confront the perceived nuclear threat from Iran on its own, the country’s ultra-rightwing Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said.
In related news:
The Israeli Defense Ministry announced Monday that it had tested that country’s state-of-the-art anti-missile system. “The test was a complete success,” said the official. “President Bush picked up on the first ring.”