By Michael J. Smith on Wednesday March 11, 2009 11:07 PM
Coupla weeks ago I very grudgingly allowed as how Israel critic Chas Freeman's appointment as chair of the National Intelligence Council was "Obie's first interesting appointment". Oh, what that cost me! I hate to be proved wrong.
I needn't have agonized so much -- all I had to do was wait. Vicistis, Galileae! The Israel lobby made Obie cave, and now Freeman's brief return to government is over.
Story here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35a317dc-0ddc-11de-8ea3-0000779fd2ac.html
Freeman's own account, full of characteristic drolleries:
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/10/freeman_speaks_out_on_his_exit
Comments (3)
If this is droll, I don't know what the word means:
"The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth."
I would use the work "excoriating."
Posted by Solar Hero | March 12, 2009 5:20 PM
Posted on March 12, 2009 17:20
Yeah, that bit is harsh.
But not harsh enough. If anything, the man understated the case.
"Dishonor" and "indecency" seem strangely misjudged and understated terms in talking about the Israel lobby. They'd have to have some connection with, or regard for, honor and decency, if these reproaches were to mean anything at all. But in fact mendacity and thuggery are what they do -- what they pride themselves on.
The droll bits were elsewhere.
Posted by MJS | March 12, 2009 9:43 PM
Posted on March 12, 2009 21:43
Dude was a loss-leader from the start. Obama is Klinton to the bone, as Mike Flug's great face wash pic shows...
Reaganism's premium on heightening the sales-logic and mean/pseudo-nice yin/yang cycling of the Highest Office remains totally, utterly intact.
We B Fucked.
Posted by Michael Dawson | March 16, 2009 1:35 PM
Posted on March 16, 2009 13:35