The latest — and thus, by definition, worst — Thomas Friedman column is a real beaut. It starts with a Friedman trademark: a gimmicky premise that orthogonally engages a major news story while 1) missing everything important about it and 2) turning it into a delivery vehicle for old saws that manage to be both so evil and so banal that it’s a wonder Hannah Arendt didn’t write a book about them.
The gimmick in this case? What if WikiLeaks had released Chinese cables from the embassy in Washington?
In answering the question, Friedman tosses aside the Fourth Amendment and the entire concept of democratic elections as quaint little anachronisms. And then he really goes to work.
Read it, if you must.
If you want real pain, read the comments
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe best part of the article is the editor's last line: "Maureen Dowd is off today." A truer statement than the NYT intended, to be sure.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePeople gravitate towards places like The Corner because they know the New York Times is filled with garbage.
So, it saddens me whenever I come here to be told... what is in today's New York Times.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe best part was the line at the bottom (I'm not making this up): "Maureen Dowd is off today."
What a joke! Never mind Jonah, MY head just exploded.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt least there was some relief at the end of the article. "Maureen Dowd is off today."
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"What if WikiLeaks had released Chinese cables from the embassy in Washington?"
easy. assange would be dead already.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe joke's on you guys. Maureen Dowd was *not* off today: this was her parody of a Tom Friedman column. Wasn't it? "Americans just had what they call an 'election.'" Surely no one could write a line that idiotic and not mean it as a joke.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell put. When I used to get the Times I was always so irritated by Friedman's intellectual sophistry. For example, he discussed almost every key issue in the 2008 election within the context of the movie Jaws. This is not a joke!
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