Drop it, sayeth the people. This is the way all of these internet feuds end. Like with beef jerky, you never know when you have had enough until you’ve had too much. But I agree, I’m done with the whole thing. I will point to blogs like Kramer’s and Across the Bay when they have stuff on Cole though. My last three emails:
Geez, let’s stop the hair pull. Cole is an insufferable a** and you are finding out what you have long known: No one emerges spick and span from a mud wrestling contest. As a big fan, I am getting embarrassed that you continue to let this fatally compromised pissant pull your chain. Cease and desist. I want to laugh and stop cringing.
And…
Mr. Goldberg.
I am a 24 year old medical student in Dallas. I spend my lunch break everyday reading NRO and the like. Please allow me to speak for all your faithful readers and say that you won’t loose face with us if you stop this nonsense with JC. I assume that is why you have continued the “debate” as you have. You said it yourself in the last piece: it is a waste of your time. And frankly, we are all getting a little bored of having to hear from that guy. I have even followed links to his blog, for the love of God! Stop the madness!!!!
Love,
[Name withheld]
PS You are a lot of fun to read, in addition to being thought provoking. I don’t think that you’re “dime a dozen,” in the slightest. Thanks for your hard work at NRO.
And…
Dear Professor Cole,
Again, I have listened to both sides, considered and the arguments and reflected on the matters before the court. As you and Mr. Goldberg place your arguments before we, the uninformed masses, you are subject to our judgment in the end and here is my scorecard:
1) Goldberg’s argument that Cole’s claim that Iran’s elections were far more democratic than Iraq’s was not a sound claim for Cole to make.
Judgment, Goldberg has a stronger case here. (And while I recently learned from an esteemed professor that the arrow of time points forward and that we can thank the second law of thermodynamics for that, as a less learned type, I think evaluating past events by their future results seems to be kind of reasonable, and hence, the wager sounds like a nice touch).
2) Cole’s argument that Goldberg has not read a book on the Middle East.
Goldberg won this, if we admit his testimony. I retired to chambers to assess this question and I judge him to be an expert of the books he has read and will allow it. Goldberg wins.
3) Cole’s “argument” that Goldberg cannot speak Arabic
Cole wins.
4) Cole’s argument that Goldberg has been hired by rich people to “to badmouth the poor, spread bigotry, exalt mindless militarism, promote anti-intellectualism, and ensure generally that right wing views come to predominate even among people who are harmed by such policies. One of their jobs is to marginalize progressives by smearing them as unreliable.”
This is wholly unsupported by Cole and was laughed out of my court. Especially since thousands of readers have now made regular visits to Cole’s website thanks to Mr. Goldberg’s initial and continued exchanges with Cole (hardly marginalzing behavior). I think I am speaking for many of those uniformed masses with no knowledge of Arabic that I had never heard of professor Cole, never visited his website, and was unaware of his opinions until I was invited to examine them by the all powerful, progressive silencing, poor bashing, bigotry spreading, mindlessly militaristic, anti-intellectual CORNER.
Goldberg 3 Cole 1
Final Judgment:
If Cole hopes (as I gather Mr. Goldberg does) to reach not just those who already agree with him, but those thinking people who take ideas and arguments seriously, then he has had a wonderful opportunity presented to him by Mr. Goldberg, as he put an escape hatch in the hermetically sealed walls of right wing opinion and allowed us all to go directly to his website. Its too bad he squandered that opportunity with the above “arguments”, revealing without any aid from Mr. Goldberg, that he is indeed, unreliable.