Maureen Dowd today:

The ire in Tahrir Square is full of ironies, not the least of which is the American president who inspired such hope in the Middle East with his Cairo speech calling around this week to leaders in the region to stanch the uncontrolled surge of democracy in the Arab world.
Egyptians rose up at the greatest irony of all: Cleopatra’s Egypt was modern in ancient times and Mubarak’s was ancient in modern times. The cradle of civilization yearned for some civilization.

Maybe Dowd wants Rome to re-conquer Egypt? And what was so “modern” about Cleopatra’s Egypt? Joy Behar tweeted much the same thing the other day:

When exactly this “original glory” occurred remains a mystery, however.