1) FOR SOME REASON, I CAN’T get myself all riled up over the fact that Joe Biden has yet again revealed himself to be a few Jews short of a Minyan. We don’t call him “Slow Joe” around these parts for nothing. Lost in all the ballyhoo of what he said about Obama, it should not be lost to history that in the same interview he also took shots at his other Democratic rivals (giggle) for the nomination:
On Hillary:
“From the part of Hillary’s proposal, the part that really baffles me is, ‘We’re going to teach the Iraqis a lesson.’ We’re not going to equip them? O.K. Cap our troops and withdraw support from the Iraqis? That’s a real good idea.”
The result of Mrs. Clinton’s position on Iraq, Mr. Biden says, would be “nothing but disaster.”...
On Edwards:
“I don’t think John Edwards knows what the heck he is talking about,” Mr. Biden said, when asked about Mr. Edwards’ advocacy of the immediate withdrawal of about 40,000 American troops from Iraq.
“John Edwards wants you and all the Democrats to think, ‘I want us out of there,’ but when you come back and you say, ‘O.K., John’”—here, the word “John” became an accusatory, mocking refrain—“‘what about the chaos that will ensue? Do we have any interest, John, left in the region?’ Well, John will have to answer yes or no."
The interview excerpts are stolen from the TPM café,
where a thousand Josh Marshalls bloom. Thanks are due to Josh’s minions for slogging through the
Observer piece where Biden dropped all these bombshells so the rest of us don’t have to.
2) J-POD QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
Somehow, this e-mail to Andrew Sullivan was diverted to me, so I'm publishing it. Because Andrew would.
Thank you so much, Andrew Sullivan. You are the light that illuminates the path to reason. You are, in fact, the reason that the light shineth at all. Because of you, I have come out of the closet. Because of you, I oppose outing. Because of you, I voted for Bush. Because of you, I voted for Kerry. Because of you, I supported the war in Iraq. Because of you, I oppose the war in Iraq. Because of you, I have sleep apnea. Because of you, I have cured my sleep apnea. Because of you, I believe in a conservatism of doubt — although because of you, I must of necessity doubt the conservatism of doubt that represents the doubtful provenance of my conservatism. Because of you, I have entirely jettisoned my sense of humor, as it gets in the way of my self-regard. I owe it all to you. Or, should I say, You.
3) IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE Iraq war and its larger context, this Fouad Ajami piece from yesterday’s Wall Street Journal is must reading. It’s nothing short of brilliant. In addition to having insights into the Middle East that few others have, Ajami has the additional gift of being a wonderful prose stylist. The piece was worth every one of the 55 column inches the Journal dedicated to it.
4) HOW DID I KNOW IT WAS 55 COLUMN INCHES? Because I watched this really neat video of the Wall Street Journal board convening. While watching the video, two things struck me: First, I couldn’t believe how young everyone in the room was besides Camp Counselor Paul Gigot. I’m 39, and I’m pretty sure I would have been the oldest guy there besides Gigot.
The other thing is I’m pretty sure I spied Joe Rago sitting there. Rago (or the guy I think was Rago) was disappointingly silent. I kept praying for him to leap up and say, “Don’t you understand!? What’s wrong with you people? You’re not refracting today’s events through the prism of history!!”
5) MATTHEW YGLESIAS IS A GIFTED WRITER, but he also seems to be dedicating a portion of his efforts to serve as living proof of the maxim, “You can always tell a Harvard man; you just can’t tell him much.” Follow the link, and be sure to read the comments following Matthew’s post to see how just ill-informed he was, and how blissfully unaware and unconcerned he was with the fact that he was ill-informed.
6) THE WEEKLY STANDARD HAS installed Michael Goldfarb as its in-house blogger. Mike has pictures and YouTubes and everything else a blogger needs at his disposal. The Standard has found its own Geraghty. Within three months, everyone will be punching up Mike’s blog three times a day. I suggest you go there right now and scroll down to read Mike’s dead-on observations on the Iraq Study Group’s latest incarnation.
7) LASTLY, AND CERTAINLY LEASTLY, I have a story on the ABC News website about the potential for a Curt Schilling/John Kerry Senate race. I think you’ll enjoy it – Kerry bashing and Schilling worshipping both never grow old.
Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com.