[As we like to say in Washington, I've revised and extended my remarks.] In a world of ridiculous op-ed columnists, it is easy now and again to forget some of the offenders. Really, one has only so much time for moral outrage in a given day. As a result, I have been neglecting good friend Richard Cohen in recent weeks because of the greater offenses given by his brethren.
I saw, however, that Cohen had return to claim yet another coveted "Wanker of the Day" award from Atrios and felt compelled to actually read the offending column. All I can say is wow! This is Grade A Village wankery of the highest order -- arrogant, clueless, condescending, with a finely narrowed world view and not a hint, I mean not a scintilla. of self-awareness or humility.
Where to begin, there are so many nuggets of classic bullshit:
I attribute Obama's predicament to inexperience and a certain worrisome naivete. When he said he would negotiate with Iran he might not have realized exactly what he was saying.
He then describes Obama as a naif. Was Nixon a naif (makes you laugh just typing it) when he sat down with Mao? Or Brezhnev? Was Kennedy suffering from naivete when he talked to Kruschev? Strangely enough, the people with whom we have conflicts are often not the most savory people in the world. Yet, these are the people with whom we often have to deal to resolve these conflicts. Why acknowledging this is somehow seen as weak or fuzzy headed I cannot say.
This high handedness of Cohen's would be sad were it not so amusing. Or do I have that backwards? Here is a man whose credulity with respect to the Bush Administration and the Iraq War is seemingly infinite. (See this lovely dismantling of the bearded clown performed by Attaturk at Firedoglake, who dubs him "America's Concern Troll" a moniker that really can't be improved upon.) Someone who thinks that characterizing a point of view as "French" is the height of withering argument. That this clown is confused by the Post's Ombudswomen as a liberal can only make one shake one's head.
Cohen does get one thing right though -- he says that "[c]ampaigns tend to make idiots out of really smart people." They evidently don't do a lot for dumb asses either.
