Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2817

Quote For The Day II

"Marcus Baram: In the hypercompetitive media world, some of the reaction to your story has been a little negative, that you have "hostile views" and that you're anti-war. Some have wondered how you could jeopardize your future access to sources. How do you respond to that?

Michael Hastings: Look, I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising. My views are critical but that shouldn't be mistaken for hostile - I'm just not a stenographer. There is a body of work that shows how I...

Malkin Award Nominee

"The majority of [illegal immigrants:] in my opinion and I think in the opinion of law enforcement is that they are not coming here to work. They are coming here and they're bringing drugs. And they're doing drop houses and they're extorting people and they're terrorizing the families," - Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R). A mountain of evidence to the contrary here and here.
















Jan Brewer - Law - Immigration - United States - List of Governors of Arizona

Rolling Stone vs National Review

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cMcChrystal's Balls - Honorable Dischargewww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

No contest.

I didn't realize that after covering the Iraq elections for Newsweek, Michael Hastings had then
quit the magazine "and wrote a damning exposé about what he had seen and experienced during his stint." Why am I not surprised?

Michael Hastings - Jon Stewart - Daily...

When A Blogger Vents

Comments Dave Weigel made on a listserv have been made public. The most eye-catching one:

This would be a vastly better world to live in if Matt Drudge decided
to handle his emotional problems more responsibly, and set himself on
fire.

He apologizes to his readers and Matt Drudge here. James Joyner weighs in:

The buzz on Twitter and the blogsthis morning is that this just goes to show that Weigel holdsconservatives in contempt and having him cover the movement for a majornewspaper is...

Quote For The Day

"After the jirga was over, one of the tribal elders came over and wechatted for a while over a glass of green tea. "Last month," he said,"some American officers called us to a hotel in Jalalabad for ameeting. One of them asked me, 'Why do you hate us?' I replied,'Because you blow down our doors, enter our houses, pull our women bythe hair and kick our children. We cannot accept this. We will fightback, and we will break your teeth, and when your teeth are broken youwill leave, just as the...

Why Not Call It Crossfire?

A classic, must-read Kinsley vent:

As an example of the excitement ahead, Spitzer and Parker said that
if they were on the air right now, they would have General McChrystal as
their guest. (TV bookers all over Washington are snorting, "Right. And
if it was Christmas they'd have Jesus Christ. He'd have nothing better
to do either.")

Jesus - Christmas - Christianity - Religion and Spirituality - Christ Jesus

McChrystal - And The Press's Failure

David Brooks writes the following sentence today:

The most interesting part of my job is that I get to observe powerful
people at close quarters.

Like David, I am privileged in many ways to be able to meet and talk to a lot of powerful figures. David and I have been at many functions of this sort together, but I have to say I disagree. These interactions are the least interesting part of my job, and often the most misleading. Every now and then, you discover a nugget that adds something...

Deference, Please

"Senator McCain said that I was wrong. And far be it for me to disagree with military policy and strategy with someone like Senator McCain, so I backed off," - Greta Van Susteren, on McCain's suggestion that Afghanistan is easier to pacify than Iraq.

John McCain - Iraq - United States - Afghanistan - Military

The Animal That Masturbates, Ctd

A reader writes:

I'd posit that the reason humans "shake hands with the unemployed" more frequently than similar species is that our mating and child rearing is a whole lot more complex than for most animals.  Humans produce few offspring and there's a much greater time investment in each child because young humans are unusually vulnerable for several years after birth.

Due to the complexity of mating, humans end up with a lot of ... time on our hands.  We have to have the strong sex drive or...

The Real McChrystal?

A personal recollection from an Australian general.
















Stanley McChrystal - Afghanistan - Government - Oceania - Australia