A sophist he may be; conservative, I guess; but one thing is for sure, David Brooks drives people crazy in much the same way Ann Coulter does.  They are both smart, deliver themselves of ad hominem attack whenever possible and both are laughing all the way to the bank.

Brooks and Coulter are sharp-witted dissemblers and both generate huge responses.  Brooks might even save the venerable NYTimes single-handedly.

By the way, thanks to Jim Sleeper and all those above who commented.  I read each and everyone and enjoyed them all.

Posted at August 29, 2007 9:48 PM in response to David Brooks the Sophist

William Fulbright knew well President Eisenhower's warnings against getting involved in a land war in SE Asia. 

Fulbright also knew that Ho Chi Min had approached Eisenhower via emissaries in Paris to ask for help in ending the French occupation and war.  Fulbright also knew that Ho Chi Min had requested support from the West to help him keep China at bay and out of his country, Viet Nam.

The U.S. failed to heed the first warning, did not want to"fight the French" and utterly misread the historical Vietnamese hatred of the Chinese because it did not mesh with U.S. anticommunist political positions.

A hellava way to run a foreign policy, never mind a war.

Posted at August 24, 2007 8:48 AM in response to A Webbed Footnote to My Canard Watch of Yesterday

WITHDRAWAL WOULD UPSET AREA ALLIES

by David Halberstam

copyright The New York Times

Originally Published March 6, 1964

I hope the link works.

Halberstam's final report from Viet Nam

Posted at April 25, 2007 6:32 AM in response to David Halberstam on Iraq and Vietnam

You can't be serious. 

In a society that spends hundreds of millions of dollars to elect a president; in a society that sees more and more executives become billionares; in a society that has seen exponential growth in the numbers of charitable organizations that give away billions of dollars;  in such a society we cannot find a way to help individuals like Matthew?

The american way here is clear:  publicize this dilemma until someone with deep pockets comes along and helps out.  Some one will.

By the way, Matthews' case is not unique.  I don't mean the potential bankruptcy , I mean the herculean medical effort to save his life.  This is what we do.  It's about time we found a way to pay for it without destroying the family.

Posted at April 23, 2007 6:39 AM in response to Matthew's Mom and Dad Testify

Roger Ailes  that same evening:

Any candidate for high office of either party who believes he can blacklist any news organization is making a terrible mistake,'' Ailes said, adding that the strategy would surely backfire with voters.

I guess Roger forgot that Vice Cheney kept the New York Times reporters off Air Force 2.  You might say he "blacklisted a news organization".  Roger, Roger, Roger.

Posted at March 10, 2007 7:09 AM in response to Roger Ailes, Freedom Fighter

...systems that rely on revenues from taxes on employers and employees with systems that rely on employment to provide everyone with private insurance...there's no connection.

Interestingly, employers can and do write off dollars paid for premiums and for self-funded health insurance expenditures.  In other words, tax expenditures in the realm of well over one hundred billion dollars go to employers who provide paid health insurance as an employee benefit.  As you all know, the employee is not taxed on the paid portion of that benefit; however, the employee foregoes wage raises due to that paid health insurance benefit.

The employer-based health insurance system we have has been refined over the years to eliminate community-rating and reflects bias toward the healthy, wealthy and young, or essentially funding your own care.

I would rather see individually mandated health insurance.  The most difficult aspect of moving from public-private multiple payer sytem we now enjoy would be the transition to the individual mandate.  Winners and losers - especially if eliminating Medicare and Medicaid were included in such a revamp...unless  of course there were to be one fee schedule for all providers and community-based rating in all geographic areas.

It'll never happen... the 15+% of GDP represented by health care spending is money in peoples pockets.   So get a job in health care delivery or financing and make money, right?

Posted at February 8, 2007 8:33 AM in response to In Defense of Employer-Based Health Care

I believe that opinion pieces - op-ed or column - are not subject to so-called fact checking.  That's why they may be published with impunity.

So feel free to question the content of opinion pieces in the Post, the NYTimes, the Wall Street Journal and so forth.

Posted at October 14, 2006 10:17 AM in response to Response to Dan Senor's WashPost Op-Ed

Your point is well taken.  If the military services each have an I.G. of their own, what is their responsibility?

Perhaps the operative word is "special".  Stuart Bowen's title is "Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction."

Christian Miller reports that there is no IG for the Pentagon.  It may be that he means and I G focused on Pentagon activity with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan fighting.

Posted at October 14, 2006 10:10 AM in response to The Emerald City, Part 3

... I believe that Conservatives have done a masterful political job of controlling the tempo and tenor of debate. Conservatives, whether on talk radio or in the blogosphere, have stigmatized and targeted Democrats, Independents, and Moderate Republicans as "soft" in the war on terror and questioned their overall patriotism and love of our nation.

No question about it; however, the time may be drawing nigh when these Conservatives' chickens are coming home to roost.

As we approach the mid-term elections, the endless reports of corrupt elected officials and their appointed and or hired staff in the halls of Congress and the White House seem to be overwhelming the partisan apparatus rendering it less and less effective, leaving the task of Republican Party spokesman to the President.

Karl Rove has his hands full trying to get the "Evangelicals" back in the corral.  Rove hasn't yet succeeded in burning the books like Cobra II, Hubris, Fiasco,  Emerald City and now Tempting Faith.  He has yet to silence the retired military doing real damage to his plans to run on fear mongering.

It remains to be seen how successful weekly White House  "Rose Garden News Conferences" will prove between now and November 7.  Bush previews his campaign remarks in those press conferences and C-Span and the MSM parrot them when they cover Bush's pep talks at his party's fundraisers.

Posted at October 14, 2006 9:57 AM in response to The Emerald City, Part 2

"The Emerald City"  appears to document events that ought to have been the subject of Congressional oversight.

It is true that late in 2004 and Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction was named.  Stuart Bowen has turned out to be more than the Bush administration bargained for.

But no Inspector General exists for the Pentagon.  That this agency continues to operate with impunity is a travesty.

See:  Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq.  T. Christian Miller.  Miller's reports were supported by and appeared in the LATimes.   The book followed.

Thank you Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

Posted at October 14, 2006 9:29 AM in response to The Emerald City, Part 3