Apparently, Ramesh Ponnuru does not like some of the stuff on TPM. Oh, well.

First, he engages in ad hominen attacks on another blogger. Faux pas for someone who fancies himself an intellectual.

In any case, he must know Mr. O'Beirne. How about arranging for an interview of him to explain exactly what he did do at DoD.

And, a 29 year old in charge of a country's finances? Well, I guess it is ok, but there aren't many billion dollar companies out there that would hire a 29 year old to do the job. And to suggest that there were not more qualified government employees willing to take the task is a joke.

Why should we believe Ramesh? He, apparently, is relying only on his personal contacts from the person accused. As any prosecuter knows, the only person with an incentive to lie is the accused. Again, send out an investigative journalist to see what happened, if you do not trust the Post.

And of course, Mr. O'Beirne did not respond to the reporter, so we have no idea what he thinks, except, perhaps from Ramesh's reports (which are non-attributable).

And a 24 year old to reinvent the stock market? Again, couldn't you find a more experienced trader to do the job?

The bottom line is that I might hire one of these two to run my $300,000 a year business, but to run even a multi-million dollar company, I would think twice and, if a 29 year old was hired to run a billion dollar company, the board of directors would be run out on a rail (unless her name was Paris Hilton, maybe). Nothing against her, but I just cannot see how she could possibly have been qualified for the positon, unless she was a savant. Further, good for her getting the job. It is a feather in her cap, as it is for the young man.

And then K-Lo gets involved, defending the selections. Maybe it is a coincidence, but how do two reporters for such a distinguished magazine happen to know at least three of the people involved in the article (out of 5 attacked)? Sounds suspicious to me.

The bottom line is that I doubt NRO's defense. They are defending their own, which is admirable.

But, as I said in a previous post, I really would not give a damn, had these people done a good job. If we are going to fail in Iraq, we should at least put out the first team. Not the lapdogs.