Honestly, I read this Jeffrey* Goldberg op-ed piece in the Times today and had much the same reaction: This is ridiculous fear-mongering. But, since Tony says it much better, I’ll send you there. Best part:
If America bases its foreign policy on terrorism, it will have allowed a handful of dangerous cranks to dramatically accelerate its decline as a superpower through self-inflicted wounds. So, when I read lines like this one from Goldberg —
The next president must do one thing, and one thing only, if he is to be judged a success: He must prevent Al Qaeda, or a Qaeda imitator, from gaining control of a nuclear device and detonating it in America. Everything else — Fannie Mae, health care reform, energy independence, the budget shortfall in Wasilla, Alaska — is commentary.
– I’m inclined to imagine that the New York Times has been taken over by the editors of the Onion. Sorry, but America is not engaged in an existential battle for survival, and to operate as if it is mortally threatened is the ultimate in lemming behavior. The Times ought to know better.
*This originally said ‘Jonah.’ Sheesh, how embarrassing; thanks to JF for the catch.
September 9, 2008 at 4:45 pm |
I must disagree with you on two points:
1. The author is Jeffrey, not Jonah, Goldberg.
2. Tony’s best line, responding to JG’s charge that “Only technical complications prevent Al Qaeda from executing a nuclear attack today” is, “Only technical complications prevent my neighbor who smokes those horrible cigars from trading in his pit bull for a nuclear weapon. Only technical complications prevent me from turning my bicycle into a Maserati. And, technical complications aside, if my grandmother had had wheels, she’d have been a bus.”
September 9, 2008 at 5:01 pm |
Yikes. You are correct on both points 1 and 2; I bow to your wisdom.