James Wolcott consistently writes amazing essays with gems of phrases in each. Below is a selection of some of my favorites from the last few weeks.
On the continued lies of the Bush Administration on Iraq
"I heard Donald Rumsfeld say: "Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."Depends on whose deaths, I suppose.
On Juan Cole's response to Jonah Goldberg, a.k.a. "Jabba the Hack"
"So let me propose to him that we debate Middle East issues, anywhere, any time, he and I.
"Otherwise he should please shut up and go back to selling Linda Tripp tapes on Ebay."
...
"Goldberg did not name any book he has read on Iraq, and admits he knows nothing about the 1997 election in Iran and will have to 'check with someone.' Wouldn't the time to do that be before he went into print criticizing me for saying something knowledgeable about it? He is openly admitting that he speaks without having the slightest idea what he is talking about! I have to deal with this maroon, and I have spent a lifetime studying this subject and know Persian."Yes, but Jonah speaks fluent Simpsons, which is why he's so popular with campus conservatives as he goes about entertaining and mentoring the maroons of tomorrow.
Signal Flares
And, of course, the Super Bowl was so carefully sterilized that it gave the praying mantises nothing to waggle their antenna about this morning. If the cultural-values conservatives ever succeed in cleaning up culture, they won't know what to do with themselves since it was never culture they were interested in anyway. The cultural conservatives of decades past actually read T. S. Eliot, Irving Babbitt, F. R. Leavis, and other custodians of tradition. Today's cult-cons scrutinize cartoons for butt-cracks and tabulate penis references in sitcoms, and then wonder why no one wants to sit next to them in the sauna.On Joe Lieberman's support for Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State
I suppose it's progress of a sort when a duplicitous incompetent can be promoted regardless of race or gender--I can hear Don King jubilating, "Only in America!"--but it ought to make for a muted celebration.
