Casual Observation

14 Comments

1. 

   seabe on May 6, 2013 at 8:11 pm

   He has learned nothing.

   I’m thinking of getting a subscription to the American Conservative. It’s Pat Buchanan’s rag, but Larison and crew are really making it worthwhile reading:

   A Syrian War Would Be an Inexplicable Blunder

   • 

     Marie2 on May 6, 2013 at 11:28 pm

     That’s one of Pat’s two stopped clock right moments.  He’s always been an isolationist.  Unlikely to be informed by the better part of his religion and possibly related to his racist worldview.

2. 

   paulo on May 6, 2013 at 9:27 pm

   Syria is not Iraq, Iraq is not Viet Nam. Housing isn’t really in a bubble. The stock market will only go up.

   Honest question: Has there been an original thought in the elite puditry (sic) in the last 50 years?

3. 

   BooMan on May 6, 2013 at 10:26 pm

   The front-page pushes for war unambiguously.  

4. 

   TarheelDem on May 6, 2013 at 10:31 pm

   Example #1 of the moral and intellectual rot of our elites.  They learned nothing from Vietnam, nothing from Iraq, nothing from Watergate, nothing from 9/11.

   • 

     aarrgghh on May 6, 2013 at 11:10 pm

     they learned that they could make a profit from it and get away with it.

5. 

   Marie2 on May 6, 2013 at 11:23 pm

   What Charles P. Pierce said and note he grants Keller no more than an aside:

   …(Note to Bill Keller: Maybe Syria isn’t Iraq. But, you know what, according to the reporting in your newspaper prior to the war, Iraq wasn’t supposed to be Iraq, either. At best, it turned into Belfast with sand. Iraq wasn’t supposed to be Vietnam. Hell, Vietnam wasn’t supposed to be Vietnam, either. You’ll have to forgive the country if it declines to be suckered into “doing something” based on the same impeccable logic and geopolitical genius that worked out so well the last time. Go grab some bench, Bill.)…

6. 

   Lucidamente on May 6, 2013 at 11:54 pm

   Whatever happens, the next six months will be crucial.

7. 

   clearskies on May 7, 2013 at 12:07 am

   It’s very simple. War sells newspapers.

   • 

     Sex Kitten on May 7, 2013 at 3:36 am

     It’s more than that.

     The Times has been a Likudnik stooge for decades.

8. 

   Sex Kitten on May 7, 2013 at 3:32 am

   They send others to fight their dirty wars, but dodged service in Vietnam.

   Keller was born on Jan 18, 1949.

   That means his draft number was 140.  Draft numbers for 1970 were called to 195.

   http://www.sss.gov/LOTTER8.HTM

   yet he never served a day in uniform, even though he’s never met a war he didn’t like.

   • 

     yastreblyansky on May 7, 2013 at 10:11 am

     Wow! Thanks for the lottery link. That’s personal (I’m exactly three days older than Keller, missed the lottery because I was already a sort of fugitive–nothing heroic, and in the end a marvelous ACLU lawyer frightened my small-town draft board into not charging me).

9. 

   MomSense on May 7, 2013 at 9:43 am

   I’m still not over his horrific coverage of the Iranian election back in 2009.  He happened to be in Tehran and got the whole situation completely wrong.

10. 

    Quaker in a Basement on May 7, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    “He should be disarmed.”

    My first thought was, “But then how would he feed himself,” but then I realized he’s not up to the task as it is.