The A-- Hole vs. The Pompous A--














Who is Who?




























And who cares?


Richard Cohen, who is on my very short list of writers whose column I continue to read and who argues today in a piece in the Washington Post that Stephen Colbert was "so no funny" in the recent WHCAD (I disagree), describes the blogsphere as a place where you're supposed to be telling like-minded people what they already know and alienating all the others. (read more) Since my guess is that those who like (worship)Christopher Hitchens don't like (despise) Juan Cole (and vice versa), what I'm about to do ensures that I'll be alienating two powerful constituencies on the blogsphere. So be it! But perhaps there are two or three people out there who share my lack of admiration for these two individuals who seem to be engaged is some kind of a King Kong vs. Godzilla battle (see above; and my apologies to Kong and Godzi for the comparison) that has been the main topic of discussion on their respective admirers' and detractors'blogs. What can I say? Remember what Otto said about the English in a Fish Called Wanda?" :""They just wait for the weekend so they can dress up as ballerinas and whip each other into a frenzy." That's how I feel about all those arrogant, upper-class, left-wing British snobs ("where is my "Guardian?") like "Hitch." He's fat and drunken slob -- which is how most Trotskyists look like -- who says a lot of nonsense but in a British accent which explains why he's on American television all the time. Formerly a flaming anti-American/anti-capitalist/Israel-basher, he has transformed himself into a neocon on booze who alleges that any critic of the Iraq War is by definition a flaming anti-American/anti-capitalist/Israel-basher. He even makes Andrew Sullivan sound intelligent. And Cole? Well, I do read his blog (and I even provide a link to it). But frankly I think that the guy is over-rated. Yes, he provides some good analysis of developments in Iraq and I agree with most of his criticism of the Bush Administration's policies in the Middle East. But a lot of his stuff reflects Cole's left-wing/"Third Worldist" approach to politics and economics according to which westerners have to feel guilty -- so, so guilty -- about what has been done to Africans, Latinos, Moslems, etc. whom he tends to romanticize quite often as the "good guys" in his historical "narrative." I don't buy that. And he doesn't seem to actually want the U.S. to get out of Iraq but to ally itself with the forces of "progress" there. I saw him several times on PBS' News Hour. He didn't impress me at all and he kind of looks creepy (well, that's me). I'm aware that the neocons are lobbying against Cole getting a job at Yale. You'll know that I don't like these guys. But just because they're against Cole doesn't mean that I should be rooting for him (in the same way that David Duke's endorsement of Mearsheimer/Walt Israel-Lobby paper shouldn't discourage one from agreeing with it).
Hey, when it comes to "Hitch" and Cole, I feel like I did during the Iran-Iraq War. May they both lose...

Comments

Anonymous said…
The Competition:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302202_pf.html


Excerpt:

"First, let me state my credentials: I am a funny guy. This is well known in certain circles, which is why, even back in elementary school, I was sometimes asked by the teacher to "say something funny" -- as if the deed could be done on demand. This, anyway, is my standing for stating that Stephen Colbert was ...."

"Colbert took a swipe at Bush's Iraq policy, at domestic eavesdropping, and he took a shot at the news corps for purportedly being nothing more than stenographers recording what the Bush White House said...."

"...Colbert was more than rude. He was a bully."


There you have it Prof. A Washinton Post Syndicated columnist, whom I actually once had listen to while waiting behind him on a movie line in NY (without a Marshall McLuhan-type assist to help out) - just attacked a comedian (A COMEDIAN!) for bullying (BULLING!) the most powerful man in human history in front of the wealthiest group of newspeople imaginable.

Time to cut some slack for Cole and Hitch? No scratch that - just add Cohen.
Anonymous said…
ok if you want to pox both their houses, but by your own assessment hitch is a downright malicious character, while cole actually can be pretty useful with news roundups, etc., even if his thin skin is sadly not combined with great wit in his responses to his (many) neocon tormentors
Leon Hadar said…
Anonymous... I was intrigued by the notion that is being promoted by both sides that this is a battle between two intellectual giants. Re: Cole. He is a good source of information but he seems to embrace a very unique political agenda that I don't share. And I really don't consider him a great thinker.

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