TRAGEDY IN NEW YORK: FRENCH FRIED FRIEDMAN by Greg Palast

[Wetzelbill]

TRAGEDY IN NEW YORK: FRENCH FRIED FRIEDMAN
Thursday, September 18, 2003

How sad. The last remaining neurons of Thomas Friedman's shrinking brain were apparently lost in hot bubbling tub of deep fatuousness today.

The evidence is in Friedman's loony-tunes comment, "Our War with France," in this morning's Paper of Record. You can only conclude the man's mind has been French Fried.

What got Friedman's brain a-boilin' is the impertinent suggestion by French diplomats that, if the US invaded Iraq to bring democracy, then why not allow Iraqis to vote. Vote! Can you imagine! It's all that silly 'libertay, equalitay' stuff that unsophisticated Americans believed before the Patriot Act.

Friedman calls voting a, "loopy symbolic transfer of Iraqi sovereignty." Friedman, Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein all have the same line: Iraqis aren't ready for democracy. Well, I suppose Tom Paine would have disagreed -- but, hell, he moved to France.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=279&row=0

[frank frankly]

1. marvelous

Palast is one of the best, ever.

[liberalmuse]

2. I love Palast!

Leave it to him to jump right on this one. I was very happy to see this in my e-mail today.

[xchrom]

3. a commentary

for our times. they aren't interested in democracy -- any more than they believed saddam was a real thret to us.
they'll get out when things are firmly in favor of those the invasion was intended to benefit.

[MikeyPa]

4. Tom Freidman

Thanks Palast! As an American living in France, I was staggered by this most recent evidence of Friedman's irresponsibility and stupidity. He has apparently never forgiven the French for opposing Bush's War Crime in Iraq; now he won't forgive de Villepin for refusing to substitute French boys for American boys in the quicksand of Iraq --without UN authorization.
The position of the French government is supported almost 100% by French public opinion. Chirac and de Villepin are managing quite a delicate balancing act over here, trying to satisfy French public opinion on the one hand, but bending every-which-way to avoid picking a fight with the big-brother Americans, whom everyone knows are both powerful and nasty. (Dont' think the tourist boycott hasn't hurt here: it has!)
In fact, in my opinion, the French are playing quite a noble role in this issue, and ought to be congratulated by any responsible AMerican, for trying to calm the waters so violently riled by Bush and his Gang of thugs.
Shame on you, Tom Friedman, shame, shame shame! and thanks, Greg P, for calling this particular sleaze a sleaze.

[fabius]

8. I congratulate the French,

I salute Greg Palast (a national treasure)

and I, too am saddened by the meltdown of Friedman's brain.

[newyawker99]

9. Hi MikeyPa!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Cha]

5. friedman hitched himself to a loosing wagon....will he go down

with the bushes?

tom friedman certainly sounds like his brain has been Fried!

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Excellent work by Palast

As usual.

Friedman is a lost soul. He was once a good jouralist, but the the New York Tinmes gave him space on the op/ed page. He's been dreadful since.

Of course, writing a perfectly awful book like the The Lexus and the Olive Tree didn't help, either.

[The Zanti Regent]

7. Thank you Greg!

Please, we need to know when the Guardian is coming over to the US so we can put the New York Times and Washington post out of business!

As for Friedman, if he loves Israel so much, let him move there and work for his beloved Nazi Likud Party!