Joe Klein Claims He Didn't Say What He Said and/or Didn't Mean What He Meant

Predictable. Though hard to figure out what he's claiming. He repeats the assertion even while claiming he meant nothing of the sort.

Obviously, I didn't mean to imply second-class status for disabled people. On the contrary, the distance and perspective that comes with physical deficits often leads to enhanced insight and abilities. The greatest President of the past 150 140 years--(Thanks, commenter flownover!)-- sat in a wheelchair.

Ah, nothing like following up a slam on the disabled with a reverse-bigotry claim about them having been granted superpowers via their afflictions.

Classic overcompensation. Why, some of my best friends are Jews/blacks/gays/not really my friends but rather people I see in the commissary on occasion, acting all weird n' stuff with their bizarre cultural and/or lifestyle baggage.

So it is possible to write brilliant, nuanced commentary—on the war in Iraq, for example—without visiting there. But it sure does help to understand a complicated situation in an unfamiliar culture if you can see it for yourself. Indeed, I believe the leavening effects of direct experience are especially valuable for those who are blinkered by ideology and debilitated by extreme views.

And while Krauthammer's skills are impressive, his commentary has been dangerously bellicose, arrogant and wrong. Given his influence with the Bush Administration, his unflinching support for American unilateralism--his invention of the notion of a unipolar world--did extensive damage to our nation's security and reputation overseas, and caused the unnecessary loss of life.

Still, it seems clear that my remark could be construed by some as insensitive—and if I have caused any discomfort to any disabled person, I apologize sincerely. In the end, Krauthammer's deficit is not a matter of body, but of judgment.

Meanwhile, Joe Klelin's able-bodied, fully-ambulatory, and luxuriously-padded ass remains safely in his Manhattan condo. Where he gets his Iraq information from real first-hand sources -- Maureen Dowd, Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald.

posted by Ace at 02:39 PM

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