I think this is a bit of a disease among American conservatives -- analyzing Democrats. It always seems to be done in a spirit of advice-giving; but why, when you are addressing people who disagree with you about national and international issues, would you expect them to take your advice on their own internal issues?

Posted by: sammler at February 10, 2005 03:24 AM

Biden and Clinton are only a little closer to center than Reid and Pelosi; still far left. His advice amounts to staying the course of the last 45 years; not a significant position change.Of course he tries to make it sound like a big move but that is like JFK saying he supports the military in spite of a 2 decade record of voting against the military.

Posted by: Rod Stanton at February 10, 2005 05:36 AM

Too bad Friedman has to include an obligatory pissing on Donald Rumsfeld in that piece.

He gets it wrong about the Israeli fence.

Most telling is he believes "slow" Joe Biden and others are starting to think seriously. That causes me to file this under "This just in / Man lands on moon."

Posted by: Xixi at February 10, 2005 05:37 AM

I thought he was spot on until he dumped on Rumsfeld. That really diminished the effect of entire column.
I guess he couldn't help himself

Posted by: Johnnie Dontos at February 10, 2005 07:08 AM

Xixi is right. I read "Palestinian suicide bombing has stopped not because of the Israeli fence..." and couldn't get much further.

Posted by: Rob at February 10, 2005 07:30 AM

Sammler - Are you talking about Friedman or about the conservative media/bloggers?

Regarding the comments on Rumsfeld, I agree, Friedman can't help himself. I enjoyed The Lexus and the Olive Tree except for the bits where he just had to take cheapshots at Republicans.

Posted by: michaelt at February 10, 2005 07:31 AM

I found this part bizzare to the point of disbelief:

Democrats do not favor using military force against Iran's nuclear program or to compel regime change there. That is probably wise. But they don't really have a diplomatic option. I've got one: Iraq. Iraq is our Iran policy.

Isn't Iraq President Bush's Iran policy and hasn't it been for the last several years? Where has he been?

Posted by: mrsizer at February 10, 2005 07:32 AM

It seems to me that once you subtract out the obligatory Rummie Dumping, Tom's main thrust is to try to associate common sense reason together with Biden, Clinton and Lieberman, hoping that it'll stick.

Having kept tabs on Biden & Hillary, and as a result grown much distaste for them, I don't buy it.

Posted by: geekWithA.45 at February 10, 2005 07:50 AM

Fact: Democrats hate George W Bush. Anything that could possibly make him look good must be avoided. If Iraq is a success, the Bush doctrine of spreading freedom and democracy is also a success. Good news is bad for democrats. I could not imagine a worse position to be in politically. Hence they are loosing elections.

In the 90’s, did the republicans “talk down” the economy? No. They tried to take credit for it. Did they talk down the success of Bill Clinton signing a balanced budget? No. John Kasik, Newt Gingrich and the rest of them told the public it was the republican congress, not the democratic president who was responsible.

When is the last time you saw a democrat with a smile on their face? Talking about how great America was, and how their policies where leading America in the right direction? Why in gods name would anyone vote for a democrat now a days? Give me one good reason other than that fact that George W Bush is a moron, and conservatives only want to help the rich. The left has cried wolf too many times.

Posted by: Aaron Hood at February 10, 2005 09:01 AM

The war on terrorism is a war of ideas. The greatest restraint on human behavior is not a police officer or a fence - it's a community and a culture. Palestinian suicide bombing has stopped not because of the Israeli fence or because Palestinians are no longer "desperate." It has stopped because the Palestinians had an election, and a majority voted to get behind a diplomatic approach. They told the violent minority that suicide bombing - for now - is shameful.

What an incredible distortion of recent history and events. The fence thwarted numerous attacks, and the targeted attack against Hamas leaders played quite a role in diminishing the number of successful terror attacks against Israelis.

Yet, even with the elections, the terrorists are continuing their attacks on Israel. Lobbing mortars doesn't carry the same weight with Friedman, but if those same mortars landed on some unfortunate Israeli, it doesn't matter whether the casualty was caused by a suicide bomber or not. The violence continues.

The Fence is necessary because the Palestinian culture and society are terribly flawed because of years of inculcating the death cult of suicide bombing in the name of Allah. It will take many years to eliminate that flaw, and in the meantime, the Fence and other measures are necessary to reduce the likelyhood of further attacks.

We have paid a huge price in Iraq. I want to get out as soon as we can. But trying to finish the job there, as long as we have real partners, is really important - and any party that says otherwise will become unimportant.

We paid a huge price in liberating Europe, and we're still there 60 years later. In the process, those same liberated European nations rely on the US for their military protection and have allowed their own defense mechanisms to wither on the vine. Yet, I don't hear Tom complaining about that 60 year continuous presence in Europe. I guess being stationed in Europe isn't a bad thing, but being stationed on the front lines of the current war is.

Posted by: lawhawk at February 10, 2005 09:23 AM

I think Friedman includes the Rummy shot & wall shot just so the Democrat/liberal readers don't automatically say "He's not highly critical of Bush's policy, he must be a Republican, and therefor wrong." It's playing to his audience. What's sad is that he feels (quite rightly, IMO) the need for such pandering.

Posted by: Robert at February 10, 2005 09:27 AM

I think this is a bit of a disease among American conservatives -- analyzing Democrats.

Where on earth did you get the idea Friedman is a conservative? Or are you referring to Vodkapundit?

Posted by: rosignol at February 10, 2005 10:14 AM

I'm no rocket scientist but the problems with Friedman's analysis are patently obvious to most of the commentators. Friedman is marvelous at looking the facts square in the face and drawing completely erroneous conclusions from them.

"The greatest restraint on human behavior is not a police officer or a fence - it's a community and a culture." I can see his smug smile of self satisfaction as he confirms in his little echo chamber universe,” I’ve still got it!" But really, has there ever been a triter sentence written in the English language?

Gidget wrote better in her diary.

Posted by: hudson at February 10, 2005 11:48 AM

Friedman's problem is that he only has to write better than Krugman and Dowd. If your skills aren't challenged, they rust.

Posted by: Robert at February 10, 2005 01:20 PM

I agree with the above commenters...Friedman is a fool and a hack. Compare his puerile "analysis" with Victor Davis Hanson. Nuff said.

On the other hand the piece on Ahnold is very interesting. If he actually succeeds in breaking the union's and the Donk's stranglehold on California, he indeed will qualify as an extraordinary political force of nature.

Posted by: Paul at February 10, 2005 01:22 PM

....who hopes to be President of the US someday.

Does anyone here think he can pull off a Constitutional Amendment to remove the first legal obstacle to that ambition?

Considering what he's already accomplished, does anyone want to bet against him? ;-)

Posted by: rosignol at February 10, 2005 02:00 PM

Rod Stanton,

re "Biden and Clinton are only a little closer to center than Reid and Pelosi; still far left."

Only in today's America can people say something like this and get nods of agreement. To people on the real far left, Clinton and Biden are DINOs.

Posted by: Bill Arnold at February 10, 2005 08:09 PM

Wasn't the "statesman" Arafat hailed as a moderate by the all-knowing Dems. Doesn't the reduction of Palestinian violence since his death argue well for what Bush, Rummy, and conservatives in general believed all along -- that Arafat was a terrorist of the worst stripe?

Just another massive memory lapse for liberal politics which can take its' place alongside the "War" on poverty and the genocide in SE Asia after they cut funding to the South Vietnamese -- to name only a couple of old ones.

Every day is a new day for the country's Donk Wonks.

Posted by: Don at February 11, 2005 07:32 AM

Only in today's America can people say something like this and get nods of agreement. To people on the real far left, Clinton and Biden are DINOs.

Depends on what Clinton we're talking about- Clinton was much farther to the left during his first term. Then Gingrich came along, and Clinton moved to the right.

Posted by: rosignol at February 11, 2005 10:30 AM

The war on terrorism is a war of ideas. The greatest restraint on human behavior is not a police officer or a fence - it's a community and a culture. Palestinian suicide bombing has stopped not because of the Israeli fence or because Palestinians are no longer "desperate." It has stopped because the Palestinians had an election, and a majority voted to get behind a diplomatic approach. They told the violent minority that suicide bombing - for now - is shameful.

I have to disagree with hudson here. Remember, TLF's a lefty: "community" and "culture" are the closest his genes will let him come to saying "internalized moral code." Give him points for degree of difficulty. As for the fence, though... TLF's inability to recognize (not "admit," recognize) the correlation between border impermeability and cessation of suicide attacks precisely where the border is impermeable is a measure of how far to the left he stands. And the idea that suicide bombers will cease their depredations because "the people" want them to is every bit as sensible as supposing they took up this commmunity-service hobby because "the people" asked them to -- a belief so demented as to, ah, border on idiocy. John Kerry was (sort of) right, if for the wrong reasons. In a world where bank robbers prefer the excercise of their Fifth Amendment rights to the acceptance of their Eighth Commandment obligations, there will always be a terrorist remnant with the desire to act. TLF (and presumably JK) thinks this number will decline because an election has "told the violent minority that suicide bombing - for now [for now?!] - is shameful." The rest of us know it takes a deeper commitment to the Golden Rule than we've heretofore seen in Palestinian culture. Posted by: porkopolitan at February 11, 2005 07:04 PM

Well said Porkopolitan. However, I was referring to the quality of his writing which is cringe inducing. Your analysis has much more depth. I was just facinated by that clunker of a sentence. Like a loose thread in a sweater, it begs to be tugged.

Posted by: hudson at February 14, 2005 03:07 PM