A good place to find leftists making sense is often the Washington Post, whose opinion pages generally showcase what one might call the sensible left. Today I'm happy to recognize veteran Post columnist Richard Cohen, writing with wit and perceptiveness about the lawlessness taking hold in Palestinian-ruled Gaza. The best paragraph:
At the recent Ambrosetti conference of Italian and other notables in Cernobbio, Italy, both Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, and Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, warned against blunt talk. Moussa insisted that anyone who questioned whether Arabs could have a democracy was a "racist." And Erekat, for his part, insisted that the term "Islamic terrorist" was likewise an expression of bigotry. This caused the plain-talking Sen. John McCain, a conference attendee, to suggest that the word "banana" be substituted for "Islamic" while I, exhaustively searching for the proper PC term, chanced upon "persons of terror." That cannot offend anyone.
On Sunday, it was columnist Michael Kinsley's turn, skewering claims that American politicians should have anticipated the New Orleans flood long ago and seen to adequate defenses. Writes Kinsley in "Hindsight: A User's Guide":
But just Google up a phrase like "commission warns," or "urgent steps," or "our children's future" -- or simply "crisis" -- and you may develop a bit of sympathy for the people who stand accused today of ignoring the warnings about anything in particular. Far from being complacent about potential perils, we suffer from peril gridlock.
Keep writing like that, guys, and your colleagues might revoke your Leftist Licenses.
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