No more ‘Friedmans’ for Friedman.
In May 2006, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) released a study demonstrating how New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman continually “boiled down the intricacies of the Iraq situation into a make-or-break deadline” lasting “six months.” Atrios soon adopted the “Friedman Unit” to describe perpetual “six monthers.” But on The Colbert Report last night, Friedman himself refused to call for another Friedman, saying “I’m afraid we’ve run out of six months. It’s really time to set a deadline.” Watch it:
In August 2006, Friedman wrote that “staying the course is pointless” and urged the U.S. to “disengage” from Iraq.
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28 Responses to “No more ‘Friedmans’ for Friedman.”
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I can hardly wait for Little Tommy’s next book –> “The World is Concave . . . and All the Sh*t is Running Downhill”.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:44 amSo it’s time to set deadlines. Let me guess 2 - 3 Friedman’s out??
September 25th, 2007 at 9:46 amRUCerious
September 25th, 2007 at 9:49 amSo it’s time to set deadlines. Let me guess 2 - 3 Friedman’s out??
Sounds about right. Nearly matches with Pretrauous’s surge done by next July, and then spend the 3rd Friedman working on disengaging down to a truly support role (air + advisers/trainers)
Set a deadline, eh?
Let me guess… it will be sometime in November of 2008….
September 25th, 2007 at 9:55 amThat’s disappointing. He, of all people, should be able to recognize the significance of the local reconciliation pacts occurring in Iraq, and their effect on the chances for national reconciliation. The only reason he is calling for a deadline now, is to force Bush to quit the war, so that the coward Dems don’t have to retreat themselves.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:59 amthe significance of the local reconciliation pacts occurring in Iraq
September 25th, 2007 at 10:04 amAre primarily with Sunnis, weakening the central government, and the Sunnis will be using our backs as bullseyes as we walk away from the negotiating table.
Quite the tool, hey reldneH?
Let me guess…the deadline he suggests is in 6 to 12 months time. Or perhaps he thinks we should discuss the best way out for 6 months and then see how Iraq is doing before making the final decision.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:07 amHe, of all people, should be able to recognize the significance of the local reconciliation pacts occurring in Iraq, and their effect on the chances for national reconciliation.
Comment by Jason M. Hendler — September 25, 2007 @ 9:59 am
A suicide bomber in Iraq blew himself up on Monday “at a banquet intended to be a reconciliation feast between provincial officials and former Sunni insurgents in Diyala Province, killing 16 people and wounding at least 28.â€
That kind of significance?
September 25th, 2007 at 10:12 amPerhaps if you looked at the problem itself instead of how it might affect the status of one political party or another, we might actually begin to get somewhere.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:13 amToon Guy: That’s the GOP’s MO - They can’t see the forest for the trees and they can’t possibly prioritize the good of the country over the good of the party. This is precisely why our current “two party system” is broken and cannot be fixed.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:18 amToo bad so many have to die in order to educate these fools.
Seneca
September 25th, 2007 at 10:23 amRoman dramatist, philosopher, & politician (5 BC - 65 AD)
i watched this… stephen about choked when he said that…
September 25th, 2007 at 10:37 amand i said “whoa”…
.
Here’s how you tell the difference from the patient and optimistic from the completely delusional. The patient and optimistic actually have a threshold, and more and more of them have reached it (including Friedman). The delusional are convinced that we will “win” in Iraq someday, no matter what it takes — even though we no longer know what a “win” would look like.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:40 amThe only reason he is calling for a deadline now, is to force Bush to quit the war, so that the coward Dems don’t have to retreat themselves.
Comment by Jason M. Hendler
And would it possible in the least to prove this assertion? Nope!
September 25th, 2007 at 11:13 am13, missmolly, good post. I especially like your use of ‘patient & optimistic’ compared to the completely delusional.
What upsets me most is ‘winning’. All I hear is whining.
What is ‘winning’? No suicide bombers? No car bombs? No Sectarian killings?
Or, is it free access & ownership in perpetuity of all oil resources?
Aside, I see out Manboy has something to say this morning, but you would need an interpreter to understand the Troll droppings.
September 25th, 2007 at 11:15 amColbert fried Friedman at the end of the interview. After Friedman pointed to India as an example of Democracy on that side of the world, Colbert asked how long it took us to export democracy to India, at which point historical fact hit Friedman like a ton of bricks - he admitted it took a century or better for India to establish a democratic government (not to mention they did it themselves), and Colbert invited him to “come back in a hundred years”. How embarrassing for mr. pointyhead.
September 25th, 2007 at 11:37 amColbert fried Friedman at the end of the interview. After Friedman pointed to India as an example of Democracy on that side of the world, Colbert asked how long it took us to export democracy to India, at which point historical fact hit Friedman like a ton of bricks - he admitted it took a century or better for India to establish a democratic government (not to mention they did it themselves), and Colbert invited him to “come back in a hundred yearsâ€. How embarrassing for mr. pointyhead.
Comment by tombaker — September 25, 2007 @ 11:37 am
Not to mention the little problem in 1947, when something like a half million people died during the riots around partition.
September 25th, 2007 at 11:49 amFriedman & Brooks = Flim Flam & Kooks
September 25th, 2007 at 12:05 pmComment by Jason M. Hendler:
That’s disappointing. He, of all people, should be able to recognize the significance of the local reconciliation pacts occurring in Iraq, and their effect on the chances for national reconciliation.
I want to be optimistic about things over there, the problem is we’ve been told “It’s finally getting better”, “we’re turning a corner”, “we’re starting to win now” over and over again over the last four years. And yet here we are. Things have actually gotten worse. Each time.
The only reason he is calling for a deadline now, is to force Bush to quit the war, so that the coward Dems don’t have to retreat themselves.
Please. This is just partisan sillyness.
It is no more cowardice for the Dems to call for an end to the war than it is courage for the Repubs to call for continueing it. Neither are actually doing the fighting.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:08 pm#5: “The only reason he is calling for a deadline now, is to force Bush to quit the war, so that the coward Dems don’t have to retreat themselves”
Prove it troll!
September 25th, 2007 at 12:23 pmProve it troll!
Comment by hil_1 — September 25, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Don’t hold out too long for that, ol’ Jason has been known to pull a drive-by; crap on a thread and then leave, just like the neighbor’s untrained dog does in your yard.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:36 pmThree thousand, seven hundred and twenty deadlines later…
September 25th, 2007 at 12:39 pmShould also mention that India has had more deaths from terrorism in the last three years than any other country on the planet outside of Iraq.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ Indias_terror_death_toll_second_only_to_Iraq/ rssarticleshow/ 2312796.cms
:::Since 2004 India has lost more lives to terrorist incidents than all of North America, South America, Central America, Europe and Eurasia put together.:::
One of the grossly exaggerated ideas is that terrorism is exported. Almost all “terrorist acts” (or acts of asymmetric warfare) are local in nature. India may have claims about Pakistani ISI influence on local bombings in places like Mumbai and Hyderabad, but the folks doing the actual bombings are Indians.
Then there are the homegrown hard left Naxalite bombers in India or the kings of suicide bombers the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka to Hezbollah in Lebanon to 99% of the Iraqi insurgency. The notion that they’ll follow us home is dreck only worthy of providing paranoid bedwetters with grist for their delusions.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:10 pmno doubt friedman thinks we should set a deadline for redeployment in 6 months.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:24 pm.
no sectarian violence in India huh. What world is that dolt living in?
September 25th, 2007 at 1:29 pm.
“this six months will be more important than the last six months”
my gosh, friedman doesnt even understand he’s been punked RIGHT TO HIS FACE.
& i think his teeny tiny hands might explain his overcompensation issues.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:37 pmso, another war-drummer from the NYT is cutting ties with their march to war.
i stopped reading friedman years ago when he supported the war.
too bad he, along with Pinch and Judy and the rest of the neocon cabal at the NYT didn’t see the light before they jumped onto the war bandwagon.
tom, like woodward, judy, and pinch, should just go away.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:23 pmTo Jason M. Hendler:
“Local reconciliation pacts?” My gosh, you’re right! How could we have overlooked those? Whoopee!
It’s a turning point! Victory is just around the corner! Democracy is poised to flower across the Middle East!
The only thing left to do is plan the victory celebration, to be broadcast on FOX. Ted Nugent and Toby Keith as entertainers are a given, but who should host? Chuck Norris? Elizabeth Hasselbeck?
September 25th, 2007 at 2:54 pm