What a Time It Was

Last night, some friends and I were listening to “Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend” and the little-known fact that The Mr. T Experience’s Dr. Frank was a big-time liberal hawk warblogger back in the day came up. Even better, unlike most classic blogs, his archives are still 100 percent intact. Those new to the Internet may not realize it, but things like this from February 28, 2003 were, at the time, what most political blogging was like:

Another great column from Johann

Another great column from Johann Hari, on Bush’s AEI speech and the promise of democracy in the Arab world. I doubt he’s right in including Syria in his list of repressive regimes that can be nudged towards incremental democratization through gentle pressure alone; Baathism is a pernicious obstacle to democracy in principle as well as in practice, and anything short of “regime change” isn’t going to cut it. It’s hard to argue with the overall thrust though, epitomized by this conclusion:

The democratisation of Arab and Middle East countries is one of the most exciting progressive causes in the world. It is sad that so many of us, living in comfortable democracies, seem to have forgotten the great promise that democracy offers to oppressed peoples.

I dare say many of his readers will read that quote and think “right winger.” We live in a very strange time indeed.”

I’m pretty sure my own work from that period was just like this, but since merit doesn’t count for anything in contemporary America, I went on to become a successful professional political pundit.

In my defense, though, I never wrote anything this dumb and always — always — regarded Steven den Beste as a fool.