Surprisingly, Frank Rich not a fan of the Cheneys
Rove and his book are yesterday. Keep America Safe is on the march. Liz Cheney’s crackpot hit squad achieved instant notoriety with its viral video demanding the names of Obama Justice Department officials who had served as pro bono defense lawyers for Guantánamo Bay detainees. The video branded these government lawyers as “the Al Qaeda Seven” and juxtaposed their supposed un-American activities with a photo of Osama bin Laden. As if to underline the McCarthyism implicit in this smear campaign, the Cheney ally Marc Thiessen (one of the two former Bush speechwriters now serving as Washington Post columnists) started spreading these charges on television with a giggly, repressed hysteria uncannily reminiscent of the snide Joe McCarthy henchman Roy Cohn.
This McCarthyism has not advanced nearly so far as the original brand. Among those who have called out Keep America Safe for its indecent impugning of honorable Americans’ patriotism are Kenneth Starr, Lindsey Graham and former Bush administration lawyers in the conservative Federalist Society. When even the relentless pursuer of Monicagate is moved to call a right-wing jihad “out of bounds,” as Starr did in this case, that’s a fairly good indicator that it’s way off in crazyland.
Blowback
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YAWN
Even “creased pants” Brooks is not so boring.
nyx on March 14, 2010 at 9:03 PM
Oh be nice.
Sharke on March 14, 2010 at 9:13 PM
He was right plungerhead.
Itchee Dryback on March 14, 2010 at 9:14 PM
Maybe it’s just me but after reading this column of his, I’m getting the strong impression that ol’ Frank’s a lib.
ncborn on March 14, 2010 at 9:15 PM
Mr. Rich why don’t you at least pretend your enemies have the right to a presumption of innocence. Seems you and Obama give much more respect to the enemies of America in this respect.
CWforFreedom on March 14, 2010 at 9:21 PM
Taigunner Joe might have been boorish, but he was right! The government back then was rife with hidden communists and today it is rife with communists who are out in the open.
J.J. Sefton on March 14, 2010 at 9:36 PM
Satire, we hardly knew ye.
Knott Buyinit on March 14, 2010 at 9:39 PM
Boneheaded decisions?
Boneheaded decisions?
Holy horsecrap, these people would have us in a world where Saddam AND Iran had nukes right now, had we listened to them! And they talk about “Boneheaded decisions”?
By God, there is ignorance, and there is stupidity, and then there is that ignorant stupidity that is shamelessly and willfully mendacious, and this damned idiot has attained it!
drunyan8315 on March 14, 2010 at 11:11 PM
That Frank Rich, isn’t he just a blast to read? What’s troubling to most of his inner circle of cocktail party friends is that he hasn’t written about the numerous attempts he’s tried to lengthen his manhood. Those spam e-mails about enlargement of a certain organ were taken very seriously by Frank Rich. Although some of these methods have caused minor discomforts and poor results, FR’s latest venture has all of his close friends agog. Sure it’s agonizing to use a three foot piece of thirty pound test fishing line, an old style window counterweight while you’re straddling two saw horses, but as they say in the newspaper business, you’re paid sometimes by the word count, and the picture of Frank Rich attempting this is worth a thousand words.
What is that you’re asking? Yes, it is a bit of a stretch?
Americannodash on March 14, 2010 at 11:23 PM
Two points: 1) The cult of the lawyer interests me not. 2) The left’s real problem with Joe McCarthy was/is his politics, not his tactics, as they use them with abandon.
Paul Revere_1 on March 14, 2010 at 11:42 PM
I appreciate the NYT’s op ed department only in that it reassures me that fat, over-bloated blowhards CAN make a living.
Can’t get why fathead Frank Rich is ace to his steward’s 6million cool when the franchise is tanking though.
Shouldn’t Schultz be a baddie?
Topsecretk9 on March 15, 2010 at 2:09 AM
Frank Rich hates the Cheneys? Horrors! Say it isn’t so! Well, I guess that is fair because I don’t like Frank Rich much either, and in my world, my opinion matters more than Frank Rich’s.
Hawthorne on March 15, 2010 at 5:56 AM
As far as intelligent political commentary goes, Frank Rich is a pretty good drama critic.
JRDFLA on March 15, 2010 at 7:26 AM