What qualifications do you need to write for Newsweek. Not many, judging by Howard Fineman's efforts:
On one level, Kerry's "position" is a contradictory bundle of confusion. [1] He says the war was a mistake, but he's the guy calling for a gung-ho strategy in Fallujah to root out terrorist nests. [2] As the president has pointed out, Kerry is claiming he can win the support of allies even as he dismisses the contributions of existing ones and calls the entire war a diversion—and [3] even as France and Germany already have said that they aren't going to rally to our side if Kerry wins.
[1] Viewing the war as a mistake is consistent with proposing an aggressive strategy to win it now that we're there ... This is not a contradiction
[2] Has Kerry really dismissed the contributions of existing allies. Or, as he actually pointed out how few there are compared to last time ... by a factor of about 33 to 1, compared to last time.
[3] If France and Germany were to say that they would send troops contingent on a Kerry victory, wouldn't that be the kind of foreign interference in domestic politics we're all meant to disapprove of? And why the continued fascination with France and Germany ponying up the troops? What about India? What about Russia?
and to think that Newsweek is regarded as a quality magazine ...
Posted by robe0419 at October 8, 2004 2:11 PM