The "V" Word
The Guardian is Britain's wacky-left broadsheet. By wacky-left, of course I'm referring to overall outlook; they're a newspaper of some prestige, with some solid reporting. Being a European paper, they are honest about their political leanings - which are far enough left to hire Markos "Kos" Moulitsas as a columnist.
They have also had what is by American lefty standards a disconcerting honest streak.
They're admitting the unthinkable; Bush and Blair were right.
This leaves opponents of the Iraq war in a tricky position, even if the PM is not about to rub our faces in the fact. Not only did we set our face against a military adventure which seems, even if indirectly, to have triggered a series of potentially welcome side effects; we also stood against the wider world-view that George Bush represented. What should we say now?
First, we ought to admit that the dark cloud of the Iraq war may have carried a silver lining. We can still argue that the war was wrong-headed, illegal, deceitful and too costly of human lives - and that its most important gain, the removal of Saddam, could have been achieved by other means. But we should be big enough to concede that it could yet have at least one good outcome.
Second, we have to say that the call for freedom throughout the Arab and Muslim world is a sound and just one - even if it is a Bush slogan and arguably code for the installation of malleable regimes. Put starkly, we cannot let ourselves fall into the trap of opposing democracy in the Middle East simply because Bush and Blair are calling for it. Sometimes your enemy's enemy is not your friend.
The lefty two-step program for dealing with being bested by those you consider your inferiors:
- Admit the consequences really weren't that bad.
- Claim credit for the good part.
Keep your eyes peeled for #2.
UPDATE: Rick from the Centrist Coalition informs me that the Guardian is a broadsheet, not a tabloid. Hm. Coulda swore...but I changed it in the copy above.
Posted by Mitch at
March 2, 2005 07:34 AM
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Mitch,
The Guardian is actually a broadsheet rather than a tabloid. I'll agree with the "wacky-left" characterization, but it is not in any sense a low-class newspaper which one can chuckle over. It is in fact a prestige newspaper. Much of their news hole journalism is solid.
I was in England on 9/11, so it was disturbing that the Guardian, and its Sunday affiliate, The Observer, contained some op-eds following the attack by leftists expressing the "chickens come home to roost" theory. Not all the writers were of that viewpoint, but a substantial portion were.
They have, by the way, added Markos of the dailykos as a contributor.
Posted by: Rick (Centrist Coalition) at March 2, 2005 09:09 AMRick,
All true.
(Although I coulda sworn it was a tabloid...)
Posted by: mitch at March 2, 2005 09:12 AMSo what is the difference between a "tabloid" and a "broadsheet"? (Other than "I don't like that paper, so it's atabloid.")
Posted by: JamesPh. at March 2, 2005 09:47 AMA tabloid folds vertically around a spine, like a magazine with no staple. The National Enquirer, the Onion and the New York Sun are examples.
Broadsheets fold horizontally in half, like traditional newspapers. The NYTimes, the Star Tribune and the Wall Street Journal are all broadsheets.
Posted by: mitch at March 2, 2005 10:17 AMI think of the Guardian as I did Paul Wellstone: way left, but honest in their convictions. The Guardian cheerfully admits its biases, which puts it several notches above the NYT.
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