Let’s have a big round of applause for Joe Klein:
Now that’s a panel discussion! A heated debate between Time magazine’s Joe Klein and the New Republic’s Jamie Kirchick spilled off the dais Tuesday into a hallway confrontation where Klein called the younger pundit a “dishonest [expletive]” and a “[expletiving] propagandist.”
Klein told us today he’s not sure he uttered the “propagandist” bit — heard by a few witnesses — but stands by the “dishonest [expletive]” part.
“Absolutely. He’s a [expletive],” Klein, 62, told us. “He’s 25 years old, and he’s one of those people who has opinions but no facts or experience.”
In other words, Kirchick is perfect in his role as Marty Peretz’s jockstrap.
I’m sure the Weekly Standard and Commentary magazine will spend the next week explaining how this makes Joe Klein a self-hating jew. Joe may not be perfect, but he is on the side of angels when it comes to these assholes.
And as a fellow heater, I understand Joe and appreciate it, even when I disagree with him.
John +5
*** Update ***
Klein may have his flaws and vanities, a plethora of less than charming polemical traits, but Kirchick–Kirchick is the Eddie Haskell of neoconservatives, a calculating little suck-up whose obsequious pieties drip like melted plastic. (To wit: “Reached for comment, Kirchick said ‘McCain spent five years in a North Vietnamese torture camp. He doesn’t need lessons in the horrors of war from the likes of Joe Klein.'”) If Commentary made a lunch box, Kirchick is what you find packed inside, between a banana and a hand grenade.
Brilliant.
The Dangerman
Starting a post with “Let’s have a big…” after a Viagra post is probably a faux pas.
General Winfield Stuck
Them DLC weenies are almost as good as wingnuts when they circle one another, fangs out and shivs ready.
Demo Woman
I’m beginning to think that John’s not drinking root beer. If it were not so late..I would join him.
General Winfield Stuck
@Demo Woman:
At +9 he’ll write the Gettysburg Address.
arguingwithsignposts
OT, but BJ has had 12 posts today. It’s hard to keep up when the FPers keep the commentary moving so quickly.
Demo Woman
John, MSNBC is stating that President Obama has thrown out all the advice on Afghanistan. Both the WP and NYTimes are stating that Eikenberry is advising against more troops..
We might have a real President and leader.
Demo Woman
@General Winfield Stuck: He could do that in his sleep.
General Winfield Stuck
@Demo Woman:
That Eikenberry must be a liberal fascist toady. Oh wait….
calipygian
At +12, he’ll be giving the surrender speech given by that German general to the surrendered German troops at the Bertchesgarten in the last episode of “Band of Brothers”.
smiley
I think that expletive is probably not asshole. Joe would have surely used “an” instead of “a”. I’m thinking “dumb fuck.”
calipygian
@smiley: shit.
As in “He’s a little shit”.
Or “cocksucker”. I could see that, too.
Cat Lady
@Demo Woman:
I think that Obama has been listening to the families, and Joe Biden.
/Hopey O-bot
MBSS
a little poop vs. a big poop
Max
@Demo Woman: Yet another instance where I feel justified in putting my trust with him. Even if his ultimate decision isn’t in line with what I’d like to see happen, I have every confidence that he isn’t making this decision lightly and has thought not only strategically, but in the best interest of this nation.
Never, did I feel the GWB has this country’s best interest anywhere near his decision making.
But, I’m an O-bot, what do I know.
joes527
@calipygian:
Is Ian McShane going to play Joe Kline in the movie version? Because that would be _way_ cooler than reality.
Mike in NC
Not to mention boy-toy to neocon godfather Chuck Krauthammer. Don’t forget the wetsuits and dildos.
catclub
I did not see the interaction that got Klein mad, But I bet it was a personal insult rather than a policy one.
The ONLY thing thing that gets JokeLine going is an insult to
HIM.
Kirchick could praise torture all day long and Klein would not care. Say that Klein knows nothing about it and Klein reacts.
Comrade Mary
OhpleaseOhpleaseOhplease, let those reports be true, and let Obama wind down Afghanistan. I’m a badly lapsed Catholic (well, actually, I’m gotten pretty damn good at it), but I’m still reflexively looking for my rosary on this one.
donovong
Fuck em both. Klein has been talking out of both sides of his face for far too long, and the only writer worth a shit at TNR is Jonathan Cohn. Of course, JC summed up Kirchick precisely up above.
John O
Damn!
Can only wait until you get to +infinity!
I don’t care what anyone says, I like the John+.
Max
MSNBC ALERT – Scozzafavva coming up on Maddow.
RedKitten
Nah. At +12 he’ll just put out a call for all the female commenters to send him pictures of their boobs.
donovong
@Demo Woman: As far as I can tell, this is based on a rather poorly sourced story from the AP. I am not getting my hopes up yet.
google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqyaFh_efr-brDq0rMLF1hkop0tgD9BTLLB80
Demo Woman
@Cat Lady: I think Powell is acting more like a Secretary of State now then he did under Bush. Halperin has some of his quotes.
geg6
Sy Hersh on Rachel. He’s practically losing it over this Afghanistan story. He is confirming what I’ve been reading about all this on the Interwebs. And DeDe Scozzafava is coming on next. As for Joe Klein, every now and again, he finds an acorn. In this case, I applaud him. Jamie Kirchick is a shit. Did they come to blows? That would be awesome.
calipygian
LOL!
MBSS
chug, chug, chug
AhabTRuler
And at +15 he’ll put out a call for all the male commenters to send him pictures of their boobs.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Kirchick makes Peretz seem down right reasonable. Kirchick gets treated like BOB; I personally would read his posts just to see how many different ways people could call him a goat fucker.
John Cole
At +9 it will be 70’s or 80’s videos.
MBSS
how many points for a 32oz miller high life?
smiley
@RedKitten:
I have no problem with that if he shares. Otherwise, it’s just sick.
MBSS
@John Cole:
foghat, cole.
“love hurts…
robertdsc
At that point, Tunch will pull the power plug out of the socket and John will cry himself to sleep wondering where the boobs are.
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole:
Oh dear gawd,. The Apocalypse would be better.
valdivia
@geg6:
who is losing it over Afghanistan? and why?
MBSS
i have a bottle of finlandia which must constitute 25 points on it’s own, but i have a vodka phobia after this past halloween.
JenJen
Gawd, how I love Wolcott.
demkat620
I will hold out hope this Afghan story is true.
But the warboys ain’t gonna like their money drying up.
Vince CA
Please don’t ask me again to find some well of compassion in my empathy engine for Joe Klein. If he’s getting hard-hit by some snot-nosed little prick, shall we just say that everyone pays their dues eventually?
PeakVT
I think this post by Garry Wills describes the box Obama is in quite well.
Midnight Marauder
@Max:
Exactly. But on the subject of Afghanistan, I cannot express how heartened am I to hear that the president is possibly rejecting the four potential plans that have been floated in the news the past week or so. I was reading this article in The Nation about how we have (and continue in the present day) been paying off the Taliban to protect our supply convoys over there. And the entire time I read that article, all I could think was “How in the world could any sane, rational human being think committing any more troops to Afghanistan, the Graveyard of Empires, is even remotely a sensible choice?”
And then to come home and read that the president“does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government,” my heart leaps.
Between his late night visit to Dover the other week, his masterful Ft. Hood eulogy, and his surprise appearance at the graves of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans today–even with the neverending brouhaha regarding HCR–I know that this man is the right person to lead this country through these troubled times. It may not go smoothly all that often, but knowing that his is the mind where the “buck stops” is more comfort than I have known in recent times.
+4
JenJen
What? Lou Dobbs quit CNN?
He says “to pursue other opportunities” but I imagine that’s a way of saying “I’ll be heading over to FNC as soon as I wait out this non-compete.”
geg6
valdivia: Sy Hersh was getting quite excited over the news about Obama and Afghanistan. He was saying his sources were confirming and that THIS IS BIG NEWS.
jcricket
And at +20 we’re going to see John’s moobs.
AIEIEIEIEIEIEIE!
bago
Just so everyone knows, Marty Peretz’s jockstrap is openly gay.
Ash Can
BTW, I have to say that I love this headline, especially after a couple of beers. (“Ein prosit, ein prosit…”)
As for Obama and Afghanistan, I may have to make my next beer a shot of celebration-grade single-malt scotch instead.
JenJen
@Ash Can: I’ll be prosit-ing my ass off if the Obama-Afghanistan stuff we’re hearing is true. May I have some of your Scotch? :-)
Ash Can
@JenJen: Hellz yeah! Cyber-Macallan for everyone!
::pours shots::
Comrade Kevin
I love that “Eddie Haskell of neoconservatives” bit from Wolcott.
+ 2 Beaulieu 2006 Carneros Syrah
+ 4 Chalone Chardonnay
rikyrah
this post cracked me up
Steeplejack
@MBSS:
That’s +2. It would be +3, but it’s Miller High Life.
Steeplejack
@Midnight Marauder:
Well said.
Steeplejack
@Ash Can:
Macallan?! Faw! Oban or Dalwhinnie.
Batocchio
I generally try to avoid comments about someone’s looks, but that photo of Kirchick (I’ve never seen one before) oozes dipshit almost as much as his pissy little writing.