Christopher Hitchens is a guy I love to hate, depending upon what he's saying or writing at the moment. He's also a guy I hate to love, and with the same conditions.
If Hitchens didn't exist, the conservatives would have to invent him, for he is a Liberal who - to be fair - calls it like he sees it and rarely with a trace of dogmatism.
He's a brilliant writer and speaker. Even when you disagree with Hitchens, you feel smarter for having listened to him, or read his writing. Plus, he's just a lot of fun if you've a mind for mind play.
This past week, Hitchens wrote a brilliantly hard hitting, unapologetic column that sears Obama and, more specifically, the scum that encircles him and his campaign. Without further adieu, here is an excerpt that gives a fair idea of the tone of Hitchens' column:
The thing that this gaggle of cranks and parasites has in common is the extreme deference with which it is treated by the junior senator from Illinois. In April 2004, Barack Obama told a reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times that he had three spiritual mentors or counselors: Jeremiah Wright, James Meeks, and Father Michael Pfleger—for a change of pace, a white Catholic preacher who has a close personal feeling for the man he calls (as does Obama) Minister Farrakhan. This crossover stuff is not as "inclusive" as it might be made to seem: Meeks' main political connections in the white community are with the hysterically anti-homosexual wing of the Christian right. If Obama were to be read a list of the positions that his clerical supporters take on everything from Judaism to sodomy, he would be in the smooth and silky business of "distancing" from now until November. And that is why he hopes that his Philadelphia speech, which dissociated him from everything and nothing, will be enough. He seems, indeed, to have a real gift for remaining adequately uninformed about the real beliefs of his "mentors."
Wow. Read the whole damn column at Slate now.
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Hitchens: Obama's Bad Circle
Christopher Hitchens is a guy I love to hate, depending upon what he's saying or writing at the moment. He's also a guy I hate to love, and with the same conditions.
If Hitchens didn't exist, the conservatives would have to invent him, for he is a Liberal who - to be fair - calls it like he sees it and rarely with a trace of dogmatism.
He's a brilliant writer and speaker. Even when you disagree with Hitchens, you feel smarter for having listened to him, or read his writing. Plus, he's just a lot of fun if you've a mind for mind play.
This past week, Hitchens wrote a brilliantly hard hitting, unapologetic column that sears Obama and, more specifically, the scum that encircles him and his campaign. Without further adieu, here is an excerpt that gives a fair idea of the tone of Hitchens' column:
The thing that this gaggle of cranks and parasites has in common is the extreme deference with which it is treated by the junior senator from Illinois. In April 2004, Barack Obama told a reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times that he had three spiritual mentors or counselors: Jeremiah Wright, James Meeks, and Father Michael Pfleger—for a change of pace, a white Catholic preacher who has a close personal feeling for the man he calls (as does Obama) Minister Farrakhan. This crossover stuff is not as "inclusive" as it might be made to seem: Meeks' main political connections in the white community are with the hysterically anti-homosexual wing of the Christian right. If Obama were to be read a list of the positions that his clerical supporters take on everything from Judaism to sodomy, he would be in the smooth and silky business of "distancing" from now until November. And that is why he hopes that his Philadelphia speech, which dissociated him from everything and nothing, will be enough. He seems, indeed, to have a real gift for remaining adequately uninformed about the real beliefs of his "mentors."
Wow. Read the whole damn column at Slate now.
