"IF ONLY GEORGE W. BUSH

“IF ONLY GEORGE W. BUSH WEREN’T THE LIBERATOR”: Orrin Judd writes:

Very amusing moment today on Fresh Air–Terry Gross was interviewing Egyptian publisher and human rights activist Hisham Kassem. She noted that he had supported the Iraq War before it started, in the belief that it would bring reform not just to Iraq but the whole region, and she wondered if he’d reconsidered. He answered that he hadn’t, that the war had in fact brought democracy to Iraq and was having a liberalizing effect throughout the Middle East. She asked for examples, which he proceeded to cite, saying there were really too many to go through in their entirety. Then, not knowing when she’d dug her grave deep enough, she asked if the Kay report had called the war into question. He answered that he didn’t care about WMD nor think it was the primary cause of or justification for the war, that getting rid of the regime was sufficient unto itself. Her disappointment at the improved prospects for freedom in the Arab world was palpable. How have liberals worked themselves into such a perverse position?

A couple of years ago, Jonah Goldberg dubbed it “hypocrophobia“–the crippling fear that many in the left have of being taken seriously.