Friedman on The Daily Show last night

[Bandit]

Was intrigued by his explanation on why the rest of the world is turned off by America. He said we used to be a beacon of hope and enlightenment for the rest of the world. A country to aspire toward. He said it was our eternal optimism that was so appealing to the rest of the world. America now exports only fear. We no longer show the optimism and enlightenment but fear and ignorance. Jon asked him if that perception could be changed and he said not by this administration. I have to admit I was surprised by his candor.

[BJ]

1. Yeah, and he's also pro-outsourcing.

His The Other side of OutScourcing is on the Discovery Channel tonight at 10 PM EDT, 9 PM CDT.

What a pro-globalization Bozo!

[kentuck]

2. He' s so modest.....he deserves some credit.....

He was one of those dreamers that thought it was such a neat idea... and Israel would be more secure and there would be peace forevermore...Now his job is to tell us how the world is "turned off by America"? Many are turned off by his ilk.

[BJ]

5. Oh, yeah, and another thing.

He was telling John Stewart how great outscourcing was for the United States because it would give us, whoever "us" is, more time for "innovation", whatever the Hell that is. I guess Tom doesn't deal with the schmucks who have to work at Wal-Mart or enlist in the U.S. military because there aren't any manufacturing jobs that pay!

[mac56]

3. The comments you mentioned were commendable...

but his pro-outsourcing, pro-offshoring comments were krep.

[bossfish]

4. I just saw a bit of him...

...and was a little pissed that when they were discussing Shrub's relationship with Chalabi. Y'know when Shrub says "I may have met him on the 'rope line'", etc.

Tommy kept giggling about the "rope line" - Clinton and Monica - ha ha.

Maybe I'm just a little sensitive.

[qanda]

6. I loved it when he tried to use the old line of Kerry being a flip-flopper

And Stewart turned it around on Tommy and made him look absolutely foolish!

Stewart said something about Kerry being in the most deliberative body in the world and if didn't change his positions on things then he wouldn't be able to stay in that institution. So what some people are calling flip-flopping is really just being a successful part of the institution we call the Senate.

[tigereye]

7. Tom was busy

he was also on Charlie Rose last night.

[Veggie Meathead]

8. Tom Friedman is trying to rehabilitate himself after his

disastrous support for the War on Iraq.He also sees the writing on the wall for the lying whore Judith Miller and is trying to bail out before his world collapses.

[kentuck]

9. Bingo!

I think you got it.

[Jacobin]

12. Tom The Idiot is taking these three contradictory positions:

1. I wasn't really for the invasion of Iraq, I was just misunderstood.

2. If you don't buy that, then I was for the invasion, but Smirk fucked it up. If he'd only invaded correctly, then democracy would be flourishing.

Finally:

3. Ok, so I completely fucked up and supported a stupid invasion that has killed thousands of people needlessly. HEY, I just did a neat story on Discovery Channel about how GREAT OUTSOURCING IS!!!



(Jeeze, that prick is batting a thousand isn't he)

[tigereye]

16. I thought Ms. Miller had a lot of Middle East expertise

not all journalists are "whores." Can't say I like the term applied to smart women or men for that matter. When I have seen her on Charlie Rose she has seemed to know what she is talking about. Or am I thinking of someone else?

Which journalists, specifically, do not qualify as "whores"?

[JohnyCanuck]

18. Here's a good place to start

Fatal Error: The Lies of Our Times

<snip>

After a year of bogus scoops from Miller, the paper gave itself a bit of cover. Not corrections-just cover. On September 28, 2003, Times reporter Douglas Jehl surprisingly kicked the legs out from under Miller's sources. In his story headlined AGENCY BELITTLES INFORMATION GIVEN BY IRAQ DEFECTORS, Jehl revealed: An internal assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that most of the information provided by Iraqi defectors who were made available by the Iraqi National Congress was of little or no value, according to federal officials briefed on the arrangement. In addition, several Iraqi defectors introduced to American intelligence agents by the exile organization and its leader, Ahmed Chalabi, invented or exaggerated their credentials as people with direct knowledge of the Iraqi government and its suspected unconventional weapons program, the officials said.

The Iraqi National Congress had made some of these defectors available to...The New York Times, which reported their allegations about prisoners and the country's weapons program. Poof. Up in smoke went thousands of words of what can only be called rank propaganda.

This Times confession was too little, too late. After an unnecessary war, during a brutal occupation, and several thousand lives later, The Times obliquely acknowledged that it had been recycling disinformation. Miller's reports played an invaluable role in the administration's propaganda war. They gave public legitimacy to outright lies, providing what appeared to be independent confirmation of wild speculation and false accusations. "What Miller has done over time seriously violates several Times' policies under their code of conduct for news and editorial departments," wrote William E. Jackson in Editor & Publisher. (my emphasis /jc) "Jayson Blair was only a fluke deviation.... Miller strikes right at the core of the regular functioning news machine."

More than that, Miller's false reporting was key to justifying a war. (my emphasis /jc) And The Times' unabashed servitude to the administration's war agenda did not end with Iraq.


http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=5608

[tigereye]

20. okay fair enough

thanks

[rumguy]

10. He said something along those same lines in one of his columns

He said that the Bushies have no clue how to export hope.

[Zolok]

11. Yeah what is this "exporting fear"

shit?
Tom was HAPPY to advocate the export of fear when Bush was ridin' high a year ago...he couldn't come up with enough superlatives for President Bush.
NOW the damn fool in the White House has only taken Tom's advice and suddenly BUSH is "exporting fear"???
Jesus Christ is anyone out there listening as Tom provides ample evidence time and again that he is a spineless, toadying, wretch of the lowest and most contemptible kind???????

And not for nothing but I can recall one of Tom's call-ins to the Imus radio show in the winter of 2002 where he positively groveled at the sound of the Secretary of Defense's name.
"They weren't counting on DON RUMSFELD I-MAN!" squeaked Friedman.
Now what he is all judicial and diplomatic where is the war hawk of 2002-2003??
Ass hole...

www.chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. Is he still sporting his trademark porn mustache? n/t

[cybildisobedience]

14. yes, and giggling at his own stupid jokes

He really was yukking it up about the rope line --

Hey, can somebody proficient with Photoshop take the Clinon/Lewinsky ropeline photo, paste Bush's head on Clinton's, and Chalabi's (with beret) on Monica?

That would be a hoot.....

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

15. I think you just gave me an idea for my next signature line. n/t

[Nlighten1]

17. He said the same thing in NPR today...

At first I had no idea it was him.

[JohnyCanuck]

19. My question for Mr. Friedman.

When Friedman kept spouting off about the advantages of outsourcing and the necessity of people loosing their jobs for the good of the economy, I kept wishing Jon would ask the dork why any high paying jobs that might become available down the road (as a result of the new outsourcing driven economic efficiencies) would not also be in danger of being shipped overseas to low wage countries just as IT, hi tech and call centre jobs are being shipped overseas today. Does he expect 40 to 50 year old people with families to support and monthly mortgage payments to drop out of the work force and retrain every 5 to 10 years for a new career that will in all likelihood only last 5 years or so before it gets shipped offshore to Malaysia or India etc?