Fisk of the Year

Snuck in under the wire on Sunday. The topic is another gassy Tom Friedman column, purporting to find a link between ten recent news stories and Bush Administration misfeasance. The spanking's performed by Powerline:

Friedman than recapitulates, in a sentence or two, ten recent news stories, all of which are intended to reflect badly the Bush administration; the general theme--reminiscent of leftism of the 60s and 70s--is that there is plenty of money for defense, while social programs are being cut. Friedman concludes:

So what is the common denominator of all these news stories? Wait, wait, don't tell me. I want to tell you. The common denominator is a country with a totally contradictory and messed-up set of priorities.

There is a fundamental problem, however, with Friedman's attempt to show that our national priorities are wrong. The news stories he cites are largely either false, or mischaracterized by him.

Powerline addresses all ten, one at a time; here's the first: "The report that Colin Powell told President Bush a few weeks ago that we do not have enough troops in Iraq and that we don't control the terrain. There isn't space to recap the entire Iraq debate here, but suffice it to say: the commanders on the ground say we have enough troops. And if Friedman thinks our army is too small, why does he go on to say that the defense budget is too large?"

It's a must read.