Would ‘Washington Post’ writer David Ignatius put his arm on President Obama during a debate?

Yesterday Susie Kneedler took a swipe at David Ignatius of the Washington Post. Jack Ross defends him:

He supported Iraq like the whole Washington establishment (publicly at least, it may have been a transparent facade like with Chris Matthews but I''m not the expert), the point is he's been the leading advocate for the old foreign policy establishment against the crazies including but not limited to the Israel Lobby - witness among other things his moderation of that volume interviewing Brezinski and Scowcroft side by side. (here's the book.)

Weiss's view: Ross is right, but the establishment position doesn't really excuse anyone, any more than it did on the Tonkin Gulf. I don't remember Chris Matthews making that mistake. And yes, while Ignatius has been forward-thinking/realist since, he can be justly scored, I think, for putting his hand on the Turkish Prime Minister to stop the debate so everyone could go to dinner the other night at Davos. It's easy to say this in retrospect, but there was no sense on Ignatius's part of the Moment. Ignatius should have extended the time to let both men finish their points, Peres and Erdogan. Let the stomachs grumble. As it is, he appeared to dis the P.M.--and as we see, appearance is everything in these matters--and failed to recognize that when you give a stage to a man defending the slaughter of 450 children, the placement of the salad fork should not be the highest concern, a structural problem with the Establishment, in my humble opinion.     (Phil Weiss)

Posted in Beyondoweiss, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics

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  1. F LeChat says:

    There seems to be a trend developing. Michelle Obama wraps her arm around the Queen of England and insults the people of England, Ignaitius puts the arm on the Turkish Prime Minister to close the debate/discussion — and insults the Turkish people. What's next, will the President of the US bow to an Arab king?

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