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