me: did you see that D Magazine exchange? Clark: haha, sending you an e mail, hang on a minute me: also, not sure if it's available online, but Richard Perle wrote in this letter to Foreign Policy regarding a great piece that Peter Beinart did on Reagan me: it's the most incompetent attempt at refutation that I've seem in weeks Clark: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_control me: anyway I'm doing a piece on it, been meaning to write something for HuffPo anyway Clark: this will prove helpful to the poor fact checker at D me: it's unbelievable that the fact checker couldn't find that me: it's all mentioned in the article me: she would need only Google "START" or "SALT" to find it me: and if the question was about George W Bush she need only google his name and arms control Clark: i am almost crying about what your publisher has done as day after day the subjects of your book parade their shortcomings across the media, poor Andrew Sullivan torn between Peretz and common sense is the latest Clark: Friedman went off on a car attendant on Amtrak, yesterday I think, and Eric Erickson tweeted it, F was on ABC's Sunday Morning two weeks ago re: Israel-Palestinian talks and he was idiotic, kept babbling, 'let it breathe' me: lol, let it breathe me: that's good adivce me: remind me to show you what I've got so far in terms of notes on an anti-pundit web series Clark: as best i could tell what he meant was don't write about in a way that will affect the outcome, which seemed rather pundit-o-centric me: I've got a list of YouTube clips of Friedman in which he throws out various ridiculous metaphors Clark: he had a good column sometime recently, about China taking the lead in green industrial initiatives, but generally his columns seem to be written as if the readers in in their jammies clutching their bears, ready for bed me: Jesus, he wrote aboout that again Clark: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/27/against_evil -- this? me: yeah me: notice how it refutes nothing me: and the "Beinart was only ten years old" bit I find particularly amusing in light of what went down between myself and Mark Davis me: I wasn't even born when Reagan took office Clark: back in the mid-1950's, in 5th grade, we had a 'unit' of instruction on communism and the soviet union, flaming hot topics in those days, and the teacher opined in discussion, quite apart from the text book, that the soviet union would collapse due to internal conflict in our lifetime--I think Reagan was president of a labor union back in those days me: and a Democrat as well me: this Perle letter, though, is among the most insidious and degenerate things I have ever seen me: this line about how liberals will never forgive Reagan for his success me: the general arm-flailing without specifics me: no actual specific refutations me: here's some emergent phenomena right here me: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/dicn0/spill_your_employers_secrets_herein_ie_things_the/ Clark: before long, some leader in another country will be happy to take credit for the decline of the United States Clark: http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175298/ -- from Juan Cole, US decline Clark: i see, he has a large supply of such statements for ready use