The Unintentionally Hilarious Ted Kennedy

Seriously how does this man stay in office? Words fail me...watch and laugh.

The Unintentionally Hilarious Tim Russert

On MTP they discussed the Obama plagiarizing kerfluffle. So who does Timmy turn to kick off the discussion, without a hint of irony mind you, Doris Kearns Goodwin. Now I don't mind Doris, actually I kind of like her. Maybe it has something to do with the young and undeniably hot Mira Sorvino playing her in the movie Quiz Show? (There's that seen where she is ready for bed and correctly answering the ridiculously challenging questions on "21." Speaking of Mira loved her in Barcelona - great flick every conservative would love. Sorry about the digression.) Oh God...where was I? Oh yeah, perhaps my fondness for Ms. KG stems from watching all 637 hours of Ken Burns' Baseball documentary mini-telenovela? Maybe, just maybe, I really liked Team of Rivals, even if I don't want to admit it. For the uninitiated Mrs. Goodwin had her own plagiarism problem.

Deng Xioaping Bridge Player

I know that sometimes it may appear that I might be speaking from the cavity located at my posterior yet I found a link attesting to Deng Xiaoping's love for Bridge. No mention of his chairmanship of the Chinese Bridge Association but I can assure you that it is true. I am nowhere near as ignorant as I sound.

NYT's DePalma Goes Back to Cuba

I haven't read Anthony DePalma's The Man Who Invented Fidel (I was and remain too Fideled out to bother) but he has a decent piece on a recent trip to Cuba with his family including his Cuban-American wife. Since luck plays a part in good journalism he happened to pop up at the island nation when Fidel announced his retirement.

DePalma notes that while Americans are clamoring for change Cubans seem to fear it. DePalma does see that some things have changed but not all for the good:

Truth is, things have changed since my first trip to Cuba in 1978. The heavy presence of the Soviet Union then is a faint shadow now, reflected in blue-eyed Cubans named Yuri. There seem to be more new cars on the roads, more fast food on the street, and more buildings undergoing repair. There even seem to be more buses and fewer people waiting for them since Fidel’s younger brother and temporary replacement, Raúl, publicly demanded that something be done about the pitiful mass transit system when I was here just a year ago.

But much has not changed, or has gotten worse. More families live two or three generations in the same cramped apartments. Detention, interrogation and other troubles still descend on people who dissent in ways as small as wearing a plastic wrist band embossed with the word “cambio,” which means change. The press is still controlled, and disloyalty to the Communist Party still raises the suspicion of neighbors that can lead to the loss of a job or a house. Dissidents remain enemies of the state.

DePalma also notes what few have, that Fidel's retirement does not terminate his influence. Since the China model is so oft quoted one need only examine the last days of Mao or the "retirement" of Deng Xiaoping. Mao's courtier's would gather and wait breathlessly for the Chairman's sporadic moments of lucidity for instructions. No one doubted that Deng still ran Red China but his only official post was as the head of the Bridgeplayers association or some other stupid crap like that. Here is DePalma:

Sitting at an old Havana cafe, a friend put it to me this way: Fidel is like a huge Airbus that leaves so much turbulence in its wake that other aircraft cannot take off or land behind it until the air clears. Even in his absence from power, Fidel will shape the actions of whoever comes after him.

Cuba: A Foreign Affairs Flashback

Foreign Affairs drags out Julia Sweig's piece "Fidel's Final Victory" to mark el lider maximo's impending retirement. I commented on the piece last year. I stand by most of what I said in my post. The one thing I failed to anticipate was Castro actually doing the slow-mo transition. It was in fact, brilliantly executed and it can be qualified as being nothing short of Fidel's final victory. Ultimately, however, the true victors will be the people of Cuba because freedom can only be suppressed for so long.

Never Thought I'd Say This: E.J. Dionne Is Right

Yes, I support John McCain. Yes, I supported the original incursion into Iraq (on realist grounds) and supported the surge. What I do not and cannot support is Senator McCain's assertion that the greatest threat we face is from terrorists. I do not mean to belittle the threat because it is there but could any action by Osama seriously bring about the collapse of the Republic? The consistently repugnant Mr. Dionne speaking the truth:

Presumably, he's saying that Islamic extremism is more important than everything else--the rise of China and India as global powers, growing resistance to American influence in Europe, the weakening of America's global economic position, the disorder and poverty in large parts of Africa, the alienation of significant parts of Latin America from the United States. Is it in our national interest for all these issues to take a backseat to terrorism?

Dionne puts our terror-phobia in perspective and makes a not so surprising dig at conservatives:

Of course, defeating terrorism is important, and no candidate will say otherwise. But the United States has a lot of work to do in the world. If we're thinking about the next two decades, not to mention the next 90 years, it's a mistake to see terrorism as a "transcendent challenge" that makes all our other interests secondary.

For conservatives, there is something peculiar about turning Islamic extremism into a mighty ideological force with the power to overrun the world. It's odd that so many take seriously Osama bin Laden's lunatic claims that he will build a new Caliphate. (And, by the way, exactly what did the Iraq War contribute to the fight against terrorism?)