Both liberal commentators rushed to the defense of Sami Al-Arian, the University of South Florida’s fifth columnist for terror. Both are forced now to concede they were had. But how reluctantly! Howie Kurtz has the goods (third item). Kristof is just a soft-touch for terrorists, and always finds a reason to avoid confronting them. Boehlert is worse. He actually attacked the Tampa Tribune for daring to raise questions about Al-Arian. In fact, Boehlert wrote that the Tribune’s reporter, Michael Fechter, who had followed the story for years, and his editors, had “disgraced themselves – and ruined an innocent professor’s life.” Salon had also run knee-jerk defenses of al-Arian, and even included Boehlert’s inaccurate defense of al-Arian in its collection of essays on 9/11. Consistent at least. And wrong.
MORE TIMES WOBBLING: Is there any sane person on the planet who thinks that Saddam’s partial dismantling of a declared missile system is actually a genuine change of heart by the Baghdad regime? Only the Gail Collins could pull that one off.
