That’s how Eric Alterman describes me in his latest screed in the Nation, defending Paul Krugman’s limited defense of Mahathir Mohamed. Now I’m not unused to insults but this one is bizarre. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know I don’t pull a lot of punches in exposing what I think is dumb or malign or just wrong out there in the media and politics. If such criticism means I’m an ayatollah, then I guess Alterman is entitled to his opinion. But I’m a First Amendment absolutist, an opponent of all attempts to control people’s thoughts and ideas, a long opponent of religious fundamentalism of all kinds, an anti-theocrat, a supporter of the war against Islamist terror, and a strong proponent of gay rights. How this makes me like the theocrats who run Iran is beyond me. Alterman needs to find some wit to equal his bile.
REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE: Here’s some interesting ideas for human bonding, from the primate kingdom:
Genital fiddling is unique to guinea baboons, but other primates invade each other’s space in similarly challenging ways. White-faced capuchin monkeys, for example, stick their fingers up each other’s noses in greeting.
Hey, dude. Boog.
The Dish 