Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Perfectly Calibrated Renee Montagne

Who but a death worshiping Bushista would ask the following question during an interview about Jimmy Carter's negotiations with Hamas:
"Could though, at this point in time, the Bush administration argue that former President Carter may have upset THE carefully calibrated approaches to Hamas that are being made?"
That was Renee Montagne's query for her guest, Robert Malley, director of the International Crisis Group's Middle East and North Africa program and member of the new group JStreet. Consider how easily she could have asked, "Might the Bush administration claim that Carter's trip undermines its policy?" But, my God, to call it "THE [Montagne's emphasis, not mine] carefully calibrated approaches."

Oh, but maybe I'm overreacting. Perhaps she's referring to the "carefully calibrated" diet restrictions US, Israel, and Europe are imposing on Gaza, or those measured and careful surgical strikes that the US/Israel is using to try to bring peace to Gaza (I mean, who takes Amnesty International seriously anyway?). Really, with all this careful calibration, what's the worst that could happen to those stubborn Gazans?

To his credit Malley answers, "Unfortunately there's not much to upset, because there's not much good happening so I'm not sure what it could be undermining..." In other words, "I'm not sure what the hell you're talking about..."

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