Nathan's blog

Noticing this weekend that the prevailing rhetoric in vaguely liberal circles around the ousting of Hosni Mubarak seems to pretty neatly parallel how conservatives talked about toppling Saddam Hussein.

The ideological formulation goes something like this:

• That guy is bad!
• The people don't like him!
• Uh… er… freedom!

The armchair scholars add:

• Isn't it crazy how our government used to like this guy? [insert picture of diplomat from your country shaking hand of demonic despot]

And in case you start to lose your focus, remember:

• Anyone who talks about power vacuums and regional instability is a tyrant-lover.

Or to put it another way, after an 8-year wait it's the blue states' turn to pretend to understand and care deeply about politics in the Arab world.

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