Piling on Friedman

Last week, Atrios watched the Charlie Rose interview with the “very serious” “foreign policy expert” Thomas Friedman, and isn’t over it yet — apparently may not be over it for a long, long time. He’s really laying into him, I mean much more than usual. And deservedly so.

I myself don’t have the stomach to watch Tom for an hour (or Rose either, for that matter), but the Atrios reaction posts are here and here, and pretty much tell you all you need to know: Thomas Friedman is a bad person, and really not very smart.

Our media, unfortunately is overrun with such evil, stupid people, who make a lot of money and get to spout their delusional, self-centered nonsense on TV every day, while the people who were actually spot on about foreign policy decisions like Iraq, and can cite actual facts to back up their opinions, and can talk about world problems without resorting to embarrassing displays of Freudian issues, are still considered unworthy for public discourse.

It appalls me when I hear smart people, well-educated liberals, talk about Tom Friedman as if he’s an unending font of wisdom and rationality, particularly on the Middle East. Do they actually read his work?