winterbadger | alas, poor Yorick

I dearly love Alastair Cooke, but I think that his latest Letter from America suggests that he's getting a bit past it. It's rambly, vague, unfocused. It doesn't seem clear what he's really trying to get at (if anything). It suggests that Bush I should have been allowed to skip the '92 election because he organized a campaign to oust Iraq from Kuwait. It suggests that Clinton wanted to invade Iraq (I think this would be news to President Clinton and his NSC). It suggests that the Bush II adminsitration has three Gulf War veterans in it (oh? which ones? what units did they serve in?) It wobbles through a heavily partisan and debateable history of the current presidential campaign.

But most of all, it leave one asking: what's your point, Alastair? I'm sorry to say it of someone I cherish and respect, but I think that perhaps the Great Cookemonster is getting senile.