The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
Dotty Defense Secretary
Oops. Yesterday, WSJ.com reports, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “ranked U.S. ally India with China as a rising threat to the U.S. in Asia”:
“We face the threats from rising powers–China, India, others–that we have to always have sufficient force protection out there in the Pacific to make sure they know we’re never going anywhere,” Mr. Panetta said during a visit to a shipyard in Groton, Conn., where he toured a submarine, the Mississippi, in the final stages of construction.
Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby later sought to clarify Mr. Panetta’s comments. He said Mr. Panetta did not intend to suggest that India and China were military threats to the U.S. and that he believed it was important to forge closer military relations with both countries.
Maybe he was thinking of American Indians, against whom the U.S. has waged several wars.
Guy Walks Into a Bar and Says, ‘Ouch!’
“The Bar Has Been Lowered”–headline, WizBangBlog.com, Nov. 17
Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control
“Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi to Release an Album of Love Songs”–headline, Los Angeles Times website, Nov. 17
Bottom Stories of the Day
- “Wall Street Disconnected From Protests It Views as Misguided, Misdirected”–headline, [Huffington Post], Nov. 18
- “Detroit in Financial Crisis, Mayor Bing Says”–headline, BBC website, Nov. 18
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
