The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
Bottom Story of the Day
“Facebook Privacy Proves Not So Private . . . Again”–headline, WTOP-FM website (Washington), March 1
Retired Pols Break Promises Too
- “Dodd Forswears a Lobbying Career”–headline, CTMirror.org, Aug. 30, 2010
- “Chris Dodd Becomes Hollywood’s Top Lobbyist”–headline, USA Today website, March 1
And if You Don’t Comply, We’ll Make Another Empty Threat
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is talking tough on Libya, but her words are empty, the New York Times reports:
“Qaddafi has lost the legitimacy to govern, and it is time for him to go without further violence or delay,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters after a special meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council. “No option is off the table,” she said, adding “that of course includes a no-fly zone.”
But officials in Washington and elsewhere said that direct military action remained unlikely, and that the moves were designed as much as anything as a warning to Colonel Qaddafi and a show of support to the protesters seeking to overthrow his government.
We’d better hope no one in Libya reads the New York Times. As blogress Jennifer Dyer notes, there isn’t much point in talking tough if you’re going to announce that you’re only bluffing. Presumably Mrs. Clinton was not among the anonymous “officials” undercutting her, but this suggests that somebody somewhere in the government is trying to weaken America’s hand.
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for thef “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
