A couple years of reading Andrew Sullivan's blog (I can't help myself, I can't look away) and I've never understood the Yglesias Award. Andrew says it's "for writers, politicians, columnists or pundits who actually criticize their own side, make enemies among political allies, and generally risk something for the sake of saying what they believe." In practice it's more like anybody who says something in which Andrew believes, but fine. Still, I've never seen Yglesias write anything that was even vaguely risky. And then an Easter miracle. Yglesias blasts the Campaign for America's Future and their ridiculous new attack ad on McCain (at right):
There's just no evidence that McCain did anything wrong here. He was on the side of the angels in helping to investigate some dirty dealings in the contracting process for this tanker back in 2004, and the idea that Boeing should have a permanent monopoly on Air Force contracts because to work with rival firms would be "shipping jobs to France" is absurd. If people don't want to go after McCain for something real, they should go after his shabby treatment of his first wife or make fun of him for being so damn old or something. Or go after him for something real! But this ignorant and silly.
Any critic of McCain's conduct in scuttling the initial deal with Boeing is essentially arguing in favor of outright fraud and corruption. The ad is a real disgrace. Yglesias states the obvious, but I'm impressed. Maybe he'll rethink his ignorant and silly attack on McCain's obvious comparison of Purim to Halloween last week.