ajami.jpgOkay, admittedly it’s a bit of a contrarian position, but bear with me.

If you haven’t seen it yet, David Shuster, subbing for Tweety, makes floor wax of Fraud Ajami for comparing Scooter Libby to a “fallen soldier.” He also nails Ajami on all of his usual-suspect attempts at Scooter apologia, making all the counterpoints we usually just wish our in-the-tank talking heads would make. By God, it’s refreshing – Chris Matthews would have just used up the time asking Ajami if he found Hillary Clinton offputting and mannish, and whether he thought Bill would “behave himself.” But I digress.

There are two points in particular I want to hone in on regarding Ajami’s “fallen soldier” metaphor (he spends a lot of time defensively protesting, “It’s just a metaphor! It’s writing!“):

1) Ajami likes to talk about there being other leakers, like Richard Armitage and… Richard Armitage, and laments that Scooter was left all alone to take the fall. I, too, believe that this is a terrible tragic shame. Scooter should indeed not be taking the fall all alone – the other leakers and their puppetmasters should be taking it with him. Of course, Scooter’s lonely fall-taking is entirely of his own manufacture, so my disappointment is not tinged with quite as much sympathy as Fraud Ajami’s.

2) The fallen solder thing. Yes, it’s completely indefensible when you look at it from the perspective of a soldier, or the family or friends of a soldier, or, well, anyone who actually gives a shit about our soldiers. But if you follow that thought to its logical conclusion, you realize that it makes perfect sense from the perspective of the epically self-centered Bush Administration and its defenders, most of whom have never experienced combat.

In fact, the fallen soldier metaphor becomes quite revealing when you ask yourself: If Scooter is a soldier, fighting for BushCo, then who is the enemy? Based on his actions, it can only be their long-time archnemeses, Truth, Justice, and Accountability. Scooter’s selflessness and courage saved Bush and his inner circle from a fate worse than death at the hands of this terrible Axis Of Evil.

So, to sum up: Do not fuck with David Shuster. He will hurt you.

(I have this new fantasy where Dick Cheney books a full hour of propaganda-catapulting and complimentary tongue-bath on Meet The Press, but Timmeh falls unexpectedly ill at the last minute…)