I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit Sniffing Glue

When Larry Craig got caught this summer, during Andrew Sullivan's annual progress to Provincetown, I said, "what a week for him to take off."

Well, now I know how that feels.

All right, yes, I made it all of maybe 36 hours, but Benazir Bhutto is dead.

Here I am trying to take the time off, be a good boy and stick to my knitting... and something happens that up-ends the entire news cycle.  Events like this are the reason I started blogging.  No really.  I'm the guy, among my friends, who passes along the late breaking story, offers the immediate reax, throws in my two cents for what it's worth (about 2 cents, not counting the subprime mortgage).

And here I sit, with my opposable thumbs stowed in a drawer.

I don't really have much to add on the Bhutto assassination, outside of my observations a while back - her death compliocates things, but the mess in Pakistan was bigger than her all along. Malkin, oddly, is the most on the story, and there's good commentary flying over at The Corner; conservatives would love this to be an indictment of Democrats (see the folks at Lucianne), but no one, really, has a good handle on Pakistan's politics. This is not - except to Condi Rice, maybe - an intellectual exercise, despite the way Americans look at it.  Bhutto's symbolic presence as a sign of political reconciliation and change was very real to her supporters.  Losing her cannot be a good step.

But what do I know... I'm supposed to be under a tanning lamp.  As you were.

Comments

[JoBiv]

Hehehe... love you, W. Now go relax, dammit.

[Redstar]

Thank god you posted! I was like, oh sh*t, this is a Weboy story, and now I'm supposed to respond to it in his absence. And we all know my *history* with the Pakistanis. ;)

[jinbaltimore]

LOL...relax, weboy, rest and close your eyes...

[litbrit]

What a horrible turn the year has taken, right at the end of it, too.

I just read Arianna Huffington's piece--she was at Cambridge while Ms. Bhutto was at Oxford, and the two women debated often, two foreign women at British universities, traveling through England on the strength of their brains and talent, debating. It just struck me as profound and touching.

At this stage, we're not informed enough to say who was behind this tragedy. I wonder if we'll ever know the truth, or if it will remain something blamed on "extremists" and left at that.

We do, however, know with certainty that the region is more chaotic and frightening than ever.

May Benazir Bhutto--a strong, inspiring, and amazing woman by any measure--rest in peace. That much, I suppose, I can say.

[Jennifer]

In addition to the obvious tragedy, El Quaeda, is spreading it's usual good cheer by celebrating the death of this interesting woman and congratulating the killers.

We're so lucky to have this appalling group around.