OH VEY

It's columns like this one that make me wonder how one gets to have a weekly op-ed column in a major national newspaper...and also why I don't.

Think about how much Anne Applebaum got paid for these 871 words. Think of the opportunity cost of wasted newsprint where someone with real opinions might have enriched our national socio-political dialogue.

Applebaum starts with a jab at a democratic strawman--who is standing in line to buy My Life:

Generally speaking, the people in the line were not hirsute, overtly left-wing or even visibly political.

Duh. Guess what, Anne? Clinton never was too popular with democratic wing of the Democratic party. He sold out social insurance. He tore apart the party to pass a trade deal conceived by Ronald Reagan and negotiated by Papa Bush. He did more to consolidate the bipartisan consensus on American Empire than any who came before him. (But man, what we wouldn't do to have him back today...).

I'm guessing Applebaum was following the Drudge Report rumor board about the book's celebrated release at Politics and Prose. I went to Kramer Book's at about 12:15, walked right up to the counter, and slapped down my credit card. No line, no fuss, no inane WaPo commentators.