Next batter: Thomas Friedman

I have been smackin' Kristof around quite a bit of late, so I feel the need to spread the love around. Thanks go to Thomas Friedman for giving me that chance.

His column was proceeding rather swimmingly IMO until these paragraphs:

If only President Bush called in Colin Powell and said: "Colin, neither of us have much to show by way of diplomacy for the last four years. I want you to get on an airplane and go out to the Middle East. I want you to sit down with Israelis and Palestinians and forge a framework for a secure Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and progress toward a secure peace in the West Bank, and I don't want you to come back home until you've got that. Only this time I will stand with you.

"As long as you're out there, I will not let Rummy or Cheney fire any more arrows into your back. So get going. It's time for you to stop sulking over at Foggy Bottom and time for me to make a psychological breakthrough with the Arab world that can also help us succeed in Iraq - by making it easier for Arabs and Muslims to stand with us. I don't want to see you back here until you've put our words into deeds."

Yeah, "if only..."

Dude, that's weak... seriously weak. After these past four years, I am no fan of Colin Powell; he has simply whored himself for the administration too many times for me to give him repect any longer. (Politics is not really the best place to obstinately play the good and loyal soldier)

But I will say this: he is the only person who has shown even passing interest in diplomacy and building relationships rather than ripping them down. To sit there and pass the blame onto Powell for a lack of progress during the first administration, and then to kick him in the butt by telling him to "stop sulking" is simply ridiculous.

This putz has won how many Pulitzers?