Sunday, January 05, 2003

Sully Mit Weinerschnitzel

Andrew Sullivan posts a comment in which he translates Paul Krugman from the German. I didn't know that Sully was bilingual. In the comment, he reads Krugman's answer to a Der Spiegel interviewer to mean "that president Bush is indistinguishable from an unelected tyrant," namely, Ferdinand Marcos. But Marcos was elected twice before declaring martial law. Marcos also was declared the winner of a third election, in 1986. The legitimacy of that election was questioned, as was the legitimacy of 2000 Presidential election in which Bush claimed victory. Looking at the identical point in their respective careers, Marcos actually had more legitimacy two years in than Bush has now.

Sully also takes seriously Krugman's comments about seeking asylumn in Germany. Apparently, the magazine's use of the parenthetical "(laughs)" wasn't enough of a clue for the sober-minded Sully to realize that Krugman was joking. Humourless git.

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