Monday, April 04, 2011

Goldstone: Winners and Losers

So here's my scorecard on l'affair Goldstone:

Goldstone - LOSER
A bum, but at least a bum who was honest enough to correct his error in public. We condemn him for his mistake, even as we admire his intellectual honesty.

Israel - WINNER
Over the last two years Israel, and her supporters successfully marginalized Goldstone's report to the point that using it as evidence for an argument about Israel was taken as prima facie evidence of the speaker's Antisemitism. And that was before the author retracted the reports central assertion. Going forward, the Goldstone Report is going to be remembered alongside the Protocol of the Elders of Zion;  no one polite, or sensible, or reasonable can give the thing credence ever again.

YNET - LOSER
Wrote a gotcha article that was transparently designed to discredit the Times, while delighting and amusing kneejerk RWers everywhere. Now, it seems clear their "source" took them for a ride.

The New York Times - BIG LOSER
The paper of record is the real loser here. Not only weren't they offered the historic op-ed, but they are being reviled for refusing to publish it.

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