WHEN MINI-ME'S ATTACK. There's a small scuffle going on over at Andrew Sullivan's place. Yesterday, guest-blogger Jamie Kirchick posted this bizarre item, in which he interpreted a couple of Barack Obama's statements to derive The Obama Doctrine: "The United States will remain impassive in the face of genocide." Fellow guest-blogger Hilzoy responded with a lengthy, detailed post, arguing that, sure, that makes sense if you ignore everything else that Obama has ever said or written on the subject. Kirchick then lamely responded that he was "was hoping to be provocative and stir some debate," which, while being an incredibly weak defense for accusing someone of ignoring genocide, is what people tend to say after they just been totally pwned. This sort of careless drive-by on a Democrat is typical for Kirchick. I've long wondered what, exactly, this self-described "libertarian" is doing writing for The New Republic? Are there many other TNR writers who also have gigs writing for the Weekly Standard and Commentary(!)? As best I can tell, Kirchick's fitness for TNR is based entirely on his sharing his boss Martin Peretz's hostility toward Arabs and Muslims. --Matthew Duss
