American hero gives Andrea Mitchell the vapors

By Frank Moraes

You have to forgive her, I think. After all, she is married to Alan Greenspan. But Andrea Mitchell is getting the vapors over General David Petraeus. Rachel Maddow asked if she was sure that the affair was the real reason he resigned from the CIA. She was! David Petraeus?! Why he's an American hero! Anyway, a man like him? Young women must be throwing themselves at him all the time. But the man cannot tell a lie and he doesn't even chop down cherry trees.

And the la-hand of the Freeeeee!
And the hoooome, of thhhhhe, braaaave!

And the crowd goes wild! What a sad day for the United States. Another American hero brought down. And after those meanies at MoveOn.org called him "David Betray Us"![1] This is unthinkable!

My take on it is a little different. First, I think MoveOn was correct: like any military man of that level, Patraeus was a political hack who was about as familiar with the truth as I am with moon exploration. Second, David Petraeus is a powerful and famous man. Of course he's gonna get a little young tail. Ms. Broadwell is a hottie. I think Petraeus is showing a lot of taste. She's not so young that the relationship is creepy, and she's a writer and that means she's smart. If Paula Broadwell needs a shoulder to cry on, I'm available. Just saying.

Most important, from a broader perspective, this whole thing doesn't make sense. I don't buy that Petraeus is such an honorable man that this caused him to step down. Instead, I figure he thinks that if he steps down, the controversy will be over next week. And he's probably right. This also sets him up to publish a tell-all memoir in the next two years that will get him a 7-figure advance.

Meanwhile, this little scandal will do nothing but improve Broadwell's reputation. I mean, she's the woman who bagged the American hero. I'm sure Andrea Mitchell is so jealous that... Oh my! She's got the vapors.

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[1] Here it is. Click on it if you can't quite read it.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

Andrea Mitchell, ignoramus extraordinaire

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe yesterday, Alan Greenspan's wife called Nick Clegg, the leader of Britain's Liberal Democratic Party, "very anti-American on the subject of Iraq, Afghanistan, and engagement." She also claimed that he opposes Britain's "special relationship" with the U.S. and is a Euroskeptic.

Thankfully, former NSA Zbigniew Brzezinski was there to refute her ignorant (or intentionally misleading) comments. Clegg may be anti-war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but so are many Americans. Far from opposing the "special relationship," he desires, as Think Progress explains, "a positive, strong and even uniquely warm relationship with the United States." And he's not a Euroskeptic at all, as he supports Britain's close engagement with "a strong Europe." Indeed, if anyone's a Euroskeptic, it's David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives.

Now, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, clinging to power by a thread, has also called Clegg anti-American, but we can write that off as political desperation (and the usual sort of political campaign dishonesty), I think. With Mitchell, one cannot help but wonder if her smears of Clegg derive from her right-leaning tendencies, if I may put it nicely.

Actually, no. There's really no need to wonder at all.