I gotta get out more often

I don't make it to the right side of the blogosphere very often, but I'm definitely going to have to make a point to go there more often. In my reading about Richard Cohen's declaration that nobody needs algebra, I came across this gem. I'm tempted to call it a microcosm of what's wrong with our country, but that's probably giving it too much credit.

For the most part, I’m pretty dismissive of the pundit class. Most odious among them are the ones who still carry the torch for liberalism — Krugman, Herbet, Dionne, Oliphant, etc. But there is one who has hit it out of the park with a recent column: Richard Cohen. The column goes straight after the cult of numbers that rules so much of the thinking in the left-wing wonk and chattering classes crowd. These are the people who attack Bush because of the budget deficit (as if we didn’t have one under Clinton) and question the numbers behind Social Security privatization. The people who think that their number-crunching ability gives them greater wisdom than the guidance the president gets from a Higher Power. Mr. Cohen writes

Most of math can now be done by a computer or a calculator. On the other hand, no computer can write a column or even a thank-you note — or reason even a little bit. If, say, the school asked you for another year of English or, God forbid, history, so that you actually had to know something about your world, I would be on its side. But algebra? Please.

I would add there’s one other thing that a computer doesn’t have: faith. No amount of number crunching can ever substitute for that.

Mr. Cohen has written some other good pieces recently as well. He was one of the first to take on Patrick Fitzwhackjob’s jihad against the Bush administration and the free press.

This is why I want Fitzgerald to leave now. Do not bring trivial charges — nothing about conspiracies, please — and nothing about official secrets, most of which are known to hairdressers, mistresses and dog walkers all over town. Please, Mr. Fitzgerald, there’s so much crime in Washington already. Don’t commit another.

Cohen is that rarest of breeds. A self-described liberal who dares to stray off the Daily Kos/Howard Dean talking points and speak common sense every now and then.

He has just received the highest honor the loony left blogosphere can bestow: Duncan Hack’s “Wanker of the Day”. If one is to be judged by the idiocy of one’s critics, then Mr. Cohen should get a medal.

I have read all 108 comments in search of any sign that this was a parody, but as far as I can tell the author meant exactly what he said.

It may be true that I'm only laughing to keep from crying, but at least I'm laughing really hard.