WINCE-INDUCING MOMENT!?!?

Referring to Michael Isikoff's "considerable journalistic skills," Brad DeLong doesn't pull punches...

Wince-Inducing Moment? Wince-Inducing Moment!? WINCE-INDUCING MOMENT!?!?

I wince when I hear George W. Bush try to pronounce "nuclear" or "Abu Ghraib." I wince when my daughter does a belly flop off the diving board. I wince when one of my students misses an easy question in class. One winces when Georgie seeks praise for his skeet shooting, or when Muffy misses her serve again.

When a Deputy to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency -- or somebody at that level -- refuses to do his job, saying that he is not going to provide intelligence to the Secretary of State because the Secretary of State is uninterested in whether what he is about to say to the United Nations is true or not, it is not appropriate to "wince." It is appropriate to be outraged. It is appropriate to demand the immediate firing of the Secretary of State and National Security Adviser who have created the climate in which intelligence is not wanted, to immediately fire the CIA Director who has failed to push back strongly enough by saying that his agency will provide intelligence whether the NSC principals wish to hear it or not, to fire the Director's Deputy who serves as the heavy squashing the reports of the only person who knows what he is talking about.

And to impeach the man who chooses and retains such servants to run the security policy of the United States of America.

"Wince." Feh.