The American Spectator

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Another Perspective

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Ivins, for example, described September 11 as the horrific consequences of "insane people with box cutters." Well, lots of crazies have access to box cutters. But only certain crazies from certain countries have demonstrated the ability to make box cutters a tool of mass murder.

Still, the evening did have one distinct bright spot. After the panel discussion, Donahue took questions from the audience because "We care about how you feel."

Alas, nobody put in a good word for the Rosenbergs. But Mario Savio, '60s free speech guru, was praised to the hilt, the war on terrorism was somehow connected to an assault on abortion rights, and "Zionist fundamentalists" were denounced, along with "Christian fundamentalists." (They're the real threat to our freedoms, in case we'd forgotten.) Actor Danny Glover, seated unobtrusively in the audience, rambled about multi-national corporations.

For the most part, the panelists used these "inquiries" to re-state their own views. However, Arthur Schlesinger took issue with an audience member's contention that U.S. bombing of Afghanistan was immoral. Schlesinger, who had been relatively quiet up to that point, responded that even if the bombing was "excessive" it made possible the liberation from the Taliban which many Afghans, especially the women, welcomed.

In response, audience members cheered. This may very well have been the first "Nation" conference where discussion of a United States military offensive overseas elicited applause.

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