Hitchens in Lebanon

Christopher Hitchens relates how and why he was beaten up during a recent visit to Lebanon (hint: it had something to do with defacing the swastika-sporting flag of a fascist group).

Christopher Hitchens Endorses Obama

In a piece titled "Vote for Obama," with the subhead "McCain Lacks the Temperament to be President. And Palin is Simply a Disgrace," Hitchens lays out his reasons for supporting Obama--or, perhaps, for not supporting McCain. Do read it.

And if you haven't read Christopher Buckley's endorsement of Barack Obama, do so now. Lord knows, he deserves your attention considering how much trouble he got into with the National Review because of it.

Hitchens on Kissinger's Role in the Debate

Today's Slate features a valuable column by Christopher Hitchens: "Disregarding Henry Both Candidates Kowtowed to the Disgraceful Kissinger. Only Obama Cited Him Correctly."

Hitchens reviews Kissinger's recent statements about conducting high level meetings with Iran (without preconditions) during last week's "Secretaries of State" forum at George Washington University, Katie Couric's and Sarah Palin's references to those statements, and the introduction of Kissinger's remarks during the first presidential debate. Hitchens concludes--as you might assume from the article's title--McCain was wrong: Obama quoted Kissinger's most recent statements. Kissinger revised those statements the following day to bring them into conformity with John McCain's claims.

Aside: Hitchens, the author of The Trial of Henry Kissinger, makes it very clear that he is no fan of Kissinger--he considers the man a war criminal--and he appears bemused (disgusted?) that McCain and Obama drew material from Nixon's Secretary of State to support their views. Quite an understandable position.