Wednesday, January 31, 2007

At least 10 people have sent me links to the pictures of the socks of Paul Wolfowitz. I of course have refused to post any of them for at least two reasons: 1) there is nothing wrong in having holes in one's socks. Many poor and not-so-poor people have holes in their socks. I don't find that embarrassing at all. 2) I don't believe that this was accidental. He knew that he was going to a mosque, and would be expected to take his shoes off (he was ambassador in Indonesia, remember), and I would not be surprised if he did that on purpose, to look modest, and as one of the people (the way Clinton used to deliberately stop at fast food places during campaign trips to falsely look as one-of-the-people). 3) We need to oppose Wolfowitz on more substantive issues, stemming from his (dis)service in government, going all the way to Reagan years, into his current role at the Wold Bank. 4) Did Walid Jumblat not apologize to Wolfowitz, and should that apology not cover all issues?
PS The fact that An-Nahar (the ultra-nationalist, Lebanonese right-wing, sectarian Christian newspaper) published the picture of Wolfowitz's socks on the front page, only increases my suspicion that this is a PR stunt.