As you might guess, I really like him. Sure, he often oversimplifies things in his columns, but then again, he's only got 500 words. Read his books.
Friedman is thoughtful, nuanced, and I think he's very honest with himself and his readers. I know that he took the "wrong" position on the war, and I know that he's pro-globalization in a way that people on the left really dislike. But I think he takes these positions for the right reasons. He didn't support the war in order to steal Iraqi oil, or to help his buddies in the Bush Administration. He argued for it because his conscience told him it was right to remove Saddam Hussein from power and give democracy a chance in the Arab world. I think we can see now from his column of a few weeks ago that his heart was in the right place.
Look, I too was disappointed by his columns on the war in Iraq for the past 2 years. But why the need to bash him so much. Every time he writes a column it shows up on Eschaton or on Daily Kos with some header like "Friedman's an Ass" or "More Friedman Crap" (I'm paraphrasing).
I honestly don't understand why he arouses such ire among lefties. Perhaps someone could explain it to me.
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