November 30, 2009 • Vol. 15, No. 11 Download Now! (pdf)

 

EDITORIAL
No Substitute for Victory
by William Kristol and Frederick W. Kagan

SCRAPBOOK
Media on Palin: 'War of the Worlds, II'

ARTICLES
Obamanomics 101
by Fred Barnes

Eric Holder's Horrible Hearing
by Mary Katharine Ham

Malign Neglect
by Stephen F. Hayes

Obama Blunders Through Asia
by Ross Terrill

German-Iranian Relations
by Benjamin Weinthal

Time for a Dose of Protectionism?
by Irwin M. Stelzer

Going Backwards in Beirut
by Peter Berkowitz

FEATURES
The Adventures of Low Impact Man
by Matt Labash

BOOKS & ARTS
Man with a Horn
by Ted Gioia

Prophet Disarmed
by Arch Puddington

Europe's Temblor
by Lawrence Klepp

The Yenta
by Joseph Epstein

Plus-Size Pathology
by John Podhoretz

CASUAL
The Turkey Vanishes
by Claudia Anderson

PARODY
Obama Chooses a Turkey to Pardon


« Daily Blog Buzz: Pencil Me In... | Main

Purim Is Their Halloween

Mark Murray writes at First Read:

When McCain made a foreign policy gaffe in Jordan on Tuesday, it was Sen. Joe Lieberman who quietly pointed out the mistake, giving McCain an opportunity to correct himself in front of the international press corps. In Israel yesterday, NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum reports, Lieberman once again intervened when McCain made an incorrect reference about the Jewish holiday Purim -- by calling the holiday "their version of Halloween here."

Yglesias describes this as "more ignorance" from John McCain. Not really. Having just returned from Israel, I can assure Murray and Yglesias that the sight of little kids running around in costumes is explained to Americans with a simple, "this is their Halloween." Are they actually engaging in some ancient Jewish form of trick or treat? No. And of course Lieberman is an observant Jew, so no big surprise that he didn't love the comparison. But this is a pretty desperate game of gotcha. And if you don't believe me, here's a recent post by an Israeli on the Purim holiday--it's titled "Our Halloween."

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