Update: Andrew Sullivan measures both sides in this debate, here: "...By pure coincidence, I was at Hitch's yesterday as he filed the piece. He was stone-cold sober. And on top form. It is Cole who owes Hitch an apology..."
Not that Cole isn't a scumbag (and his recent accusation of libel against the WSJ is even more inane than the one you linked) but he does have a shred of a valid point in all this. That Ahmadinejad used the words "wiped off the map" is routinely presented as a literal quote. (At least, I had thought it was a literal quote.) It seems to be an accurate paraphrase of what he said, and Cole's defense of it is typically shoddy, but it's not close to an accurate translation.
Maybe it's the hour, but I've finally revisited both the Hitchens piece, the Cole piece, and Sullivan's piece (which I'm about to update this entry to include a link to) and I'm not following. It seems that Ahmadinejad did call for Israel to be wiped off the map, or at least something awfully similar, and Cole is trying to turn it into some metaphysical, let's vote 'em out business...which it clearly is not. What's a more egregious inaccuracy, whether A said wiped, erased or done away with, or Cole trying to gloss the whole thing and make Ahmadinejad sound like an "End the Occupation" t-shirt wearer?
Read my reply in the later Cole post.
I'll read Sullivan however you realize that Sullivan had a run in with Cole as well and thinks he is a scumbag already, not that he isn't per say, just sayin.
Sure, I fully agree with your summary. I'm just saying that all discussion I've seen of Ahmadinejad's speech treats "wiped off the map" as a quote, not as an (accurate) paraphrase, and that I welcome the clarification even if it is from someone as loathsome as Cole.
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Not that Cole isn't a scumbag (and his recent accusation of libel against the WSJ is even more inane than the one you linked) but he does have a shred of a valid point in all this. That Ahmadinejad used the words "wiped off the map" is routinely presented as a literal quote. (At least, I had thought it was a literal quote.) It seems to be an accurate paraphrase of what he said, and Cole's defense of it is typically shoddy, but it's not close to an accurate translation.
Maybe it's the hour, but I've finally revisited both the Hitchens piece, the Cole piece, and Sullivan's piece (which I'm about to update this entry to include a link to) and I'm not following. It seems that Ahmadinejad did call for Israel to be wiped off the map, or at least something awfully similar, and Cole is trying to turn it into some metaphysical, let's vote 'em out business...which it clearly is not. What's a more egregious inaccuracy, whether A said wiped, erased or done away with, or Cole trying to gloss the whole thing and make Ahmadinejad sound like an "End the Occupation" t-shirt wearer?
Honest question, what am I missing here?
Read my reply in the later Cole post.
I'll read Sullivan however you realize that Sullivan had a run in with Cole as well and thinks he is a scumbag already, not that he isn't per say, just sayin.
Mike
Honest question, what am I missing here?
Sure, I fully agree with your summary. I'm just saying that all discussion I've seen of Ahmadinejad's speech treats "wiped off the map" as a quote, not as an (accurate) paraphrase, and that I welcome the clarification even if it is from someone as loathsome as Cole.