Blast from the Past

I have been reading Jonathan Chait op eds. Generally very good, but the man is shameless about the monster error of his youth writing

At the outset of the war [in Iraq], I had no high hopes for Iraqi democracy, but I paid no attention to the possibility that the Iraqis would end up with a worse government than the one they had. It turns out, however, that there is something more awful than totalitarianism, and that is endless chaos and civil war.

The really shocking aspect is Chait's obvious confidence that this astounding confession of irresponsible thoughtlessness and total ignorance of history will not damage his reputation as a serious thinker. I'm sure he is right. The collective national idiocy was so widespread that premature thoughtfulness is a liability.

Actually the really really shocking aspect is that Atrios denounced this editorial by Chait but did not remark on the paragraph I quoted.