Demagogue

In case you missed it (as I did), last week at Slate.com, Fred Kaplan sorted through the public snit that Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton are having over North Korea blame game.

Kaplan makes it clear where he stands:

Sen. John McCain has skidded his Straight Talk Express off the highway into a gopher's ditch of slime.

And, in making his case, Kaplan walks readers through the events of the 1990s, arguing that "McCain's version of history goes beyond 'revisionism' to outright falsification."

It does look as though McCain is unnecessarily turning this into a partisan battle. But I'm annoyed to see either side engage too heavily in the blame game. Can we agree that it is pretty damn hard for any president — D or R — to accurately decipher the actions, motives and intentions of North Korea's maniacal ruler, Kim Jong Il?