This is from Jonah Goldberg one long exercise in the tu quoque (among much else):
>At a candidate forum for trial lawyers in Chicago on Sunday, Hillary Rodham Clinton proclaimed that the Bush administration is “the most radical presidency we have ever had.”
>This is, quite simply, absurd. But such boob-bait for the Bush bashers is common today in Democratic circles, just as similar right-wing rhetoric about Bill Clinton was par for the course a decade ago. The culture war, it seems, has distorted how we view politics more than we realize. Trust in government is at historic lows, but faith in one’s own “team” remains remarkably durable. (President Bush’s job-approval rating among Republicans is 80 percent, according to the polling company Rasmussen Reports.)
Then he goes on to criticize Woodrow Wilson.
Nobody is defending Woodrow Wilson. And whether Bill Clinton pardoned convicted felons has nothing to do with whether Scooter Libby deserved a pardon.
Hillary makes a very audacious claim.
Then Goldberg points to a possible counter-example (Wilson) in order to highlight the the audacity and need of justification of her claim.
Goldberg doesn’t make the claim that anyone is defending Woodrow Wilson. He points to what might be considered an obvious contender for a counter to Hillary’s bold universal.
Seems fair-minded. If herein is the TQ you think runs this piece, I don’t see it.
But maybe it’s elsewhere.