I KNOW YOU'RE ALL THINKING IT

It's one of those things everybody thinks and no one actually says.

So I'm gonna just come out and say it:

Man, he really looks a lot better with the beard. Why did he spend three decades running the country with those big ugly jowlish cheeks?

Now we just await the inevitable: Some right-winger will compare Saddam's new look to that of Krugman.

In other NY Times op/ed page news, TFM happily notes that Tom Friedman's temporary replacement (he's on book leave, oh boy) is the admirable Barbara Ehrenreich, whose first column can be found in today's paper. My last run-in with Ehrenreich was in fall quarter 2003, in which I read a piece of hers where she absolutely skewers Fukuyama on a thesis of his pertaining to gender roles and political leadership. Baboons were involved, by the way.

LATE UPDATE: Wow, I feel so gratified. In yesterday's "Monologue", Matt Passet says:

We're all thinking it, fine I'll say it. Saddam looked kind of sexy in his most recent court photos.

Yes!

(Obvious disclaimer: He's a bad man, I know, but that's beside the point here!)