Tim Blair

From what I can gather Said was just a big liar.

From Middle East Forum


and the following reprinted from the WSJ

If hate-mongering, "you can't judge us but we can judge you just because I say so" Said was the Palestinian movement's most articulate voice...then it's suffering from some pretty big flaws.

I have been told that Edward Said was a very talented classical pianist. You've got to admire that much, but I have an image of the man sitting in the dark, banging out Mussorgsky to torment his neighbors. Cheers! -m

I was wondering how long it would be before Tim started gloating over Said's death. Wonder no more.

No gloating involved; just the satisfaction of knowing M. Said has received his just reward.

Cheers

Actually, Said probably was one of the Palestinian people's most articulate spokesmen.

Of course, that's only because Said's competition was people who beat other human beings to death with their bare hands, people who open museums commemorating the Sabaro Restaurant bombing, people who pass out candy to "celebrate" an attack on the most powerful nation on Earth in full view of said nation's television cameras and (lest we forget) people who strap bombs on their bodies in the hopes that they can take a few women and children with them.

Tell me Tariq, but please make it brief, is there a hole for me to get sick in?

Edward Said was a very fine writer, a generous & humane person. You can read Hitch's tribute in The Guardian, and countless others are pointed to in Troppo Armadillo.

His writing skills, his ability to think laterally in crisis after crisis, his guts in his long illness, there is much to admire in this man.

Sadly, he died prior to mastering the skills employed in snippy one-liners and cut'n'pasting obsessively in a blog.

He'll be read for centuries after his death, by people of all political persuasions. I admired him, his finer points, as much as his flaws. He celebrated diversity, and was always open to new streams of thinking.

Chris, he'd have suffocated here wouldn't he?