Subbing for reporter/columnist Dana Milbank on the Washington Post's snarky "Zeitgeist Checklist" feature in the Sunday opinion section, Post reporter Michael Grunwald goes on a tear, with every time on the ten-item list having a lame connection to Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic drunk-driving rant. Here's how it starts with the number one issue of the week, the Middle East conflict:
Fighting intensifies in Lebanon, as dozens of innocents die, but President Bush senses a "moment of opportunity." Linguists note that in Chinese, the character for "opportunity" also means "quagmire." And "Hezbollah" means "Party of Mel Gibson."
So Mel is comparable to terrorists? Or isn't it obvious that Hezbollah gets generally better press than Mel Gibson? After all, the media demands Israel sit down with Hezbollah, but eggs on Hollywood to shun Gibson. Here are a couple more Gibson-bashing shots:
-- #6, Iran: "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects a U.N. resolution calling on Iran to stop enriching uranium, and warns that sanctions would only produce $200-a-barrel oil prices. But he says he's still willing to talk. Why, just the other day he was chatting about the Holocaust with his pal Mel Gibson..."
-- #7, Ford: "Ford Motor Co. is outsold by Toyota for the first time, announces a $250 million loss and recalls a million vehicles to prevent their engines from catching fire. Analysts say CEO Bill Ford Jr. needs to re-create Henry Ford's culture of consistent excellence, just as he has done with the Detroit Lions. Mel Gibson says the company needs to re-create Henry Ford's culture of anti-Semitism."
