FU, Friedman.

FU.

Anyone else? There's nothing really nothing else to say. Write a book if you want to, but FU is it.

DaveM @ 3:

now if he would just admit he has been wrong all along, which history has proven he has, and then apologize to the the dead and wounded for his intellectual arrogance and ego-mania, maybe he could be allowed to work again. But until then, why does this ass-hat have a column NY Times again?

To balance David Brooks.

I'm puzzled by the applause after Friedman says it's time for a pullout schedule. He hardly deserves a pat on the back for finally coming around to wanting a withdrawal.
And so the chorus continues: FU, Friedman!

I thought Columbia University already gave Iran a rousing round of FU's.

>Cue throwing body from 23rd story window on to hood of cop car. Body crashes through and cop car screams off in panic - LINE!Diehard does make sense - even in small ways...)

Bud @ 10:

>Cue throwing body from 23rd story window on to hood of cop car. Body crashes through and cop car screams off in panic - LINE!Diehard does make sense - even in small ways...)

Ok, I don't know what the hell happened there. My point was that this just reminds me of the part of Diehard when Bruce Willis yells "Welcome to the party pal!"

I'll stop trying to be funny now...

i think there are alot more f-you's to go around

http://youtube.com/watch?v=T5dQmS16QGg

People confuse good writing with good ideas. Eloquent bullshit is still bullshit. I don't hate Friedman, but could we please have some new people on TV that know what the hell they are talking about.

McDuff @ 9:

I love how he dodges questions about "a new Middle East".

Does Colbert have a say in who comes on the show? I'm really surprised he brought Friedman on and helped him push his book. Surely, that man deserves to be left in a cubical for the rest of his professional life, instead of being allowed to profit from the disaster (Iraq invasion) he had a hand in promoting.

They all work for the same reptilian suitopaths (well dressed sociopath)

Friedman, Kristol and all their ilk will never admit how wrong they are and by the way how many they've wronged Being an atheist has distinct disadvantages it's a waste of time to wish them to the inner circles of hell I'll waste the time and wish it anyway

mr. f.u. says about gore "i'm not sure he'll take responsibility". when did this dork-wad take any responsibility for helping promote prolonging what we have all knew to be a bad direction for the country and he now seems to see it. the question is how discredited does a wanker have to be before he is no longer seen on t.v.. nice job by steve c. to work in the 6 months thing. mr f.u. doesn't seem to see that he was just punked. of course as long as he gets his book plugged he could care lass, about his own image or what he helped bring to the world.

I was looking for the brilliant Tom Tomorrow cartoon about Friedman, and came across this brilliant Jon Stewart audio from 1996, about how the U.S. just loves to bomb & invade:

http://tinyrevolution.com/mt/mt-static/images/Stewart.mp3

Colbert credits Stewart for his political awakening.

At least Friedman is in on the "6 months" joke now. Only took him 6 FU's to get it.

hindus have committed henious crimes against muslims, Sikhs and Christians in india. for some reason Tom friedman can't see through his bigoted eyes the human right violations committed by indian state.

As for india economic power just read this:

As many as 700 million Indians, more than the combined population of Africa and Latin America and twice that of the United States, live on less than $2 a day, subsisting on one meal a day of rice and lentils. Nearly half of India’s children are malnourished, a conference on India was told here on Tuesday.

The one-day conference was organised jointly by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Heritage Foundation to address US-India relations and “the road ahead.”

Kay Freeman, head of South Asia for USAID, told the conference that the three major challenges facing India were poverty, disease and health issues and natural disasters. She said this posed a “striking dichotomy” given the fact that India’s economy is more than $700 billion worth, being one of the 10 largest in the world, while its economic growth is estimated at 9 percent, with a middle class of 300 million. However, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, marked by disparities in both urban and rural areas. Almost all rural poor families are dependent on agriculture. Literacy is low, especially among women, and the government estimates that eight to 10 million youth are not in school, limiting their potential for economic improvement in India’s high-tech driven economy.

Freeman said an unhealthy population could not take full advantage of economic opportunities available to it. People who are sick or malnourished cannot achieve their economic potential and caring for the chronically ill is an economic drain on families. Job creation to absorb the large numbers of youth entering the workforce is a challenge for India. She said major health issues face India. India has the largest number of HIV cases of any country in the world. It is estimated that by 2010, between 20 and 25 million Indians could be living with HIV. In 2005, about 5.7 million Indians had HIV. They were mostly male adults between the ages of 15 and 49, which is the most productive economic group. Also on the increase is the use of intravenous drugs, though it is levelling off in high-risk groups.

India, Freeman pointed out, is always subject to major natural disasters, which carry the potential to retard progress. She said India’s main challenges were delivery of core services such as healthcare, education, power and safe water, which are not available. Economic growth, while impressive, is not inclusive and has left 700 million in poverty. To diminish disparities, India must accelerate agricultural growth, improve the job market and assist in poorer states so that they can catch up. Economic growth has to be sustained and the government must address fiscal and trade deficits, while continuing to push ahead with reforms. The HIV epidemic must be contained before it spreads to the general public.

Agriculture accounts for one-fifth of India’s GDP but a large number of poor rural families are completely dependent on agricultural production for their livelihoods. Two-thirds of India’s population lives on the rural economy. Since 1960, India has made huge investments in irrigation, research and extension, farm credit and farmer development programmes. However, India’s macroeconomic policies and market regulations penalised agriculture. Agricultural growth, now at 2 percent, has stagnated. The productivity of the principal food crops has plateaued as the population continues to grow. Indian farmers are too dependent on cereal crops and need to diversify. Better credit access is required. Not a single village in India currently has a 24/7 energy supply. Demand for electricity is increasing at a rate equal to adding a 500MW plant every week for the next 25 years. Most electricity generation takes place from high-ash coal, which makes India the world’s fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the second faster emitter after China. The Indian power sector is state-owned and financially unviable. Forty percent of the power generated is lost. To cope, the electricity sector will need an investment in excess of $100 billion over the next five to six years.

Mr. friedman is a bigot and anti muslim pretending to be a journalist!!

I've got something for you to suck on, Tommy boy!

Friedman Unit = FU = Fucking Useless

Iraq is so yesterday. We'll just declare success (we're on our way to doing so, after all), and then it's on to Iran for another battle to instill democracy at gunpoint.

And we won't even have to bring the troops home - we'll just claim a state of emergency mandates the troops stay in theater, just one country over.

I borrowed his book from the library, having just read a review of it. It sounded kind of interesting.

I read three pages. It annoyed the hell out of me.

A couple of days later I heard him in an interview. He annoyed the hell out of me.

I'm glad I didn't waste my money enriching him, and I'm sorry the library did.

FU, Friedman, and all who sail it you.

Friedman claims we (the West - Mostly the British) gave democracy to India in the 19th and 20th centuries?!?

Forget that the British destroyed India's early substantial industrial development as part of bringing India into it's system of empire. Forget about Ghandi's leadership in freeing India from Imperial Rule and finally establishing a free and independent country...

If "FU" means "Friedman Unit," does "WTF" mean "Who's the Fool?"

fuck Tom Friedman. He married a billionaire and endorses every outsourcing plan you can imagine. What's it like to live in a 11,000 sf house overlooking a golf course while you endorse 15 more months for a GI to be away from their spouses and kids

reminds me of the old joke about the doctor who keeps giving his patient another 6 months to live until he can pay his bills.

There are reliable reports from Europe that claim the number of civilian dead is over 1 million at this point.

#24: "I was looking for the brilliant Tom Tomorrow cartoon about Friedman..."

I think this is the one you meant.

http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2007/07/23/tomo/

Here is the death count article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq14sep14,1,397962...

Hell of thing you did Thomas. Hell of a thing.

PopeTodd @ 50:

Here is the death count article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq14sep14,1,397962...

Hell of thing you did Thomas. Hell of a thing.

Todd, can you cut and paste the article if it's not too long? The page you linked to requires registration.

Tom Friedman cannot be believed. Please don't fall for his bullshit. He cannot be trusted.

Not trying to spam, but for those who haven't seen this or don't remember...

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2884

These are the slugs we are putting on TV, giving them an audience of millions.

McDuff @ 9:

I love how he dodges questions about "a new Middle East".

Does Colbert have a say in who comes on the show? I'm really surprised he brought Friedman on and helped him push his book. Surely, that man deserves to be left in a cubical for the rest of his professional life, instead of being allowed to profit from the disaster (Iraq invasion) he had a hand in promoting.

"But y'know here was a time, Steven, when, um, one could hope that Iraq was going to be the tipping point for a different middle east....you know the context within which people live their lives is important..."

Guess where Cheney gave him the juice during that quote. bZt!! Looks like the implant still works.

"Come in Friedman, this is Cheney: ix nay on alking-tay about aster-may an-play. People might see the connection between the embassy fortress and the secret superbases, and add two and two."

jimbo92107 @ 59:

Friedman didn't say anything about a pullout schedule. He said it was time to "set a deadline." Deadline? For what???

An FU by any other name...

Thomas Friedman: Flathead.

Now now, the Flathead (Selish) Amer-Indians were well respected, freindly and peaceful.

No comparison. :)

[...] The Colbert Report: Tom Friedman admits we’re out of FUs in Iraq - Crooks and Liars: “Stephen Colbert brings on Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat and it’s clear that the same man who said “Suck on this, Iraq” is not dancing to the same tune now. Colbert offers up the same six months (also known as a Friedman Unit or FU) that Friedman has spent the last four years claiming would be all we need to see “success in Iraq,” but Friedman admits we’re all out of FUs.” [...]

I can't watch these at work, but I'm at home now. Friedman is an incredible dickhead. Un-fucking believably ignorant dickhead. He thinks steganography is embedding a whole word in the period of . . . html. Jesus, he's fucking ignorant!

Colbert's audience bursts into applause when TF admits we're outta FU's.

What an incredible asshat.

Stephen let this one slip by, he could have really had Friedman's balls sitting in a jar on his shelf of shit but we all have our off days.

How did Friedman every actually make a living? For years he opined and made himself sound smart about a lot of crap that was never checked against reality - now he and a lot of other pseduo-intellectuals have been found out over Iraq, exposed as slick talking salesmen of lousy ideas. He has no credibility any more and the next guy to interview him could make a name for himself taking Mr. Friedman to task.

I get Friedman now; small man, big mouth