The Dark Side of Bhutto
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
NO MOTHER TERESA Bhutto(Photo: Getty Images)
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is both tragic and not surprising, and the same can be said for the vapid post-mortems being slopped around by the majority of politicians and pundits. Mostly, they gloss over deeply corrupt ways of Bhutto, the realities of "democracy" in Pakistan, and the powerlessness of American politicians to truly do much of anything about it.
So credit Atlantic blogger Matthew Yglesias for trying to break through the din with a series of posts today, noting that a "remarkable quantity of dumb stuff has been said since Benazir Bhutto's death" and his impression that "she was a really bad person and a terrible political leader." Yglesias reminds readers that when Bhutto led Pakistan, "The main thing she did when in office was steal. A lot. Of money. From her extremely poor country." It's possible that this angle might be getting more play if fewer members of the ruling class didn't remember Bhutto as "Pinkie" from the Harvard class of '73.