Weird Conventions

I liked this Tony Judt op-ed quite a bit, but given that it's rather obviously a response to the Roger Cohen column from last week isn't it bizarre that the conventions of op-ed writing prevent him from so much as mentioning Cohen's name? Instead, we get a vague allusion to the idea that "The 'liberal hawks' are back . . . [a]nd they are in a decidedly self-righteous mood." And indeed they are, but there's no better example than a certain NYT columnist who can't be mentioned.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/10/weird-conventions/46641/