If I had to pick someone who tends to be more liberal than myself that I tend to agree with more than most other liberals, it would have to be Thomas Friedman.  In his column this week, he included the following quote from Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki:

“The most dangerous thing that would threaten others is that if we really create success in building a democratic state in Iraq,” said Maliki, whose country today now has about 100 newspapers. “The countries whose regimes are built on one party, sect or ethnic group will feel endangered.”

The most interesting part of this quote to me is that Friedman feels the need to mention that Iraq now has 100 newspapers.  I don’t know how many newspapers Iraq used to have under Saddam’s rule, but I imagine the answer would have to be one.  This quote also led me to wonder why newspapers are such a hot growth industry in Iraq, but they are floundering business disasters from coast to coast in the United States.  I also found Friedman’s statement to be even more interesting when juxtaposed with a quote about the Obama administration’s recent assault on Fox News from one of my other favorite columnists, Mark Steyn:

The most recent whine – the anti-Fox campaign – is, apart from anything else, unbecoming to the office. President Obama is the chief of state of one of the oldest free societies in the world, but his official White House Web site runs teasers such as: “For even more Fox lies, check out the latest ‘Truth-O-Meter.’” It gives off the air of somebody only marginally less paranoid than this week’s president-for-life in some basket-case banana republic ranting on the palace balcony because his interior security chief isn’t doing a fast-enough job of disappearing his enemies.

I don’t need to get into a Fox vs. the rest of the media debate here.  This, to me, comes down to one simple question: which country is more American, Iraq or America?  We should be proud of our troops for what is likely the right answer to this question, and we should be embarrassed by the Obama administration for creating an environment where this question can even be asked with any degree of seriousness.