Tony Blair has described Hosni Mubarak, the beleaguered Egyptian leader, as "immensely courageous and a force for good" and warned against a rush to elections that could bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power.
Say what you will about the Obama Administration's customary fecklessness, it beats a pair of false claims straight out of a Glenn Beck rant. Or maybe just John McCain's playbook.
Meanwhile, somewhere the Ghost of Hannah Arendt surely noticed this happening seemingly right after Blair's statements about this "immensely courageous" "force for good":
In one almost medieval scene, a small contingent of pro-Mubarak forces on horseback and camels rushed into the anti-government crowds, trampling several people and swinging whips and sticks. Protesters dragged some riders from their mounts, throwing them to the ground and beating their faces. The horses and camels appeared to be ones used to give tourists rides around Cairo.
Straight out of central-stereotypical-casting.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]