Dead people against the War

I don't want to cross these guys. Ever. Even after I'm dead.

The "crack young staff of 'The Hatemonger's Quarterly'" is fed up with pretentious sap Simon Schama, who, in The New Republic, enlists the deceased (Isaiah Berlin) as an antiwar-nik:

In the midst of his disquisition on Isaiah Berlin, Mr. Schama offers the following curious digression:

The naïve fancy that one-size-fits-all democracy could be transported from the Potomac to the Tigris, or that any sort of system of ideas could be held to be objectively “timeless” and thus deliverable independently of specific cultural circumstances, or that a major war might be fought on such deeply mistaken premises, would have filled him [Isaiah Berlin] with foreboding and grim disbelief.

To which we, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” respond: For crying out loud! Has the Left grown so obsessed with the liberation of Iraq that it absolutely can’t stop nattering on about it, regardless of its appropriateness?

And how can Mr. Schama—whose discussion of the benefits of bringing democracy to Iraq leaves much to be desired—magically intuit the thoughts of a dead man? Has Mr. Schama conducted a séance?

If Mr. Schama is truly psychic, we, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” eagerly desire to know what Isaiah Berlin’s thoughts are on the upcoming Superbowl. We have a hunch that Isaiah Berlin favors the Patriots; is that correct, Mr. Schama?

And they come up with "'The Hatemonger’s Quarterly' Official List of Dead People Who Would Not Support the Iraq War." (I find it troubling, incidentally, that "Attila the Hun" is listed first --"He wasn’t much for democracy." Shall I admit that I take this personally? )

Nevertheless, I urge you to read the rest, including the letter to The New Republic from "Isaiah Berlin."