Chris Matthews is "Clueless"

So says James Taranto at OpinionJournal. Here's what Matthews said:

"If we stop trying to figure out the other side, we've given up. The person on the other side is not evil--they just have a different perspective."

And here's James Taranto:

...if this is really what he said, it's rather stunningly clueless. Of course it's true that one should know one's enemy, and merely saying al Qaeda is "evil" is far from sufficient to understand the terror group. But surely it's necessary. If Matthews thinks people who wantonly murder the innocent are "not evil," he knows nothing.

I concur with this assessment and will also add that such a mindset is dangerous. It hearkens back to detente of the Carter era, when it was assumed by the Democrats that if we disarm, the Soviets would too. Such an attitude is suicide with a enemy far worse than communism who's not afraid to bomb one of our cities.