And?

Dr. Sanity, the ever-present reminder that under United States law it's permissible to label practically any trash fish you trawl up anywhere "North Atlantic Cod", offers a run-down of the "Reality-based community's reaction to the death of Zarqawi". Her first quote--her first quote, reader--is a single sentence followed by this:

Note - this is not a direct quote.

"Update one" includes this:

Juan Cole -"There is no evidence of operational links between his Salafi Jihadis in Iraq and the real al-Qaeda; it was just a sort of branding that suited everyone, including the US. Official US spokesmen have all along over-estimated his importance. Leaders are significant and not always easily replaced. But Zarqawi has in my view has been less important than local Iraqi leaders and groups. I don't expect the guerrilla war to subside any time soon."

Really, an academic gathers up Dr. Cole in her butterfly net and dumps him in her moonbat bag, Juan Cole pinned on a mat board next to a made-up quote from Kos and a comment from an open Atrios thread. Juan Cole. By a woman who despairs of "how much civil discourse has deteriorated" and who "really hates idiots".

Forget for a moment that this is Juan Cole's area of expertise, and it's what he blogs about. It would have been rather astonishing if he hadn't commented on the death of Zarqawi. It might have been noteworthy if he'd suddenly changed his tune in an attempt to rob the Bush administration of its stirring victory. Jeez Louise, what he said there isn't even controversial. Dr. Cole, of course, knows there's no reason for controversy. What is firmly demonstrable today will be clearly seen as such when all the confetti has turned to compost.

The only thing that bothers me is this: I'm concerned that these biennial spasms of delight and trash talking (Purple fingers! Spider holes! Uday and Qusay!) are like a morbidly obese man deciding to cram a year's worth of exercise into one hot July afternoon. You'd think someone called "Dr. Sanity" would have caught on to that by now.