The NY Times Writes Something Nice About...AMERICA?

You may want to sit down for this one.

Fellow fans of the inimitable Mark Steyn will be thrilled to read the front page piece in today's NYTimes about the assault on free speech in Canada. For those of us familiar with the facts about the kangaroo court prosecuting Steyn for writing a magazine article critical of the current state of Islam, the NYTimes adds little to the story. However, they place Steyn's prosecution in the larger context of America's commitment to free speech. A commitment, the NYTimes points out, that most other liberal Euroweenie countries (and many American Lefties) do not share.

The NYTimes notes that "Many foreign courts have respectfully considered the American approach — and then rejected it."

They quote Jason Gratl, a lawyer for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Association of Journalists. His group opposes the prosecution of Steyn by the so-called "Human Rights Commission," but he's not willing to say that such prosecutions are inherently wrong.

“Canadians do not have a cast-iron stomach for offensive speech. We don’t subscribe to a marketplace of ideas. Americans as a whole are more tough-minded and more prepared for verbal combat.”

What a refreshingly honest admission from a foreigner about America's exceptionalism. How astonishing to read it in the NYTimes.

If only a certain (very) junior senator from Illinois felt the same way.