This is too easy:

Andrew Sullivan tweaks Mickey Kaus:

Here's a pitch-perfect rear-guard "spin and squirm" "what-did-the-Romans-ever-do-for-us?" pirouette from Mickey:

It's true that the military picture has seemingly improved since [Robert] Wright's piece [in Slate] was posted; his how-can-we-trust-the-hawks-who-muffed-the-war-to-remake-the-Middle-East argument has less force than it did even 24 hours ago. But the hawks were surprised by initial resistance in the South (even if it was mainly resistance obtained at gunpoint), and Rumsfeld still did send too few troops, it seems -- even if the war overall is going well so far. So there's still room for doubting the hawks grander rosy scenarios.

The phrase "it seems -- even if the war overall is going well so far" is the qualification only a master blogger could pull off.

That crafty, sneaky, "master blogger" Kaus!   Using the word "seems" to wriggle out of a (potential) jam.

Consider this Andrew Sullivan post from 10 March 2003:

WHAT'S UP WITH THE DRONE?: Compare the reports in the London Times with the New York Times or the Washington Post (zilch) on the alleged undisclosed drone aircraft buried in the appendix to Hans Blix's report to the U.N. last week. I don't know what to make of it. It seems a big deal to me, although the NYT makes a bigger deal about cluster bombs.

By the way, there are many, many other examples of Sullivan using "seems".

posted by Quiddity at 4/04/2003 08:48:00 AM