Tsunami recedes. Fake media tears dried up long ago

Now that Anderson Cooper and the other empathy-vultures have finally packed up their ninety-five cameras and left Southeast Asia, the Sunday New York Times Magazine asks the logical question: Are “gesture politics” here to stay? Are people more interested in Bush saying the right, soothing words at the exact flashpoint of sensational (mostly white) hand-wringing rather than knowing that he’ll actually send the hundeds of millions he’s promised the flood victims ?