> The conclusion of Deborah Solomon's obnoxious interview with Noam
> Chomsky in today's NYT Mag
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/02/magazine/02QUESTIONS.html>:
>
>> [Q] Have you considered leaving the United States permanently?
>>
>> [A] No. This is the best country in the world.
Obnoxious is definitely the word for it. Here's Chomsky, noted dissident, and they throw him these amazingly simple questions that'd fit on the back page of _Vanity Fair_. And his answers are, as we can all tell, atypically short. (I suspect they told Chomsky is was going to be a shortish piece, and either he gave'em short answers, or he signed off on the edited version.) I don't think it's an unflattering piece, but it's not exactly the degree of profundity that the Times'd give, say, Donald Rumsfeld.
I don't see the problem with calling the U.S. "the best country in the world." Depends on what you're using to gauge it. Either way, it's not a statement worth worrying over for too much; for one thing, if you disagree with it, would it mean that you're going to ignore Chomsky ever after?