Blair on Blair

Jayson Blair tells The New York Observer that he's at least as smart as Stephen Glass, and the victim of racism besides. The interview is so bizarre that you have to wonder if it's, you know, real. Did Blair really say:

"I don't understand why I am the bumbling affirmative action hire when Stephen Glass is this brilliant whiz kid, when from my perspective -- and I know I shouldn't be saying this -- I fooled some of the most brilliant people in journalism."

"Anyone who tells you that my race didn't play a role in my career at the New York Times is lying to you. Both racial preferences and racism played a role. And I would argue that they didn't balance each other out. Racism had much more of an impact."

"So Jayson Blair the human being could live, Jayson Blair the journalist had to die."