“Media mogul Ted Turner says the Sept. 11 attacks were an act of desperation, and the hijackers were ‘brave’ but probably ‘a little nuts,’ The Washington Post reports.

“Turner, in a lecture at Brown University, also compared President Bush to Julius Caesar.”

In a wide-ranging address Monday, the AOL Time Warner vice chairman said the attacks on the World Trade Center the Pentagon were an outgrowth of poverty.

‘The reason that the World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living in abject poverty out there who don’t have any hope for a better life,’ he said.

He said the attacks were an act of desperation, and that Americans lack an understanding of a willingness to die for one’s country.

…which naturally comes as a surprise to those brave Americans fighting overseas even as we speak, putting their lives on the line for their country as members of an all-volunteer military.

But perhaps by “Americans” who “lack an understanding of a willingness to die for one’s country,” Turner was simply referring to his ex-wife…

Turner also criticized President Bush’s use of the phrase “axis of evil” — joining Tom Daschle, who used PBS’ “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” to contradict his earlier declaration that it was necessary to target Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

Daschle’s flip-flop prompts Alex Knapp to wonder if the Big Dem ain’t workin’ for the Bushies…

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