Did He Really Say That?

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by the following exchange in a NY Times Magazine interview of Noam Chomsky, but I am:

NY Times: "Have you considered leaving the United States permanently?"

Noam Chomsky: "No. This is the best country in the world."

Given his unrelenting, harsh criticism of the United States for the last forty years, I had assumed that he thought that much or all of the rest of the world was better. I stand corrected. But I have to believe that many (on the Left) who quote Chomsky routinely are choking on that statement.