Mark Steyn wrote something about the lefts occasional outbursts of (alarming) honesty regarding their admiration for the ‘efficiency’ of totalitarian States. Wish I could remember what it was.
It was in ‘America Alone’.
Yes, it is quite common. Thomas Friedman, he of “the world is flat,” I remember wishing we could be China for a day to cure the recession, or something. More likely he wishes he could liquidate his enemies.