Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 360 Editor's Choice: 12
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100 Years
[Read the article: Bush and McCain's shared foreign policy approach]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Krauthammer in today's NYT calls it a "dirty lie" to say that McCain wants to continue this occupation for 100 years, when what he really means is that the wants to continue this occupation for 100 bloodless years, and points to Germany and Japan. (Okinawan rape victims don't count, of course.)
But these are not the relevant examples. The relevant example is the Philippines. Dexter Filkins interviews Allawi:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900E1DE123EF934A35753C1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=6
''It was doomed,'' Allawi told me. ''What was doomed was the attempt to refashion Iraq in a sort of civilizational makeover, using American power in an alliance with a supposedly grateful Iraqi public, led by a Westernized middle class. The assumption turned out to be false. And it was compounded by a series of disastrous decisions.''
I sat with Allawi for two hours, sharing coffee and chocolate pastries. It was a deeply depressing experience. Allawi tried as hard as any Iraqi to make a go of the new Iraq, and he is thoroughly disillusioned. He says he is resigned to the likelihood that Iraq will end up a sort of protectorate of the United States for the next several decades, not unlike the Philippines was for much of the 20th century -- dependent, violent, crippled. ''The history of the Philippines,'' he noted, ''is not a happy one.''
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Maybe only seed the top 32
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And otherwise, do it like tennis. Randomize the rest. Stop trying to differentiate 9 from 13. And stop giving the one seeds the sure first round matchup. If they can't beat the 33rd best team in the country, they were overseeded anyway.
It'd be way more exciting.
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Architectural Digest
[Read the article: The U.S. establishment media in a nutshell]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn--you forgot to note that that cabin is purely for guests. The McCains actually reside in another building when they are there.
And that was featured in an Architectural Digest story.
(And I still can't get over McCainette referring to the household staff as her "friends.")
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Responsible Plan is a baseline
[Read the article: Cokie Roberts speaks out on the war on behalf of the American people]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the most striking things about the Challengers' Responsible Plan is that it provides a baseline that has not existed before of objectives in Iraq. As with Roberts, there is much vague, abstract talk about "winning" or about withdrawing, but I haven't seen a plan as cogent and clear (and clearly written) as this document.
It doesn't flinch from the realities of the situation, and it constrains its recommendations to actions the US can make without having to depend on the kindness of strangers, or the appearance of magic ponies.
Anyone who says they have a policy position on the occupation needs to confront the assessments and recommendations in this document. It would be better if people on the talk shows who support would wave it around, and ask people like Roberts whether she had read the document. And then ask where she disagrees.
This very concrete set of observations can be used to push people off the bumper sticker policy talk that's been used to justify the unending occupation. (Atrios notes today that the era of the FU is over. Now it's a five to ten year search for a pony.) The Plan is a direct challenge to kicking the can down the road, hoping, as Mr. Micawber did, that something will turn up.
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Missing the point on Yoo
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've read all of the Megan comments I can bear. (My new law: you can judge a blog by the quality of its comments.)
There's one point that is being missed, one I don't think that Glenn made. The reason this minor functionary was the one who wrote the legal justification for the President's exemption from law and treaty during wartime was because he was the one willing to do it.
Just as Cheney put together a team of minor functionaries to dig through raw intelligence and cobble up the best case he could for a threat from Iraq, he and Addington found the DoJ lawyer willing to write this tripe. That is part of what makes this newsworthy--they circumvented normal DoJ practice, so they could get the opinion they wanted.
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Trapped in a niche
[Read the article: "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I feel so dissed :)
Glenn will be joining us a week from Thursday at 9pm Eastern at my interview program in Second Life, Virtually Speaking. This will be simulcast at BlogTalkRadio.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking#
Our discussion of A Tragic Legacy is here:
http://www.inworldstudios.com/vs/071907_glenn_greenwald.html
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Thanks Glenn
[Read the article: "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And my apologies.
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Bungo: Note the Death Spiral
[Read the article: "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Have you not noticed how conservative discourse has gotten, there is no other word, dumber over the last seven years? Have you noticed that the reality based conservatives have left the Republican bandwagon? People like Larry Johnson, John Cole and Gregory Djerejian have left the party, effectively if not formally, and the party is the worse for it. All that's left are the elephantmans and the shooter42s, and the venial people who have exploited their ignorance and irrationality.
They're suffering through the same death spiral in the rank and file, as party registration dips, and they increasing become a regional party of racist homophobes. Rove and Bush, not racist homophobes, recognized this, and tried to appeal to the Hispanic population as a way to reverse this trend, but were stymied by the base they had created.
Books like Glenn's help. Shooter42's not going to read it, but people like Bruce Fein and Bob Barr will. And that will make it all the more difficult to sustain the Myth of John McCain--because the damage of four more years of militarist authorianism will frighten anyone who believes in reality.