Letters to the Editor
Margalis
Published Letters: 614 Editor's Choice: 16
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@Pyrian
[Read the article: The MSM vs. the blogosphere]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The entire next-to-last paragraph reads as a dismissive diatribe. It would be mostly fine if that paragraph didn't exist. It does.
I don't see any evidence of this internal reflection Scherer is talking about. Look at what happened to him when he got called out for his "Hillary is from Mars" garbage. Instead of 'fessing up to poor reporting, he just dug his hole deeper.
"May the best woman win" was foolish and had nothing to do with his original point, which was that Obama has a vagina and Clinton a penis. So why then are they both women in the final line?
Instead of "ok, look that was a dumb thing to say" he instead spun an elaborate, laughable defense.
When people like Scherer say they are responding to criticism and trying to become better, what they mean is that they are looking to justify themselves and find ways to dismiss critics. Where is the evidence that the MSM is taking these critcisms to heart and becoming better for them? All I see is wagon circling.
How about "I made a mistake."? Is it really that hard? That's what people say when someone levels a valid criticism against them. "I was wrong."
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Not only awful policy but awful strategy
[Read the article: Democrats' responsibility for Bush radicalism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The worst thing about this is that each time the Democrats roll over they are shooting themselves in the foot.
It's going to be very hard for them to attack Republicans and Bush when they helped them every step in the way. Already it is difficult for them to attack the Iraq War, given that they voted to authorize it. They attack the credibility of the AG while granting him *more* power. They are cutting off the leg they have to stand on in debates.
In addition they look weak, indecisive and without any agenda of their own. They aren't leaders, they aren't tough, they aren't "manly", they aren't people of action.
And finally plenty of people who would vote Democratic as the lesser of two evils are going to be so disgruntled they'll just stay home. Already we see that sort of sentiment in this thread, with people talking about how Democrats and Republicans are the same.
Nobody likes a weakling and a loser.
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Mona being silly and democratic election politics.
[Read the article: Democrats' responsibility for Bush radicalism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First, to the people who say we can't attack Dems who *deserve* it because they might lose votes - tough shit. When self-preservation becomes the primary motivation of a party then it isn't worth defending. If you aren't willing to critique people who deserve critique then you are no longer an honest commentator.
On to Mona:
But 6 mos. gives time to really comprehend the legislation, and for opponents to sufficiently scrutinize and lobby against it, if necessary.
Or, we could comprehend it NOW. Jesus Christ.
There really is a terrorists threat, after all, and if the FISA court has ruled that the NSA may not do something that it is perhaps sensible to let it do under the current version, EVEN THO it is the Bush Administration making the case, it could be true that FISA needs some tweaking.
Some of the FISA changes having nothing to do with terrorism - zero. The white house fact sheet specifically states that it isn't just terrorist threats we are worried about but military and economic threats as well - virtually everyone. Isn't the European Union an "economic threat"?
We aren't finding a minor flaw in FISA and fixing it, we are going far far beyond that. Maybe they need a scalpel but we are handing them a backhoe. Here is a novel idea: if there is a problem then limit the scope of the bill to FIXING THE FUCKING PROBLEM ONLY.
Is that really an incredibly difficult concept? Fix the fucking problem, don't write a blank check.
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@nerdnam
[Read the article: Democrats' responsibility for Bush radicalism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My belief is that you have to change the voters, not the politicians.
Is there some sort of Harry Potter-esque cloak of invisibility that prevents voters from reading this blog? Why, I'd go as far as to suggest that most readers of this blog are voters - call me crazy!
He cites some stupid polls and thinks liberals should win everything.
That's some inspired analysis folks.
He should talk to real voters in Virginia if he thinks that Jim Webb doesn't understand how his voters think.
The problem, which has been pointed out many times, is that Democrats don't try to change that perception or what voters think, instead they allow Republicans to dictate it. Now Democrats still look weak on terrorism and they still look weak in general.
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@Mona
[Read the article: Democrats' responsibility for Bush radicalism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But *if* the FISA court really did recently rule there is something Bush cannot do that we reasonably should let him do, then I can understand why it was important to get something passed before Congress goes into recess.
1. There is no evidence that any of our monitoring has any positive effect at all, and plenty of evidence that it has no effect.(A huge backlog of messages we can't translate, Admin inability to point to any incident averted, etc)
2. Having to do *something* is not the same as having to do *this* thing. It is never important to "get something passed." Passing random shitty legislation makes no sense. If there is a problem then yes pass legislation to address that problem *specifically.*
And I've never before heard of a sunset provision as brief as 6 mos. If, after Glenn and the whole world of constitutional and civil libertarian enclaves rip this thing to shreds it should not be renewed.
Yes, because constitutional and civil libertarian enclaves ripping things to shreds is has had a powerful effect so far...
Puting the genie back in the bottle is a lot harder than not letting it out in the first place. If it is so fucking important that the fate of the universe rests on it then postpone vacations. Don't just pass something with the "well hey it may suck but it only lasts for 6 months" line of bullshit.