Letters to the Editor
Paul Daniel Ash
Published Letters: 687 Editor's Choice: 2
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"That's the best you can do?"
[Read the article: Newsweek catches McCain in a serious contradiction]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Where does Glenn, or anyone, say it is "the best [he] can do?" It is just the thing that grabbed Glenn's attention enough for him to bang a few keys. Full stop.
You and ProxyWit keep hitting "Reload" so you can be sure to be one of the first to whine about the latest thing Glenn has written that you've decided ahead of time you're going to hate... and call other people "petty."
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shorter Sean Conway
[Read the article: McConnell/Mukasey: Eavesdropping outside of FISA is "illegal"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Nice country you got there. Be a shame if something were to happen to it..."
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@DCLaw, on pots and kettles
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One does not become that self-righteous without a deep well of disdain for people in general.
...he said, rather self-righteously and disdainfully.
If we're going to rehash (as it seems we are) the whole Nader debate in this thread, let me start by spotting you that some Nader voters are "purity trolls," if you will, genuinely possessed of the opinion that there is literally no difference between, say, Duncan Hunter and Barack Obama. The extrapolation of that outlier to represent the entire group of people voting for Nader seems to me to be the mirror image of the dynamic it so impugns in others: the reduction of subtle nuances to harsh black-and-white.
I voted for Nader in 2000 because I was in an extremely safe blue state (Hawai'i) and wanted to see the range of acceptable opinion broadened. Others made a decision for similar reasons in Florida, with the results we have seen. It's quite possible that some of those people were of the "not a dime's worth of difference" camp... and even some of the opinion that it would be a good thing if the election were thrown to Bush, the whole "startegy of heightening differences" bit. Like you, I don't know.
I think it takes a real amount of self-confidence, if not -righteousness, to believe that everyone who doesn't share your particular opinion is a "purity troll," however.
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@DC
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In fairness, I overgeneralised by imputing your opinions to "everyone" who voted for Nader. "This is not without exception," was clearly stated.
That being said, I think you were overbroad in your criticisms. I'm not disputing that some Nader supporters are as you describe them, and Cocktailhag's friend's friend is not the sole example of the species.
As a nontroll former Nader voter, however, I am strongly of the opinion that many, if not most of those that voted for Ralph in 2000 did so for sincere reasons.
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@GoodArtbeCeleryBop!
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was on the Big Island for 12 years... currently in San Diego on my way to parts unknown.
Never met your friends, but many like them, some followers of Thich Nhat Hanh and more than a couple of belly dancers. Some of the finest people I have ever met came to Hawai'i shores like excellent driftwood. I took shoken under Robert Aitken Roshi, who has forgotten more than I may ever learn of wisdom.
Anyone who finds themselves in Hilo should come out of the rain at Tomas Belsky's Ka Huina Gallery.
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on "voices and choices" and voting with my feet
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]DC, thanks for your post - as is often the case with these sorts of things, I find that we disagree on relatively few points. Probably our main point of difference is that I feel the US system is irretrievably broken (with intentional emphasis on the adverb rather than the noun). I am, in between posting little blurbs here, planning a more-or-less permanent retreat from this country.
One thing I find ironic is that my prospective homeland (Italy) is in the process of slowly moving from a system with a great number of "voices and choices" (something like fifty different political parties are represented in Parliament) to something more like the two-party system. The current system has created little but paralysis and graft - though some would blame the Italians themselves as much as their government.
However, the food is better, and their imperial days are two millenia in the rear-view mirror, so I'm looking at the move as a step up.
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@FredrickBernanke
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the worthwhile goal of establishing Western hegemony over a region vital to our civilization.
Thanks for that classy work of satire. Rudyard Kipling's piece was nice too, but all those faggy rhymes make it kinds hard to read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_mans_burden
Oh, and my best to Ben.
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"The Obama Photo Flap"
[Read the article: Obama shows that dismissing slimy right-wing attacks is not difficult]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What I can't wrap my head around is how Clinton staffers thought this wouldn't backfire. I mean, it has all the earmarks of a sort of false-flag thing planted by Rove - it's a twofer, makes Clinton look desperate and Obama look like, you know, a Muslim - but AFAIK, the Clinton team hasn't denied that they were behind it.
Have I missed any straight denials? Are they really this deapearte/dumb/tone-deaf?
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More non-denial denials
[Read the article: Obama shows that dismissing slimy right-wing attacks is not difficult]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh Jeebus Cripes. This does not look good:
A Clinton spokesman, Mo Elleithee, denied knowledge of whether someone on the campaign circulated that image of Obama in Somali garb -- and defended the email, arguing that the text Drudge quotes suggests the context image was a (very familiar-sounding!) matter of complaining about press coverage, not pushing a negative story to the press.
Per my colleague Beth Frerking, with the campaign.
“We have over 700 people on staff. I don’t know if someone on our staff sent it out or not," Elleithee said. “If someone on our staff makes the point that we are treated differently by the press than Sen. Obama, we agree with that sentiment. We don’t think there’s anything wrong with this photo. Sen. Clinton has herself, while traveling abroad, dressed in traditional, local dress. And there’s nothing divisive about that."
He also tried to push back at Obama: "We think it is wrong for the Obama campaign to say that this is divisive photo. It’s not a divisive photo."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/More_on_the_photo.html
It's like the OJ defense: "if we did do it, it's totally justified," with a dogwhistle cherry on top: "why is Barack Muslim Hussein Osama Obama upset about a picture of him dressed like a terrorist, anyway?"