Letters to the Editor
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Richard Cohen Shocked And Awed
thomas c's comments about Richard Cohen illustrate exactly what I was talking about in terms of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine. Cohen still holds some nominally liberal views. But he holds them within a larger existential context that is entirely defined by conservatives.
Thus, a completely different set of absolute moral imperatives kicks in when Petraes is being questioned, rather than Kerry. Why? Because those are the sets of moral imperatives that the conservsatives decress. That's all there is to it. He has completely internalized the conservative double-standard. He is not just a passive victim, but an active enforcer of their worldview.
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@Dreye
Thank you for your clarification. It seems that we are in complete agreement on this issue.
"What it is you think I should"
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@Kitt
"Unacceptable" according to whom? To the 28%ters? Who gives a ****?
Exactly, the problem is that the percentage is much higher for the press.
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Glenn, You telegraphing me again?
I just wrote something about the Kerry debacle in Fla. about how if Kerry could see "the reality" of what was occurring right in front of him with the college student-he should have stepped in. Morally, it would have been the right thing to do.
(Or many other students who instead jeered him for his passion).
Glad you had the stats on the Petraeus ads. glad Moveon stuck to thier guns and didn't back down. If you have the truth on your side-I think it is rewarded.
Part of the Strauassian mentality of the neos is that the PR campaign of a war is half the battle(more actually). Strauss also believed it was necessary to lie to the public-that those elite had the responsibility to do so. I think Strauss would be horrified to see how much this "elite" has bungled the war-and would be on the side of the people. Strauss wanted to believe in a good "elite" that would help further humanity-hte neos have just seem themselves as somehow "worthy" of this task-though reality says otherwise.
The eyes don't lie, in this case.
Great article.
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The War at Home
Moveon crossed the Rubicon with their ad, in my opinion. They can not go back--that would equal surrender and be an admission that they had no point as an organization.
Similarly, they should not simply sit there, on the far bank of the river, acting as if the criticism was effective.
Since they've chosen this route, they should continue. Pick their next target, and hit'em again. Hard.
Pick a media figure, pick Bush or Cheney, or hit Petraeus again. But don't just stand there. You've invaded. don't tell me you had no plans for the occupation.
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Back to class, Dana
“MILBANK: Petraeus --it's no accident he had a Latin name.”
Petraeus is not Latin, it's Greek.
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The Palace rots from within
The really startling absence of insight within the Palace culture of our pols and their media enablers has become worse than a joke. Polls can be made to show pretty much anything one wants, but the consistency of the American People's rejection of the Palace's warmongering, and the consistency of the media's deliberate ignoring of the fact (when not outright lying about it) should be giving us all some pause.
It's a dangerous and unstable situation that cannot be maintained; ultimately the rot within the Palace will cause its collapse.
That collapse is actually overdue; the American People long ago rejected the con-game being played on them. They don't believe any more. Yet the Inner Circle (and would be Inner Circle) still pretends that one more lie, one more con, one more deception is all it will take to restore the decrepit aristocracy to their rightful Glory.
The People do not rise up, it's true. "Impoliteness" has to suffice for revolution. MoveOn is "impolite" to the glittering general, and so the Palace creatures have constant fainting fits and demand that others faint and fan themselves as well. Nobody cares. The "impolitesse" of MoveOn compared to Jerry Rubin? That's laugh-out-loud funny. No, MoveOn is playing the Insider's Game, by their rules, and doing it remarkably well, considering. The "Betrayal" campaign -- first against Petraeus's failed sleight of hand, now against Rudy, and now again against Bush and Cheney -- is like a firestorm within the Palace itself.
If being "impolite" is now the equivalent of Revolution, just how decadent and corrupt has our Beltway Palace Culture become? Just how rotten is it?
How close might it be to complete collapse?
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And Congress?
In the midst of all this blather American soldiers are dying for nothing in a war which can not be won. At some point the Iraqis themselves are going to have to sort out the political realities of a post invasion Iraq. No doubt the civil war will intensify, but American forcses can not realistically prevent this. Fairly rapid withdrawl is the rational response to the situation and is what most Americans want.
Congress has the power of the purse. The Democrats are in the majority. They can pass reductions to the funding for Iraq and the military in general. No doubt President Bush would veto this sort of legislation. At that point Congress should hold firm, with the Democratic majority refusing to pass the funding Bills that Bush and the Republicans want. At some point President Bush would have to compromise as he stared into the abyss of NO money for Iraq operations.
President Bush has the power to veto legislation and there are enough Republicans to sustain a veto. He does not have the power to pass enabling financial legislation to run the war. If he vetos legislation reducing funding and requiring more rapid withdrawl Congress, THIS Congress with a Democratic majority, can simply refuse to pass the funding he needs. Veto=refusal to pass=impasse= need for Bush to compromise.
This is how the Constitution was set up and how all political freedoms were secured by non violent means. Use of the power of the purse is the clear way forward.
President Bush has had "fun, fun, fun" and now it is time for Congress to "take his Tbird away!"
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next?
At this point I'm not sure the next betray us target shouldn't be the so called elites of the M$M. I don't know that MoveOn has those kinds of resources, but the opportunity to use all of the ground work that Glenn, and some others, have already done seems gift wrapped.