This article is one of the better descriptions of what goes on in the cranium of the typical chickenhawk. Aside from the apocalyptic nature of his imaginary struggle, another feature is his perverse cultural pessimism: we're right on the brink of being overthrown (which is paradoxical, because if we're so mighty and so good, why is the United States so easy to defeat by a few fanatics with laptops living in caves?).

“Perhaps Obama would do better since he has been speaking out against warmongers like McCain and even seems to enjoy engaging them on their home turf, but the outcome of the election, even if he is the candidate, is by no means guaranteed. The highest priority must be to prevent the Republicans from winning the presidency in the upcoming election.”

I recommend that you read this Frank Rich op-ed that says very clearly why either Barack or Hillary can soundly defeat McCain although the margin of victory will be larger if it is Obama. The Repugs are fervently hoping for the chance to attack Hillary not Barack. I don't buy the national polls until we get to the fall. I am much more worried about how much change a Dem president can bring than if we are going to have a Dem president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/opinion/17rich.html?ref=opinion

Good on them.

Blue Meme.... Thanks for a fascinating post. I am forcefully reminded of President Reagan, telling stories derived not just from movies he'd been in, but also movies he had seen, as though they were true, and he were there. The press and the public so preferred these sweet and heroic Hollywood anecdotes to messy, complicated reality, that he was never called on it.

Of course, this willful submersion of reality finally caught up with him as he tried to explain his multiple lies and falsehoods surrounding Iran/Contra by saying that he believed in his "heart" what the facts plainly contradicted.

Willful suspension of disbelief, though, carried the day again.

Reagan also said, "Facts are stupid things," and unfortunately, lots of people agree.

When confronting this drivel, which has been an unavoidable feature of our political discourse since at least the beginning of the Cold War, it's useful to remember how detached from the people who indulge in it are from any real risk.

Attitude isn't courage. What would a Roman centurion, on the verge of retirement at 45 or 50, after a lifetime of marching twenty miles a day carrying 100 pounds of equipment, dispatching enemies no further away from him than the end of his three-foot sword, think about existential risk? I doubt even our modern Marine Corps studs would have any idea, although a subsistence farmer in India might, or a herdsman in the southern part of the Sudan.

Whatever such a professional warrior might have thought, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't have borne much resemblance to Mark Steyn's grand historical narcissisms. Sneering when you believe that your enemy is weak, and whining when he proves not to be is a luxury few people at real risk can afford.

Calling Mark Steyn a prick may be a conventional response to his nonsense, but it's also an accurate one. The louder his misdirections get, the clearer it becomes that it's not the future of civilization which concerns him so much as the security of his perch atop the dungheap of his own doubts.

It would be sad if it weren't such a nuisance, and so widespread. In these unfortunate times, when every piker in uniform has an American flag sewn to his shoulder, and every one in a suit has one pinned to his lapel, shame is a much more appropriate way for us to respond than fear.

With surgical precision, you have pretty much summed it up.

Of course, you are one of the enemies -- well versed in psychological warfare and reverse psychology. Inspection of enemy quivers may also reveal hidden treasures: logic, irony, perspective, and respect for law and history.

Early last year I attended a talk by the Hon. Richard Posner, of the 7th Cir. He was talking about how it was common to suspend constitutional freedoms in times of war and necessity. The constitution was/is "not a suicide pact" (the title of his book!)

Ironically then our "freedom" which the terrorists hate and are seeking to destroy is best protected by seriously curtailing it...

After the talk, Posner was let into by another judge, basically about how he could argue this nonsense. Posner started talking about the whole "caliphate" that Osama bin Laden wanted to resurrect. He admonished the other judge for not "knowing his history." Unfortunately, I didn't get an opportunity to join in.

How anyone could possibly believe some lunatic vowing to resurrect the "caliphate" was a credible threat is beyond me. It's these culture warrior buffoons that don't know their history, or their geography for that matter.

Someone is really going to conquer all the land from Spain to India in the 21st century? A handful of extremists are going to overthrow dozens of sovereign governments, all better armed than they are? The fear is just not grounded in reality... yet decades of U.S. government propaganda are difficult to counteract.

In debates on this sort of crap, my reasoning inevitably destroys the fear-driven propaganda of the war junkies. I'm then told I'm just "too young" and "naive" and "don't understand how the world works." I'd say the opposite is true: growing up in the 90's with a relative lack of gov't propaganda and fear-mongering, my head is clear. It's not clouded with decades of cowering under my desk at school, afraid of "the bomb." That sort of blind obedience and stupidity is not a recipe for a reasonable mind.

-But we understand that Bartlett was a character, played by an actor. And despite the fact that Martin Sheen has been a real-life political activist for years, we extrapolate precisely nothing about his suitability for high office from his fine performances on West Wing.-

Very well stated. The current process underway being a case in point: Huck and Chuck, McCain and Rocky XXXXIV.

The GOP party have been aware of their constituents' delusions since time immemorial and have been playing on them for years.

The biggest pinstriped vacuum-tube of all, Reagan, has achieved posthumous God-status and recent sound-bytes of Romney displayed him citing Reagan (literally) three and four times in a single sentence.

The ability to suspend disbelief is especially prevalent in the bible-belt, home of their 'base'. Hardly surprising, that...