Gustafus is an ass who represents no one in this thread but him/her self.

Carry on.

I do wonder, though, if anything you said "got through" to his listeners, or even, dare I ask, Hewitt himself.

I received lots of email from Hewitt listeners last night. Many were of the "you're-a-coward-and-leftist-pansy" variety that you'd expect, but many were civil and cogent, disagreeing with my basic points but doing so only by thinking about them first.

People's thought processes are complex. Almost nobody just suddenly and consciously changes their mind or renounces long-held beliefs because they hear one interview. And some people are so irrational, such authoritarian followers, so vested in their tribal identities, that they're forever entrenched and impervious to reason.

But I think for a lot of people -- on every side of political debates -- being exposed to new facts, or facts presented in a compelling way, can cause those facts to lodge in the mind, infect the thought process even subconsciously, start slowly opening people's views and perspectives (I'm not talking about my Hewitt interview specifically -- just political debates generally).

We all instinctively want to reject facts and ideas that negate or are at odds with intensely held views that we have, but I think most of us have had the experience of having those kinds of oppositional ideas gnaw and irritate and not go away easily even if we want them to. Along with preventing demonization (the more people are exposed personally to , the harder it is to demonize X), that's what I think is the prime benefit of these sorts of discussions: forcing facts into people's consciousness -- it's partial; it's incremental; it may even be imperceptible. But I do think it can have an impact -- and the more of them, the higher the potential.

Al-jazeera has english speaking reporters in Gaza. Get the full picture! You can watch their reports on the al-jazeera youtube channel and on the website:

http://english.aljazeera.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNsj8cct8PQ

Little wonder that Mr. Greenwald is describing the debate he had with Hugh Hewitt regarding the current crisis in Israel as a "substantive discussion," considering that Hewitt cleaned Greenwald's clock.

When humiliated, some people tend to lash out angrily to deflect from their shame, and others lapse into a meek posture of submission in order to avoid further embarrassment. I surmise that Mr. Greenwald falls into the latter category, as evidenced by Greenwald's tea-sipping, oh-so-civil characterization of the woodshed beating righteously administered by Hugh Hewitt.

It is to laugh.

Well done. If I may humbly suggest, one should end the discussion of the Hitler counterfactual immediately following the dismissal for irrelevance. Any consideration, even in the negative, sounds like validation to the average misinformed listener. HH knows this, that's why he kept coming back until you engaged.

I'm no WWII history buff, but something like "When Hamas invades Poland, I'll consider your counterfactual" might work.

Contrary to appearances, the right wing talkers are not stupid. They can sense when the political winds are shifting, and will make efforts to include more 'lefties' now that their domination of the discourse is diminishing. Though if Hewitt is any indication, they will ask half a dozen other guests what they think about the leftie's position, and offer up a simplified straw man version of it to discuss amongst themselves.

How about exchanging emails with Charles Krauthammer for an hour or two, Gwen?

How about Marc Steyn? Why not invite him to spend some time over here, in this here saloon?

My own take on the interview:

It's very interesting how many oxen got gored around here when when Hewett refers to Gwen as a leftie, but nobody seems to mind Gwen's "right wing radio" dig.

It also illuminates out Gwen's crazy insistance that Israel can and should do what no other nation on earth could or should do when it has been under relentless attack for 60 years.

Even American Indians have vast lands set aside for them, but many of the folks around here begrudge the few remaining Jews in the world a homeland about the size of Taiwan.

The Hamas rulers of Gaza and their counterparts elsewhere are treated as heros throughout the Islamic World. The enlightened and tolerant world of "Azur and Asmar" is a Moslem World long past.

Liberals use the same weird and tired logic to explain away the epidemic of inner city murders as the result of poverty and black mens' humiliation and rage. Yes, let's make nicey nice to the blood thirsty people who are devoted to killing us. Let's just keep talking and talking bla bla bla bla bla bla...............

The Islamic militants remind me of Monty Python's Black Knight. I'm afraid we will have to keep hacking off his his limbs, Dear Glen, until the crazed knight and his minions stop trying to murder us.

from "b" over at Moon Of Alabama:

There are lots of reasons to be concerned over Obama's appointments. Here comes the worst one.

According to the well informed Nelson Report (via Jim Lobe), Dennis Ross will be Special Envoy under Hillary Clinton in charge of negotiations with Iran.

Dennis Ross worked under Paul Wolfowitz during the Reagan administration and later in George H.W. Bush's administration before becoming "Israel's lawyer" in the Clinton administration.

Ross recently signed on to an AEI written report on Iran which recommends (pdf) tougher sanctions and very restricted, time-limited negotiations with Iran. If these fail, and be sure that Ross will take care to let any negotiations fail, it recommends an all-out blockade of Iran and military strikes.

Additionally Richard Haass will become Special Envoy for Israel-Arab affairs. He recently published a report with AIPAC and WINEP tool Martin Indyk which also recommends a blockade of Iran and, after that act of war fails, a military attack.

For a short while there was some hope that the neocon trend was out of business. With these appointments the same ideology, only under a different banner, is back right where it can make the most damage.

Change I can't believe in.

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links are always striped out, see them in the original:

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2009/01/obama-prepares-iran-attack.html or click sig