Back from Vacation Posted by: Jon Henke
on Sunday, September 04, 2005
Well, after a week visiting family in Georgia, I'm back in Virginia. Boy, did I ever pick a bad time to take a 1500 mile car trip. On the upside, though, I did finally get to meet McQ. The meeting was far too short, but he was as friendly and interesting in person as I've always known him to be online.
Like Dale, McQ has been a major influence on my life, my personal education and my intellectual development. I hope we'll have more opportunities to meet in the future.
While I was visiting family, I paid far less attention to news than I usual, but a few observations have built up:
After spending months criticizing the "chickenhawks" on the Right who support the war in Iraq, but don't sign up to go, I see a lot of lefty bloggers are now complaining that we don't have enough National Guard troops to handle the problems in the Katrina-affected region.
Well, I know how strongly they felt about their "Operation Yellow Elephant" and other principled "chickenhawk" arguments, so I'm sure things will be slow on the port side of the blogosphere as they all rush to sign up for National Guard or other Hurricane relief duty in Louisiana.
Say, many of these same critics have been demanding that we dramatically increase the number of troops in Iraq. I wonder what effect that would have had on National Guard levels within the US?
Whenever natural disasters strike, Presidents always "tour" the affected region in order to assess the damage firsthand. Because, you know, they're not showing the flood damage on TV or anything. And, besides, it's not like local officials have anything else to do.
Maybe Presidents should just watch TV like the rest of us. If we're going to subsidize risky lifestyles from the federal trough, we should at least forgo the campaign parades prior to cutting the checks.
It was along this same San Diego coastline that he declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln more than two years ago. For this return engagement, The Washington Post reported, the president's stage managers made sure he was positioned so that another hulking aircraft carrier nearby would stay off-camera, lest anyone be reminded of that premature end of "major combat operations."
And the proper number of Naval vessels in a a photo-op would be...?
"Adopt a family, then the government can assist the families to get back on their feet," Farrakhan said.
"We are calling on all our mosques to open their doors to storm victims," the 72-year-old minister said. "If you have to, put cots up in the basement."
UPDATE:
Owing to his years of experience in disaster management, detailed knowledge of FEMA, and on-the-scene awareness of the problems pre- and post-Katrina, Oliver Willis informs us that there's no need to discuss the matter any further: The Bush administration and its supporters are committing "contributory murder" against "just nigg**s" (he didn't use the **s).
He also can't seem to grasp the possibility that The National Review and Denny Hastert might have divergent views. It probably comes as a surprise to him, unused as he is to party apparatchiks criticizing the Party line.
Honestly, I can't think of a more poisonous, partisan pundit than Oliver Willis. I see not a dimes worth of relevant difference between he and Ann Coulter.
Well, I’d dispute your use of the word "factual". And "analysis". And, while I find Coulter’s use of the term "rapist" execrable, accusations of sexual assault were certainly levied—by people of wildly varying credibility—quite often. I don’t buy them, but I note that the lack of credibility hasn’t stopped you from endorsing quite a lot of claims.
Really, I just want you to stop pretending to be anything but what you criticize. Don’t EVER fuss about Republicans questioning somebody’s patriotism when you do it all the fucking time. Don’t ever fuss about "intellectual dishonesty" from other people. Don’t even try and pull the "how dare they" bullshit you’ve tried to pull.
And, for a kicker, I’m going to observe that you spent quite a lot of time condemning the Swift Boat Vets because of their association with a racist (Corsi) and demanding people dissassociate from them for that very reason. Meanwhile, Sheehan has managed to attract just about every hate group in America, in no small part because she encourages it, but I haven’t come across your "distance ourselves from that" post.
I’m just saying.
You ought to recognize a responsibility to improve the political discourse—to contribute something positive. Instead, you wallow in the gutter trading slime with the worst of the worst. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
I hope we’ll have more opportunities to meet in the future.
Me too, Jon ... great to finally meet you, way to short a time to be able to sit and talk. Fabulous meeting your fine family as well.
Now, on to business:
Honestly, I can’t think of a more poisonous, partisan pundit than Oliver Willis. I see not a dimes worth of relevant difference between he and Ann Coulter.
I can. Coulter can write and is, at times, at least amusing.
Yep, Coulter is wildly amusing when she’s endorsing mass murder in NYC or calling out swarthy muslims. Her writing is so great she’s a plagiarist. I’ve got an obligation to point out when people are hurting America and the hypocrisy of their defenders. That you would lump the mother of a dead soldier in with a band of bought and paid for political hatchet men speaks volumes about your disregard for anything resembling the truth and decency.
Willis. Oh please, it was bad enought that you supported Byrd when he sought to pave over his Klan past. Now you are paving over David Duke’s support of Sheehan. I never saw any condemnation of those sort of supporters from her or her people. You are the last person to speak for truth (you lost connection to that eaons ago) and decency.
Yep, Coulter is wildly amusing when she’s endorsing mass murder in NYC or calling out swarthy muslims. Her writing is so great she’s a plagiarist.
And since she’s held in higher esteem than you, that should give you a good indication of how many view you.
I’ve got an obligation to point out when people are hurting America and the hypocrisy of their defenders.
Do yourself a favor then, and, speaking of hypocrisy, deal in facts, and not unsupported nonsense delivered in "talking points" which you seem to simply repeat without examination. Try thinking for yourself for a change.
That you would lump the mother of a dead soldier in with a band of bought and paid for political hatchet men speaks volumes about your disregard for anything resembling the truth and decency.
Speaking of political "hatchet men", tell me about Fenton Communications is, or Code Pink, or MoveOn.org, or any of a plethora of exploiters who jumped on the Cindy Show for exposure and are now deserting her because she’s been pushed off the front page.
As usual, no hypocrisy to be found in "Ollie’s World" there, huh? Nah ... just ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist. Tell us all about "truth and decency" will you Oliver?
Do everyone a favor and give the "hypocrisy" jag a rest, will ya?
Yep, Coulter is wildly amusing when she’s endorsing mass murder in NYC or calling out swarthy muslims.
I don’t find that terribly amusing. Nor, for that matter, do I find it terribly amusing when you call for your political opponents to be "damned" "for all eternity". And on the scale of irresponsible rhetoric, I’d say eternal damnation is a smidge more irresponsible than murder.
That you would lump the mother of a dead soldier in with a band of bought and paid for political hatchet men speaks volumes about your disregard for anything resembling the truth and decency.
Y’know, I’ll engage in debate with just about anybody, but I don’t accept this kind of criticism from the likes of you. Certainly not after I wrote a post defending Sheehan’s right to speak.
In any event, your misguided attempt to pretend I’m either attacking Sheehan or defending the SBVs is irrelevant to the point: you have no interest in distancing yourself from racists. You simply wanted to use Corsi’s racism as a bludgeon, and you wanted to ignore those around Sheehan.
Wo. Difference between AC & OW? Well, I’ve heard of, and long BEEN irritated by AC, while I’m just now hearing of and loathing OW. Qualitative differences between their methodologies? Ain’t none. Sincerely! It’s like they’re actively competing to out-skank one another, to get away with the wildest possible accusations at the other side, and to "pave over" the greatest possible number of their own sides’ sins and crimes. Selective amnesia, dishonest logic, they’ve got it all, both of them, and in such abundance that comparison might not even be meaningful. Okay one relevant difference might be in "name recognition / marketability."
Jon, you’re right off course. I was being flippant to Ollie. I certainly admire your ability to take the higher road with him but since he signed up at media fecal matters, he is more nonsensical and shrill. I don’t take him very seriously.
Comparing Oliver Willis to Coulter just gives him an excuse to play "how bad is Coulter," when his own body of work is so indefensible (there’s a reason he uses a blogging tool that makes it difficult to find his old entries - Winston Smith would have been envious).
Willis has gone beyond being a partisan to being pure partisanship personified, like some twisted literary device. In factm if Willis was a fictional character in a satire of American politics he would be criticized for being unrealistic.
