Watching Monday Night Football. ESPN’s Mike Tirico just said, “9:11 left in the fourth quarter.”
And somewhere, Rudy Giuliani got a hard-on.
Watching Monday Night Football. ESPN’s Mike Tirico just said, “9:11 left in the fourth quarter.”
And somewhere, Rudy Giuliani got a hard-on.
How’s that for a generalization? Fitting, given the garbage Taranto spewed this afternoon:
Rochelle Reed, an editor at the Tribune of San Luis Obispo, Calif., published an essay recently about her son’s decision to join the Army. “This was definitely not the way things were supposed to turn out,” Mrs. Reed writes:
Never in a million years did I imagine my son would join the Army. Nor did Evan. In high school, he’d hang up on recruiters who called the house. He’d blurt, “Get away from me!” to the ones who trawled the local hangouts. Our home was liberal Democrat and anti-war and now, at 21, he was a Michael Moore fan. The night before he left, he spent his time reading “Stupid White Men.” . . .
When I tell people that Evan has joined the Army, their reactions are almost always the same: their faces freeze, they pause way too long, and then they say, “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry for you.” I hang my head and look mournful, accepting their sympathy for the worry that lives in me. But as it dawns on them that Evan wasn’t drafted, as Vietnam still clings to my generation, their expressions become quizzical, then disbelieving. I know what they’re thinking: Why in the world would any kid in his right mind choose to enlist when we’re in the middle of a war? I begin telling them the story, desperate to assure them it wasn’t arrogant patriotism or murderous blood lust that convinced him to join. What finally hooked him was a recruiter’s comment that if he thought the country’s role in Iraq was so screwed up, he should try to fix it.
Mrs. Reed’s piece is sincere and candid, and our purpose in noting it is not to pick on her. But it is quite a window she provides into the “liberal Democrat and antiwar” subculture of which she is a part. Because of her family’s politics, “never in a million years” did she think her son would join the military. The people she knows see his decision as a cause for sorrow, not pride. Mrs. Reed has to talk them out of the assumption that only “arrogant patriotism” (the adjective itself is telling) or “murderous bloodlust” would motivate someone to serve his country, that no “kid in his right mind” would do so.
Judging by Mrs. Reed’s account, American liberals harbor a deep and invidious prejudice against the military–a prejudice Mrs. Reed herself is now overcoming, thanks to the bravery of her son.
A year ago, a famous liberal Democrat remarked, “You know, education–if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” Perhaps he didn’t know any better. Rochelle Reed now does.
Could you be any more patronizing, Mr. Taranto? First of all, what’s your service record like? Did you even serve? If not, why not? No, I didn’t serve, either, but I’m not writing hit pieces minimizing the sacrifices of those who do.
The “deep and invidious prejudice” isn’t against the military. It’s against the illegal and immoral war that we oppose, Mr. Taranto. You see, we actually support the troops. You know, with more than empty, jingoistic rhetoric. We don’t put yellow ribbon magnets on our cars; we write our congresspeople and demonstrate and fight and advocate to try to bring an end to the catastrophe known as the “War in Iraq.” (The catastrophe known as the “Bush crime syndicate” thankfully will end of its own accord in just under 15 months.) We don’t generalize and paint all conservatives as mindless, warmongering idiots (or at least I don’t) — you, sir, are a mindless, warmongering idiot, but I wouldn’t necessarily cast the same aspersions on all conservatives. In short, we support the troops by trying to bring them home.
You’re right about one thing: Evan Reed is brave. You, on the other hand, are not. You sit in your office and pen thoughtless, strident generalizations against a group of patriotic Americans whose only offense, from your perspective, is that they disagree with you. Sadly, though, Mr. Taranto, you fail to recognize, or maybe just acknowledge, that more people disagree with you than agree with you.
Joining the military today is a cause for sorrow rather than pride. Not because the military is to be pitied — no, it’s because their commander-in-chief is such a pitiful, sad little man. And you are to be pitied as well, sir, for hitching your wagon to such a dismal failure.
Palm Beach County, you may recall, played a critical role in the presidential election of 2000. Now the home of butterfly ballots and Buchananmania! will be front and center again, as HBO allows us to relive the debacle in all its stomach-churning glory with its upcoming movie Recount.
Jayne Atkinson, a Broadway actress best known as national security adviser Karen Hayes on the Fox TV nail-biter 24, is playing former Palm Beach County elections supe and butterfly ballot designer Theresa LePore in the HBO movie about the 2000 presidential recount.
County canvassing board scenes for Recount were to be shot over the weekend in Jacksonville, where consultants were still scrambling late last week to capture that West Palm Beach 2000 look from eight years and nearly 300 miles away. The faux local scenes will include genuine Palm Beach County ballot boxes and Votomatic punch card devices obtained from Jim Dobyns, a Pinellas County political consultant who bought about 1,800 pieces of the county’s mothballed elections fleet a few years ago.
Judge Charles Burton, the wise-cracking chairman of the ‘00 canvassing board who said he hoped to be portrayed by George Clooney, Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, is being played in the HBO project by Brett Rice, whose film credits include the pigskin dramas We Are Marshall and Remember the Titans.
Former County Commissioner Carol Roberts, the board’s give-me-a-recount-or-give-me-jail perorationist, is being played by Marcia Jean Kurtz, an actress of Robertsian looks whose résumé goes back to the 1970’s Al Pacino vehicles Panic in Needle Park and Dog Day Afternoon.
You know, I’ve been yearning for another chance to watch mouth-breathing Republican goons harass the vote counters again, so this is perfect!
Seriously, what is HBO thinking? Is this another feeble attempt for Rethugs to remember the halcyon days when all things wars seemed possible and when Drunky McStagger actually could put together a coherent sentence?
I have a feeling this is going to make The Bronx is Burning look like Citizen Kane.
Beware of the dirty eeeeeeeevil Islamists. In fact, let’s just kill ‘em all.
That’s likely to be the point of tomorrow night’s lecture at Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus, when controversial right-wing columnist and author Daniel Pipes will speak on “Vanishing the Islamist Enemy.”
The speech, which is free and open to the public, is being sponsored by an FAU student group called the Middle East & National Security Organization.
Pipes is expected to give an in-depth analysis on radical Islam and discuss his theory that radical Islam is more dangerous than non-violent Islam.
The Middle East’s goal, he believes, should be to defeat and replace radical Islam with a moderate form of Islam.
Pipes is an author of 14 books about the Middle East, Islam and other political topics. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Institute for Peace.
All you need to know about Pipes:
Daniel Pipes is a neo-conservative, orientalist, extreme right-wing Zionist, and often expresses islamophobic statements. He is director of the Middle East Forum, and a columnist for right-wing newspapers. His father is Richard Pipes.
In 2004 Pipes was temporarily appointed by George W. Bush to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace, but as of January 17, 2005, Bush had “failed to take any action to renominate…”. The “nomination of Pipes, who has made a career out of identifying and denouncing what he sees as radical Muslim penetration of American institutions, was opposed by senators Edward Kennedy, Tom Harkin and Christopher Dodd, all Democrats; Arab and Muslim groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; and Middle East analysts Judith Kipper of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and William Quandt of the University of Virginia.”
More and more, I am convinced that Drunky and his minions lack a functioning sense of irony.
It’s embarrassing and, frankly, objectionable that FAU is bringing this guy to campus. I’m all for a free exchange of ideas, but doesn’t Pipes’ appearance at least insinuate that FAU supports or favors his radical, fringe-right views?
And yet this is completely flying under the radar. I wish that there would be some outcry, but I’m not holding my breath.
(cross-posted at FLA Politics)
It’s Monday again, which means it’s time for Blast Off! Radio … and it’s going to be a doozy today. I’m caffeinated and aggravated …
Be a part of the show — listen and call in!!!! Tell your friends to listen (to you, if you call in!) and let’s talk about what’s on your mind. So what will we discuss today? Well, I’m interested in people’s thoughts about the progressive movement; my brain’s a-poppin’ on that topic since Mark Weaver’s radio show yesterday … and we have schadenfreude and snark galore, too!
Catch you this afternoon!
UPDATE (3:13 pm 10/29/07): Helluva show today, featuring call-ins from Netroots Candidate of the Year Michael Calderin and Chicago Dyke of CorrenteWire.
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