Monday, August 30, 2004
If a Flip-Flopper Flip-Flops But Everyone's Gone to New York So Nobody Hears It, Is it Really a Flip-Flop?
In an NBC interview, Bush said of his war on terror, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world." But retreating from the war would be "a disaster for your children."
"I don't think you can win it?" Mr. John-Kerry-Is-A-Flip-Flopper now says "I don't think you can win it"? That's not just a flip-flop--it's a somersault that would get a 10 even from the Korean judge. Retreat would be "a disaster for your children"? "Yours," yes. His, no. The only danger his children are facing is getting busted for public intoxication.
With Republicans convening in New York this morning to tout, among many other dubious claims, their moral resolve in the war on terror, you'd think this story would get big play. [Blogger snorts dismissively here.] Somehow, I don't foresee a rush of convention speakers changing their scripts.
One thing that's missing from the Republican convention is stories about bloggers getting credentials to cover it. I don't know if it means no bloggers are going, or if none of the bloggers I care about are going. Wonkette, who covered the Democrats for MTV isn't going. (She says, "We knew we should have molested Gideon Yago when we had the chance.") Also missing are A-list celebrities. The Glasgow Sunday Herald says: "Republicans can’t tell a celebrity from a has-been or, even worse, a never-has-been." (Which we knew when they hyped Dean Jones' appearance at their anti-gay-marriage press conference last month.) Apparently, the biggest Republican celebs--Bruce Willis, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin--have turned down invitations to appear, although Wonkette reminds us, "they do have Lynryd fucking Skynryd."
Recommended Reading: Juan Cole on the case of Pentagon official Larry Franklin, accused of spying for Israel: It's not simple espionage--it's something far worse.
"They hate us because they hate freedom." In seven words, this is how Bush explained the September 11 attacks and justified the war on terror. In other words, a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West has begun and must be fought to the finish. It's the soundbite of the ages--and most sentient beings not drunk on Republican Kool-Aid know that it's complete nonsense. ICH News has a piece by M. Shahid Alam that analyzes the ways in which the soundbite fails to capture reality--and the ways in which believing it does could shape our future reality.
New on The Hits Just Keep On Comin': Spanish Eddie Cashed It In.
Quote of the Day: White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, dismissing a statement by Ben Barnes, a prominent Texas politician who helped Bush get into the National Guard and now says he's ashamed of having done so. "It is not surprising coming from a longtime partisan Democrat." Barnes is a Democrat, yeah, but he also supported the reelection of Republican Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Texas state comptroller in 2002. And who is Carole Keeton Strayhorn? Among other things, she's Scott McClellan's mother. (Greg Palast has much more on Barnes.)
In an NBC interview, Bush said of his war on terror, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world." But retreating from the war would be "a disaster for your children."
"I don't think you can win it?" Mr. John-Kerry-Is-A-Flip-Flopper now says "I don't think you can win it"? That's not just a flip-flop--it's a somersault that would get a 10 even from the Korean judge. Retreat would be "a disaster for your children"? "Yours," yes. His, no. The only danger his children are facing is getting busted for public intoxication.
With Republicans convening in New York this morning to tout, among many other dubious claims, their moral resolve in the war on terror, you'd think this story would get big play. [Blogger snorts dismissively here.] Somehow, I don't foresee a rush of convention speakers changing their scripts.
One thing that's missing from the Republican convention is stories about bloggers getting credentials to cover it. I don't know if it means no bloggers are going, or if none of the bloggers I care about are going. Wonkette, who covered the Democrats for MTV isn't going. (She says, "We knew we should have molested Gideon Yago when we had the chance.") Also missing are A-list celebrities. The Glasgow Sunday Herald says: "Republicans can’t tell a celebrity from a has-been or, even worse, a never-has-been." (Which we knew when they hyped Dean Jones' appearance at their anti-gay-marriage press conference last month.) Apparently, the biggest Republican celebs--Bruce Willis, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin--have turned down invitations to appear, although Wonkette reminds us, "they do have Lynryd fucking Skynryd."
Recommended Reading: Juan Cole on the case of Pentagon official Larry Franklin, accused of spying for Israel: It's not simple espionage--it's something far worse.
"They hate us because they hate freedom." In seven words, this is how Bush explained the September 11 attacks and justified the war on terror. In other words, a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West has begun and must be fought to the finish. It's the soundbite of the ages--and most sentient beings not drunk on Republican Kool-Aid know that it's complete nonsense. ICH News has a piece by M. Shahid Alam that analyzes the ways in which the soundbite fails to capture reality--and the ways in which believing it does could shape our future reality.
New on The Hits Just Keep On Comin': Spanish Eddie Cashed It In.
Quote of the Day: White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, dismissing a statement by Ben Barnes, a prominent Texas politician who helped Bush get into the National Guard and now says he's ashamed of having done so. "It is not surprising coming from a longtime partisan Democrat." Barnes is a Democrat, yeah, but he also supported the reelection of Republican Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Texas state comptroller in 2002. And who is Carole Keeton Strayhorn? Among other things, she's Scott McClellan's mother. (Greg Palast has much more on Barnes.)
