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Random commentary and senseless acts of blogging.
The first Republican president once said, "While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." If Mr. Lincoln could see what's happened in these last three-and-a-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. Blog critics Gryffindor House Slytherin House Ravenclaw House House Elves Beth Jacob Prisoners of Azkaban Muggles
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Sunday, September 21, 2003
Mark Kleiman reports haviing received two emails concerning Clark from friends whom he (Kleiman) describes as "each with an Ivy League PhD, each of them substantially smarter than the average holder of an Ivy League PhD". One reads as follows: I'm almost tempted to contribute. Clark would be almost as juicy an
Is it just me, or does this rant contain a hidden message, something along the lines of "Conservatism causes brain damage"? Mark knows the author and says he is brilliant, so I have to take him at his word. But nothing here other than the grasp of syntax suggests that the writer is impressive in either education or intellect. He has turned one notorious off-hand remark by a highly questionable source into the considered judgments, even the consensus of numerous people who have never said anything remotely close to the words he puts in their mouth. The author professes to be appalled at Clark's switching parties and his supposed advocacy of reckless use of military force, but I stronglyh suspect he has no such reservations about the party switching of Ronald Reagan and it is clear he has none about the much more dangerous acts of George W Bush. As if this weren't enough, the author, who is certain that the facts of the Kosovo campaign condemn Clark, seems more than slightly unfamiliar with those facts. For instance, by making the statement that "Clark failed miserably", he seems to have no idea who actually won the war. Whether comparing quotes from Clark to the reality of the campaign will provide "amusing reading" or not, comparing the strange opinions of our anonymous PhD to the historical facts certainly does. For the record, accomplishing your main political objectives without losing a single soldier is called victory; "miserable failure" is when you claim to be fighting a war against al Qaeda, but stop pursuing them to start a side battle in Iraq where, after hundreds dead, thousands wounded, and over $150 Bn in expenditures, the net result is that al Qaeda terrorists (along with pro-terror Shia radicals in Iran) have now gained a foothold in Iraq that they never had before. |
