Responding to Criticism

Due to repeated complaints a post on President Bush's diction has been deleted. We hope that this meets with our readership's approval.

I am thinking about having my Spine removed

Yesterday I posted a bit on a gaffe by President Bush, a post for which I have received a certain amount of criticism. Apparently pointing out Presidential Gaffes is symbolic of the evil partisanship that has engulfed our society. I, in fact, have noticed this partisanship, and I find it rather distressing. One solution is to become a spineless Democrat, an Alan Colmes Democrat, a weakling Democrat. On the surface this would seem to be an ideal solution, and removing my spine would make it a lot easier to hide behind my water heater.

But doubts remain.

For I've also noticed that Ann Coulter gives a blanket label of Traitor to Liberals. I've noticed that Rush Limbaugh describes liberalism as a psychosis. I've noticed that Dennis Prager insinuated that Liberals are comfortable with child molestation. I've noticed many other examples just as mean spirited.

You might say something like, "Hey does Rush Limbaugh represent the views of the White House?" The answer is that he does. Vice President Cheney and other administration officials have appeared on his show, where he has fawned over them. The Bush Administration has never criticized Rush, not even when he compared the abuse at Abu Ghraib (abuse that led to the deaths of a few involved) to a fraternity hazing.

Also to underline a point, I don't know any liberal with a voice equal to Ann Coulter's who hates conservatives the way she hates liberals. I'm not disappointed in that; rather I'm proud of "my" side for not stooping that level.

We have a war of words going on right now. The conservatives are bringing rhetorical mustard gas and howitzers; I have a pen knife and even that is too much of an advantage.

I'm sorry if you don't like the way I do things; but I can't please everybody. And given that I can't please everybody, I'll settle for pleasing myself.

I guess I'll keep my spine after all.

Round the Horn Part the Duex Ex Machina

Mercury X23 has a discussion of the intersection of politics and celebrity.

Dohiyi Mir has changed locales, so deserves our congratulations. Also he has some cheering info on recent polling data. Cheering to me, at any rate. Less so to President Bush's supporters.

corrente has an update on President Bush's reported absence from his national guard duties.

Collective Sigh has an interesting and sad commentary on free speech zones and American Democracy.

Iddybud has a letter from Ohio on John Kerry's speech, accepting the nomination.

It's Craptastic has a great little tidbit on a certain Republican running for public office in a state not his own.

Musing's Musings has a nice run down on the above-mentioned unnamed candidate for office (I'm not naming him so as not to ruin It's Craptistics post, but he does have a name).

Pen Elayne on the Web has some comments on Air America and how she likes it.

SpeedKill has a treatise on the argument that having Saddam out of power justifies the war.

Trish Wilson's Blog has a story on deadbeat dads contrasting reality and satire.

The Fulcrum has some commentary on Bruce Springsteen and this election.

Steve Gilliard's News Blog has a great (and well written) piece on French Cooking. Personally I would love to learn to make cassoulet but it just seems so gosh darn hard. Someday I won't let that recipe book intimidate me.

Some people just can't handle a little Slime

In this case the person is Senator John McCain, who called a recent ad put out by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "dishonest and dishonorable." All of a sudden, Senator McCain has recalled that in the last campaign cycle people supporting President Bush but not members of the campaign did a real number on him.

Those interested in this issue might want to know about how this "grassroots" organization is being funded. Joe Conason has one account; Media Matters for America has another. Both are good.

It is worth noting, as the AP story notes, that members of Kerry's actual crew have testified to his heroism; while swift boat veterans who served on other boats have testified that his heroism is largely fictitious. Which group sounds more believable is an exercise left up to the reader.

A Fable for Our Times

But written (or compiled) by Aesop. It's called "The Seller of Images."

A certain man made a wooden image of Mercury and offered it for sale. When no one appeared willing to buy it, in order to attract purchasers, he cried out that he had the statue to sell of a benefactor who bestowed wealth and helped to heap up riches.

One of the bystanders said to him, "My good fellow, why do you sell him, being such a one as you describe, when you may yourself enjoy the good things he has to give?"

"Why," he replied, "I am in need of immediate help, and he is wont to give his good gifts very slowly."

Somehow it seems to appropriate to this season of politics.

Kaleidoscope

Talking Points Memo is a great website; well written and put together. Today Mr. Marshall (who writes the blog) has a bit on the race in Illinois against Barack Obama for the United States Senate. Apparently the Republicans are considering running either Andrea Barthwell or Alan Keyes.

Andrea Barthwell has a few drawbacks, in particular there is an embarrassing Memo out there. According to the Associated Press, "In front of her staff, Andrea Grubb Barthwell made repeated comments about the sexual orientation of a staff member and used a kaleidoscope to make sexually offensive gestures . . ." I don't know why, but that little bit of bizarrity is to take this rather pathetic story and make it something more.

As for Alan Keyes, Mr. Marshall seems to prefer him (as do I). And according to Mr. Keye's website, he "[i]s capable of leading our country to widespread moral and political renewal, once all of America has a chance to see and hear, first-hand, his self-evident brilliance." So that's something to look forward to. Still, I was suitably impressed by Obama's performance at the Democratic National Committee to favor his election (which seems pretty certain at this point).

Heh heh heh . . . Kaleidoscope . . . heh heh heh.

A Change in Taxation

I was going to comment on this eventually after hearing two guys on the radio talking about this. President Bush is apparently going to propose eliminating Income Tax and switching us over to a national Sales Tax (the guys on the radio opined that President Bush should sale it more as getting rid of the Income tax as opposed to setting up a national Sales Tax). Echidne of the Snakes has done a great and detailed review of why the arguments in favor of this change don't make a lot of a sense (which kind of renders pointless my own review of such problems).

My question for the guys on the radio and Karl Rove is exactly how foolish do you think Americans really are? Do you really think they are going to hear something like "we promise to get rid of the income tax" and just mindlessly assume that there are no hidden costs? If they are that gullible, why not just offer everybody free ice cream if they vote for President Bush?

Anyway go read Echidne of the Snakes' comments, they really are quite good.

Color Blind Society

Interesting article by Michelle Malkin on how hard it is to be a journalist and a conservative and what is occasionally known as a person of color (she is Asian (at least she looks Asian in the picture)). Apparently there is a conference on diversity in journalism, but what really interests Ms. Malkin is that there be more diversity of opinion, not of skin color.

So, apparently, in order to test other reporters diversity of opinion she has prepared a questionnaire with such questions as "I supported Bill Clinton's impeachment" and "I believe Racial Profiling at the Airport makes sense" Basically her questionnaire is a list of 20 conservative positions, and gives reporters five points for every conservative position they take. After her questionnaire she says;

" I'm sure a large number of my culturally and ideologically diverse readers would earn a perfect score, as I did. What is the average score among UNITY attendees? Take the test, my fellow journalists of "diversity," and show us your true colors."

So basically the more conservative you are the more diverse you are? Makes perfect sense.

This is as clear an illustration of the Conservative commitment to ideological diversity as I have seen. In the long run Conservatives don't want ideological diversity; they want the adoption of Conservative principles. Ideological diversity is just a buzz word they've adopted to strengthen their own hand.

Children's Crusade

20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
1 Corinthians 14:20

Dennis Prager has gone to the trouble of analyzing us Democrats succinctly and completely based on the speech of Ilana Wexler, the 12 year old founder of a group called Kids for Kerry out in California. In review it is Mr. Prager's analysis, however, that I would characterize as childish.

Basically he takes some liberal stereotypes, assumes they apply to the entire party, and explain that the decision to put Ms. Wexler on stage stemmed from those reasons. Allow me to demonstrate a similar analysis.

Republicans are mean grumpy sourpusses. We all know that they tend to wear stodgy suits and have poor sense of humor. So it makes sense that they would pick Dick Cheney, a humorless mean-spirited grumpy guy to be their vice president.

See how grown up and sensible that kind of arguing is? Of course I only wasted three sentences of your time; Dennis Prager goes on with this kind of argument for considerably longer.

Of course he eventually gets around to trashing young Ms. Wexler.

"Listening to a 12-year-old publicly mock the Republican vice president of the United States brought Democrats almost orgasmic pleasure, especially since no Democrats had the courage to do so in their speeches.

Of course, this girl has accomplished nothing compared to Dick Cheney. She has no wisdom, no humility and no knowledge beyond the leftist platitudes spoon-fed by her parents and schools. "

I am guessing that Mr. Prager has never read the story of the Emperors New Clothes. He then trots out the lame argument that using the F-Word in Rolling Stone is somehow worse than using it on the senate floor to a Democratic Senator. Of course we all know what the real difference is. Mr. Kerry is a Democrat; Mr. Cheney is a Republican.

For those of you interested in seeing what Ms. Wexler said, here is a link to a video. it's short, and I can't seem to find a transcript.

Having Served

An interesting, if President Bush-Serving article by David Brooks at the New York Times today. Basically he is exploring how we as a nation view the military. His first point is a little silly, which is the idea that we either love the Military or loath the military; those are our only two options. I am pretty sure that our emotions towards the military are a bit more shaded than that.

His second point that, while those who loathe the military are full of crap, it may not be much more healthy to worship the military. As he puts it:

"When the military is in ill repute, we ask too little of it. When it is admired, we ask too much. Now, for example, many people seem to think that military experience is the key to foreign policy judgment and national leadership.

But I can't help noticing that John F. Kennedy, who knew something about heroism, didn't look to military heroes when he was contemplating the crisis of his times. In his book "Profiles in Courage," he celebrated senators. The courage he investigated wasn't military courage at all. It was political courage, which requires a different set of traits."

The problem is that Future President Kerry's decision to serve in combat conditions and Current President Bush's decisions to avoid service in combat conditions aren't significant in showing how these gentlemen make foreign policy decisions. They are important, however, how how they reflect character. Whether you like it or not, President Bush avoided combat by entering the Guard (we all know that wouldn't work today but it did work back then). Senator Kerry chose to go to war and to serve in combat conditions. You need to make your own decision on how significant those choices were, but to me they reveal the character of the two men involved.

As a sideline, an astute cultural observer like Mr. Brooks could hardly be blind to the fact that Republicans have been attacking Liberals as unpatriotic and unmanly. Future President Kerry's service makes those particular charges hard to apply (not that they aren't going to try anyway).

Edited for accuracy due to comments in a note below.

You should know this

You probably do. It is a well known, scientifically demonstrable fact that readers of "Make me a Commentator!!!" are the smartest people on the planet. But just in case you missed this particular story, here it is.

Senator Kerry voted against $87 billion dollars which was in part going to support the troops. I've heard a couple of explanations for this. One is that he wanted President Bush and congressional Republicans to agree to rescind some of the tax cuts in order to pay for the $87 billion. The other explanation is that there $60 billion for the troops that Kerry wanted to see passed right away, and $27 Billion for reconstruction contracts that Kerry wanted to consider in more detail. At any rate he voted against the $87 billion.

You already know more about this funding than the Bush Campaign would like you too.

But here's another tidbit that I've mentioned before. President Bush threatened to veto the $87 billion, including $60 billion to support our troops if the bill was not configured the way he wanted it. He threatened to veto this bill that he is now heckling Future President Kerry over.

Of course there is always the possibility that this was just rhetoric to force the bill into a configuration he was happy with. If they had resisted him, he would still have signed the bill for the troops. It's impossible to say. By the same token, the bill passed with a vast majority. What would Senator Kerry have done if the vote had been close? It's hard to say. Perhaps he would have voted for it, in that situation.

This does seem to be a campaign strategy of the Republicans this time around; accuse your opponents of doing, more or less, what you are doing. And hope the American people are too dumb to catch on. We saw this with the evil Move on Nazi Ads. For those who don't remember this; Move on had a contest called Bush in 30 seconds. Two ads used Nazi imagery and were yanked from the competition. Republicans pointed out that this proved Democrats inherent viciousness and evilness and that such ads had no place in the national discourse.

And then, of course, used clips from those ads in an ad of their own. Guess it's not that bad when they do it.

I know I've said all this before; but it drives me nuts when the Republicans say that Black is White and approximately half of America (or more) nods in agreement.

Edited to add; this was triggered by readint the Daily Howler, which I really can't say enough about--you should read it every day.

Let's have Michael Moore Executed!

Here's a site where you can sign a petition calling on the Attorney General to bring up treason charges against Michael Moore. Treason is a crime which carries the death penalty, for those who don't know.

Thank goodness we live in a country that values freedom of speech. Where we can listen the ramblings of Jon Alveraz (founder of Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood (PABAAH). Yep. Because Democrats, unlike some Republicans, believe in that we should allow others to express their opinions, even when such opinions are clearly anti-American, as Mr. Alverez's are.

Mr. Alverez want's to limit people's free speech; that is his goal in life. He wants to live in an America where only conservatives are free to speak openly. And taking down Michael Moore (who, I'll admit, I have some issues with as well) is just one method to create that America.

Mr. Alverez's campaign to keep Fahrenheit 9/11 from opening was presumably not as successful as he would have liked it to be, but calling for the execution of Michael Moore; well, maybe Mr. Alverez should get one of those things you squeeze to relieve your aggression.

Incidently, 2,134 people have signed up to have Michael Moore Executed so far. So I guess he's probably safe for the time being.

New Quote

And a
new quotes page. Enjoy.