….now that a center-right magazine has confirmed most of its key points. The smokescreen over the forgeries was ingenious, totally usurping the real story. But the story will not go away for a simple reason: it’s true.
Oh, and Dr. Kleiman has been doing some spectacular blogging on the inanity of Rathergate or whatever we end up titling it. Scroll through his site; there’s a lot of good stuff.
1
By Conrad
This from the same guy that said the Swift Boat Vets were irrelevant.
Keep drinking the Kool-aid.
If the Swiftys didn’t matter and Rathergate doesn’t matter then I guess the only explanation left for why Kerry is in full melt down mode is that the American people don’t want him as President.
Cool. I can accept that explanation.
September 14, 2004 @ 12:51 am | Comment
2
By Sam_S (ShenzhenRen)
Bush was probably not a stellar performer, militarily, but then, he didn’t base his candidacy on it either, the kerrie camp did, to their everlasting regret.
The ironic thing about all this is that it looks like the left partisans have handed over the election to Bush, handed over CBS’s viewer market to Fox, handed over news reliability to the blogosphere, and like a wierd Captain Bly, surrendered captainship of the vast information juggernaut to a bunch of misfits in pajamas.
Talk about “power to the people!”
September 14, 2004 @ 1:41 am | Comment
3
By richard
Conrad, I never said the issue is irrelevant to whether Kerry will win or lose. it is irrelevant to whether or not the charges against bush re. the ANG are true. There is ample other evidence aside from those documents.
SS, how have left paritsans handed the election to bush? As to the “reliability of the blogosphere,” I question this strongly: The fact that everyone who knows how to use google is suddenly an expert at determining “forgeries” proves nothing, except that the blogosphere can trigger a huge wall of noise that can drown out rational argument. That is the very ugly side of the blogosphere, and i think this episode will provide a case study of how whoever can make the most noise fastest in the blogs can have a huge and potentially destructive effect on public opinion.
September 14, 2004 @ 7:50 am | Comment
4
By Sam_S
SS, how have left paritsans handed the election to bush?
I can’t tell you. It’s one of the Secrets of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. But here’s one of the many examples: Giving a place of honor on the convention stage to a rich, controversial celebrity who’s perhaps most well known for his statements that Americans are stupid and cowardly. Way to get votes, Einstein!
The fact that this particular move is probably seen as reasonable and strategically wise should give you a clue as to how dumb some of the other key strategy points were.
September 14, 2004 @ 9:09 am | Comment
5
By richard
Hey, that’s three times in two days you’ve used my comments to lead people to your site. No siphoning, or I’ll have to charge a fee.
As to the example you cite of the partisan left handing the election to bush, I have not heard it mentioned before as a major issue. Can you document that the Einstein remark has harmed the Kerry campaign demonstrably?
September 14, 2004 @ 9:44 am | Comment
6
By Sam_S
Hey, that’s three times in two days you’ve used my comments to lead people to your site.
I figure it’s more polite to post a link than putting a whole blog post into your comments. That link goes to some answers to your question about throwing the election away.
Hey, “siphoning” is a good expression. OK, I’ll pay whatever the three views were worth.
As to documenting references for my personal opinion, that’s just bizarre: And if I did have several good links agreeing with me, would you really want them posted here?
September 14, 2004 @ 3:46 pm | Comment
7
By richard
I thought you were stating as a matter of fact that it had caused Kerry serious political harm. Good to know it’s just a personal opinion (and probably a wrong one; I never heard of any fallout to speak of from the incident).
I was, of course, only joking about the traffic-siphoning. There’s not that much to siphon.
September 14, 2004 @ 6:12 pm | Comment
8
By Sam_S
Richard, you won’t believe it, but I’m a bit nostalgic for the days when the left had a somewhat coherent philosophy and a moral edge. I think they’ve squandered an enormous idealogical advantage over the past years, and descended into little more than breathless hyperbole to anchor their positions.
The post referenced, though intentionally sarcastic, is a call for better ideas and a coherent moral stand. The Repubs will face the same challenge eventually, I think, but a wise and principled opposition would speed the process. There are many better writers than I (on the left) who argue similarly–Michael Walzer comes to mind–but nobody seems to be listening to them.
That’s all the secrets I’m giving away today.
September 14, 2004 @ 7:00 pm | Comment