Well no…I don’t mock folks for being ‘partison idiots’, nor do I think its cool as long as the hyperbole roughly balances. To me its the whole ox gored thing…outrage over statements is subjective. I know a lot of folks who are plenty chuffed over the Gitmo thing…and I can see the real outrage over the Rove thing.
Well, as I said, ‘outrageousness’ is in the eyes of the beholder. I’ll be honest…I don’t find Roves statements all that much to get worked up about. Oh, I don’t agree with them, I think he’s painting with a ridiculously broad brush and trying to associate those dread ‘liberal’ types with as many Democrats as he can spray…I just have no real emotional dog in the hunt so to speak. I DO feel fairly strongly about the various Gitmo statements because I think some of the hyperbole there detracts from the very real problems at Gitmo, and lessens the suffering caused by the Nazi/Soviets atrocities (as well as seemingly gives a pass to some very real gulags/death camps that currently exist in the world by drawing attention away from them). As you say…I could be wrong in my opinion. Its just where I have more of an emotional stake…which is easy for me as I’m not one who’s gored by Roves statement not being a ‘liberal’.
Not at all. I never said folks shouldn’t object…just that some perspective would be good.
Well, I don’t know about cancelling each other out or not…that wasn’t really the point I was trying to make.
No actually, your statement above is the dumbest allegation under the sun. But I guess it makes sense. If you really know that little about torture, Nazis, the Soviet Union, the United States, then why should you be upset with anything Durbin said? As I said before, rant on bro.
Forgot to answer this before… I agree wih you about that. Claiming that the Democrats have a motive of actually inflaming the insurgency is over the line. No question. Besides, why chalk up to malice what you can explain through sheer idiocy?
Dean: “Republicans don’t care about waiting in line to vote - none of them worked an honest day in their lives.” /QUOTE]
I gotta call bullshit on your butchering of the actual Dean quote.
“[T]he idea that you have to wait on line for eight hours to cast your ballot. . . . You think people can work all day, and then pick up their kids at child care or wherever, and get home and . . . still manage to sandwich in an eight-hour vote? Well, Republicans, I guess,” said Dean, “can do that, because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives.”
Notice how you changed the qualifier “a lot” to “none”? Besides butchering the rest of the quote as well?
Gee, yeah, aren’t you supposed to put those dot-thingys (…), whadaya call, eclipses or something? You know, so other people know that stuff has been left out? Because, you know, otherwise its not really the same quote, is it? Of course, if you can change “a lot” to “none” and say its a quote, don’t matter much what you do, does it?
Sorry, I was called away. But no matter…the point is (and you accuse me of deconstructionism), Rove in no way said that liberals “want to see our troops killed”, which was the assertion you made that brought me into this thread to begin with. All this other stuff (you too, Max) is merely debate over what the meaning of is is.
It’s a conspiracy, that’s what it is. A dastardly plot. One of them tries to tell me plain
English words don’t mean what they mean, the other one argues for pages and then says “Oh, yeah, I agree with that, sure, you’re right about that!, its the other thing I don’t agree about”…when…there…is…no…other…thing.
Trying to drive me crazy, that’s it. Hoping if they push me far enough…[snap!]
Greeb! Glibber! Axolotls! Axolotls! Veeblefetzer! Why, yes, that’s a very nice coat, but the arms are all funny and there’s those belts…
Whoa, dude, whats with the needle? A bong or a beer, I’m down for that, but I don’t…oh…oh…
The Leader is good. The Leader is right. We should all praise The Leader. Cecil was wrong not to praise The Leader. Must go to Chicago. Must find Cecil…
luci, luci, luci… I gotta love ya! And it’s nice to know that you’ve finally realized you’re bonkers…but first, show me again where Rove said, in words that mean what they mean, that liberals “want to see our troops killed.” C’mon now, you crazy old wordsmith, it shouldn’t be that big of a challenge. Let’s leave aside the meaning of “is” and all its concomitant vagaries and just focus on that one thing, huh? I know you huffed and you puffed mightily before, but you were like Tom Cruise trying to explain how he met Katie Holmes. You hemmed and hawed and laughed and genuflected, but you never actually answered the question. Where exactly - and direct quotes would be helpful - did Rowe say liberals “want to see our troops get killed”? Or is this, like so many of your misunderstandings of conservative positions, merely a distortion created in your mind by your own liberal bias? Hmmm…?
Bush’s numbers are sinking. Danger signs abound, domestically and internationally. There are really few bright spots for him. So, like he did around the time of the convention and the debates, he is going on the offensive, with Rove at the helm.
IMHO, this is just the latest installment of the perpetual campaign.
I’m usually a proponent of taking the high ground, and I don’t think that lowering yourself to your opponents level is usually a sound strategy. But, last time they went ugly, with the Swift Boat nonsense, Democrats lost big by taking the high ground. If indeed this is an offensive, nothing will be spared to reinforce political power ahead of the 2006 elections. So this time, go low, go strong, grow a sack and go after them. They can quote mine all they want; we can quote mine right back at them (let’s have 10 Coulter quotes for every Noam Chomsky).
FWIW, I am offended of course by Rove’s comments, but any idiot could have seen this 10 miles away. Coulter wrote a book 2 years ago or so called “Treason.” Rush recently said that any future terrorist attacks should be blamed on dissenters. O’Reilly called for the arrest of dissenters like Franken, calling it treason. It was only a matter of time before this garbage bubbled up through the echo chamber (back to its probable source).
So this is how the offensive will unfold. All failings in the war on terror and the war in Iraq will be blame shifted to liberals and dissenters. Dissent will be equated with a crime punishable by death. This is really the ultimate battle in the war to remove any kind of nuance or subtletly or compromise from politics, and to absolve the administration of any kind of blame for its failed policies. It is all about seizing power, consolidating power, and eliminating enemies.
re: this week’s Durbin/Rove dustups: I feel a distinct echo of the faux outrage that was staged after the final Presidential Debates last fall. Kerry had arguably won all three debates. At the end of the third debate, the WH shouted nuclear-powered outrage because Kerry had dared mention Cheney’s lesbian daughter. As Edwards had done during an earlier debate, offending no one. This non-story, rather than GWB’s (at best) uneven debate performance, played on the front pages. Point: K. Rove.
We seem to be seeing the same script this week. I wonder what exactly the WH thinks it is distracting us from? Current events, or are they poisoning the water in preparation for expected bad news?
Look, SA, meaning no insult, your argument is crap. Its consists of nothing more than insisting that words don’t mean what they clearly mean. “Simple” means simple, “motivate” means motivate, there’s no mystery.
Maybe you can find someone stupid enough to bang their head against your brick wall, but not this little black duck.
Yeah, motivate means motivate…as in incentive to reach a goal. It doesn’t, ipso facto, mean desire for soldier deaths.
Look, if you want to blow things out of proportion so as to further enrage yourself and others like you, go right ahead. But don’t expect me to accept these flacid arguments of yours that words don’t mean what they actually say but whatever your political biases tell you they say…and then to acquiesce to your accusations of distortion when I call you on it.
Thanks Hentor…I appreciate that.