Thursday, September 27, 2007
'I hate getting into this ancient history, however ...'
I was reading Dan's take on Dan Rather's recent CBS lawsuit and thought to myself, 'Man, Rather's such a strange dude. Nice column.' Then I read the comments and, through no fault of Dan (the Kennedy one), some readers were seizing upon certain words and refighting RatherGate and SwiftboatGate etc. etc., as if 2004 was just minutes ago, not three friggin' years ago. ... Later, I then read Jonah's blog item in which he's upset (or sensitive or whatever) with Katie's use of the word "we" in regards to the war. He noted: "Some may think this is a little thing, but I truly don't." I'm truly sure he truly doesn't think it's a little thing. That's the way it goes with partisan ideologues: seize upon a little word and commence arguing. ... Bottom line to both items: Hey, if you advocate for a war and it doesn't turn out the way you wanted, you might as well refight the old fights and/or pick fights over little things. You know, get the old confidence back up by rhetorically duking it out in the ring. RatherGate. SwiftboatGate. 'We.' MoveOn.org's ad. The Great TNR Beauchamp Incident. Argue over anything but the substance of the war. ...
I was tempted to put together a new list: The Most Stupid And/Or Irrelevant Home Front Arguments: 2003-2007. There's so many nearly-forgotten stupid and irrelevant arguments to unearth. But I decided a list about stupid and irrelevant issues would be stupid and irrelevant. So I'm not doing it. ... I know I'm picking on the right these days. The far left is just as insane. But when you get a war largely or partially wrong and then stick your head in the sand for three or four years, well, that's hard to top. ...
I was reading Dan's take on Dan Rather's recent CBS lawsuit and thought to myself, 'Man, Rather's such a strange dude. Nice column.' Then I read the comments and, through no fault of Dan (the Kennedy one), some readers were seizing upon certain words and refighting RatherGate and SwiftboatGate etc. etc., as if 2004 was just minutes ago, not three friggin' years ago. ... Later, I then read Jonah's blog item in which he's upset (or sensitive or whatever) with Katie's use of the word "we" in regards to the war. He noted: "Some may think this is a little thing, but I truly don't." I'm truly sure he truly doesn't think it's a little thing. That's the way it goes with partisan ideologues: seize upon a little word and commence arguing. ... Bottom line to both items: Hey, if you advocate for a war and it doesn't turn out the way you wanted, you might as well refight the old fights and/or pick fights over little things. You know, get the old confidence back up by rhetorically duking it out in the ring. RatherGate. SwiftboatGate. 'We.' MoveOn.org's ad. The Great TNR Beauchamp Incident. Argue over anything but the substance of the war. ...
I was tempted to put together a new list: The Most Stupid And/Or Irrelevant Home Front Arguments: 2003-2007. There's so many nearly-forgotten stupid and irrelevant arguments to unearth. But I decided a list about stupid and irrelevant issues would be stupid and irrelevant. So I'm not doing it. ... I know I'm picking on the right these days. The far left is just as insane. But when you get a war largely or partially wrong and then stick your head in the sand for three or four years, well, that's hard to top. ...
