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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
I wonder if Alberto's gonna try for the tenure track...
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
A Little Eerie
Being all ofthree two years old when Robert McNamara concluded his tenure as SecDef I can only feel by proxy the sort of wrath David Halberstam held towards him in the form of his successor Rummy...though, as far as I can tell, the latter has yet to engage in any sort of soul searching beyond vague regrets about abandoning the Geneva Conventions. In contrast, McNamara seemed to evince some measure of doubt and/or sorrow, and, if nothing else, the Pentagon Papers (sigh--full disclosure: have the book but have never read more than a few pages), anyway, the Pentagon Papers, at least when released, were the smoking gun that exposed the lie that was the Vietnam War.
Still...that was quite a hell of a price paid by a LOT of people in order to save the collective face of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, including that of Mr. McNamara himself. And, even sadder, it was a lesson of history not merely unlearned, but actively ignored--hubris doesn't get much worse.
By now, I've come to realize that heaven and hell are merely constructs of the mind, but if there was any truth to the concept(s), wouldn't it be appropriate for McNamara--or Bush, Cheney, Rummy, et al--to be judged by the very people they sent off to die in the most horrible of ways?
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
Being all of
Still...that was quite a hell of a price paid by a LOT of people in order to save the collective face of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, including that of Mr. McNamara himself. And, even sadder, it was a lesson of history not merely unlearned, but actively ignored--hubris doesn't get much worse.
By now, I've come to realize that heaven and hell are merely constructs of the mind, but if there was any truth to the concept(s), wouldn't it be appropriate for McNamara--or Bush, Cheney, Rummy, et al--to be judged by the very people they sent off to die in the most horrible of ways?
Monday, July 06, 2009
More Mythbusting
Phil Nugent links to a Matthew Dallek article in The American Scholar.
However, the mythology is so deeply entrenched in the public and political psyche that I don't know if this sort of sober analysis can even gain a foothold. Any attempt to bring Reagan down to size is instantly met with howls of protests from the ever present noise machine. It also didn't help that especially DLC'ers were either silent, or worse, actively embraced the myth (e.g. "the era of big government is over") when it was embedded in the national conscience.
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
Phil Nugent links to a Matthew Dallek article in The American Scholar.
However, the mythology is so deeply entrenched in the public and political psyche that I don't know if this sort of sober analysis can even gain a foothold. Any attempt to bring Reagan down to size is instantly met with howls of protests from the ever present noise machine. It also didn't help that especially DLC'ers were either silent, or worse, actively embraced the myth (e.g. "the era of big government is over") when it was embedded in the national conscience.
Memories
Once upon a time soon-to-be-former-Governor Palin took a hard line against hosting pity parties. But I guess that was before she realized playing the victim could be so...fashionable.
And let's be real: Hillary Clinton--or ANY Democratic politician--demonstrated this degree of selfish inconsistency would be absolutely skewered by the national press corpse.
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
Once upon a time soon-to-be-former-Governor Palin took a hard line against hosting pity parties. But I guess that was before she realized playing the victim could be so...fashionable.
And let's be real: Hillary Clinton--or ANY Democratic politician--demonstrated this degree of selfish inconsistency would be absolutely skewered by the national press corpse.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Friday Cat Blogging With Photoshop
4th of July...no way is that a photo in real life. Cats react to fireworks the way I'd react to Ann Coulter: run away!
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
4th of July...no way is that a photo in real life. Cats react to fireworks the way I'd react to Ann Coulter: run away!
In Order to Spend More Time With Herself
Something tells me we WILL have Palin to kick around, however.
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
Something tells me we WILL have Palin to kick around, however.
Someone Needs to Tell Jim DeMint...
That we've already tried his version of the good old days...only we know it as The Dark Ages.
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
That we've already tried his version of the good old days...only we know it as The Dark Ages.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Empty Calories
Karl Rove, whose political 'skills' are the moral and ethical equivalent of Cheetos, accuses the Obama administration of being 'pre-packaged.'
In other news, irony insists it's not dead, but admits to being incommunicado when Rove made his remarks.
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
Karl Rove, whose political 'skills' are the moral and ethical equivalent of Cheetos, accuses the Obama administration of being 'pre-packaged.'
In other news, irony insists it's not dead, but admits to being incommunicado when Rove made his remarks.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
American Gothic of Dumb
All hail the genius of one William Kristol, longtime Villager of high status.
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| From 2Millionth Web Log |
All hail the genius of one William Kristol, longtime Villager of high status.
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