quote:Originally posted by David Sands: "On something," Jay, or "onto something"?
Come now, you shouldn't need to have that bit of overt sarcasm explained.
But based on what Mr. Brooks wrote in that article...I'm sticking with on.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Siegfried: And, on edit, it just occurred to me that Mucus might be speaking about the lake of blue in an otherwise red state....
Thanks, thats precisely what I was wondering about.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I think that article is interesting... thought provoking - lacking in any concrete evidence/substance (but what editorials are?), I wouldn't dismiss his idea out of hand. It is afterall his opinion. Maybe though that is the problem with the media - too much 'opinion', less and less fact?
Andrew
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
Jay: I couldn't tell if you had inadvertantly left out two letters. Sorry.
Andrew: that's why I've largely stopped reading the editorial pages of newspapers. Too little space for ideas too big. Never room for evidence. Give me NRO, TNR, TAP, Slate, TechCentralStation, or Volokh anyday. They're not so confined by imposed brevity.
-------------------- "Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Tao to survivial or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed."
"...attaining one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle of excellence. Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 6th century B.C.E.
Registered: May 1999
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posted
Well, he is an opinion writer for the New York Times.
So, yes, it is his opinion.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
Jay, I think you're being a little unfair to him. Brooks would qualify as the type of conservative Irving Kristol said are neoconservatives (liberals who got mugged by reality), even if there's a small rightward tilt in that he explains the Right with a slightly higher degree of eloquence. E.g., the "law enforcement problem" of stopping Islamofascists. But speaking as someone with more Democratic friends around the country than Republican ones, his description wasn't too far off the mark of how many of them have explained themselves to me.
If anyone else wants to chime in with their picks, I'd love to see what everyone else is reading.
[ November 06, 2004, 05:46 PM: Message edited by: David Sands ]
-------------------- "Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Tao to survivial or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed."
"...attaining one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle of excellence. Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 6th century B.C.E.
Registered: May 1999
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posted
I would like to kick every person with a weblog with the word "pundit" in the title.
Weblogs I like that are cooler than weblogs you like: Boing Boing Arts & Letters Daily (It feels a little right-wing from time to time, or at least I get a weird vibe off it every now and then, but your PunditPundit ain't got no links to essays about Faulkner.) Beyond the Beyond by Bruce Sterling! WorldChanging (for futuristic green thinking that is TECHED UP TO THE HILT) Metafilter (Unlike A&L Daily links are posted by a community of users, so there is plenty of fun weird political vibes for all. But, I mean, who doesn't already visit Metafilter? Cavemen? Victorian gentlemen-explorers trapped in the Hollow Earth? ((PEOPLE NOT IN THE KNOW IS WHAT I AM GENTLY INSINUATING)))
I won't mention the weblog I get my Firefly news from, and updates on what the dreamy Amy Acker is up to, because, OH MAN, embarrassing.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Last I heard, Bush still had the advantage of popular vote across the board.
So quit your whining. I may hate the guy, but Bush won fair and square this time around. Kerry, in my opinion, didn't add up at all.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
David, I�m not being at all unfair to Mr. Brooks.
Mr. Brooks wrote:
quote:When Bush talks about the world he hopes to create, he talks first about spreading freedom. What he's really talking about is a decentralized world. Individuals would be free to live as they chose, in their own nations, carving out their own destinies.
That is not what's going on in Iraq.
You don't invade another country to bring the people democracy.
And if you should invade another country on the claim of bringing them democracy...if you decide to effect a change of their system of government. In doing so, you use forces external to their system. As a result, you loose the right to high-minded ideological claim that the people you invaded are carving out their own destinies.
No matter how much one might say Iyad Allawi or the Iraqis are in charge, American fingerprints are all over the new system. So their new system turns into something of a version of our system; a version of our democracy; a version of our free-market ideology. These are concepts which one may strongly believe in, and argue for passionately, but that doesn't make the concepts or ideals theirs.
And in an age of terror not connected to the nation-state, international law and police action can and should play an important role in any anti-terror strategy.
You can�t invade everyone.
It�s quite clear that the Bush Doctrine is only for use in Iraq. So we�re not going to invade Iran, or North Korea or Saudi Arabia, or any of the other countries with bad people in charge, with oppressed peoples, or that pose a threat to international peace and security to bring them democracy.
If you can�t invade to bring democracy...then that poo-pooed concept of international cooperation looks better and better.
And I�m unsure what to make of the mugged by reality comment.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I doubt Bush can pull off another long campaign for a war in Iran. But if Sharon decides to bomb some nuclear installations, I'm sure Bush would be willing to support him.
posted
But I read that a computer error in a part of Ohio got Bush 4200 votes where he actually should've gotten 200-something, and Kerry got 400-something and should've won.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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