Comments on: Happy Hour Roundup

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:38:55 +0000

Jack – it is a powerful metaphor, isn’t it. Particularly in the noggins of we males (women are rather less impressed by this mode of thought/emotion and bar-fights normally don’t include them as contestants). I’d be quite happy to have the other gender running things. From “Shock and Awe” to “Hug and Feed” seems to me an clear improvement. They might, of course, go a bit far in some ways (the Azaleas of Lebananon, say, or pastel F22s and aircraft carrier landing strips covered by lace doilies) but I could go there with them and be little discomfited.

By: Jack Russell

Jack Russell — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:52:28 +0000

close quote on “neutering” …

By: Jack Russell

Jack Russell — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:51:44 +0000

Given the earlier discussion of Bill Clinton, Bernie, the use of the word “neutering is interesting indeed! But I think correct, too, in that a lot of the empire’s aggressiveness gets figured in sexual terms. It is a very potent metaphor.

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:45:31 +0000

From Clinton’s speech yesterday…

“We cannot go back to Cold War containment or to unilateralism. . . . We will lead by inducing greater cooperation among a greater number of actors and reducing competition, tilting the balance away from a multi-polar world and toward a multi-partner world.”

The strategic and philosophic shift here will gain a lot of bitterness and alarmism from John Bolton and the neoconservative crowd (not to mention the black-helicopter cadres). The claims will be that Clinton/Obama are neutering America, pushing it towards one-world government, and adopting a weak-kneed socialist policy which denies (indeed, which denigrates) America’s special right and responsibility to commandeer the rest of the planet for the good of all.

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:37:56 +0000

ps…not much to complain about in Broder’s column today.

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:42:54 +0000

ABC – re the class aspect, Clinton’s background (Arkansas, lower-class family) may have initially added to his Rhodes Scholar charm, it didn’t help him when his sexuality moved to the fore. Being “over-sexed” is commonly equated with the lower-classes and the “unsophisticated” in US culture (in French or Italian cultures, not so much). This is a mythical inheritance that comes up to the present from Christianity (animal versus spiritual) and from the north/south divide nationally. Perhaps that strong element of “betrayal” you identify in Quinn’s piece arose out of disappointment that Clinton had proved (in their perceptions, which were encouraged by the nature of the covert campaign to get rid of a Dem president) to match the stereotype rather than to be proof against it. This might seem contradictory – a strong egalitarian wish living alongside a significant class structure in the American psyche – and it is. But both are part of the cultural inheritances we swim in.

The willingness of the US to engage in war seems a different thing. A structural explanation, such as Chomsky offers, seems pretty hard to deny…it is what empires do. They are initiated by elites but the rest of us commonly fall into line with the ginned up war fervor. We aren’t a very nice species in many ways.

By: AllButCertain

AllButCertain — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:30:17 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful response, Bernie. And the link. I’d read excerpts of Quinn’s Village piece, but I don’t think I’d ever seen the whole thing. The sense of personal betrayal is so strong. Whether it was justified or not, you’re right that the outrage over Clinton’s behavior seems bizarre given the pass handed out to Bush and Cheney and their cohort. It seems more about class issues than actual morality, particularly when Ken Starr did his document dump that put every salacious detail into the public record and set parents hemming and hawing nationwide about what to tell the children. Is it somehow easier to tell them we go to war at will and torture and kill the bad guys? Perhaps that fits more with the battle narratives even the youngest children are exposed to. And perhaps the Village is willing to believe that governance is about hard and sometimes mistaken geopolitical decisions without being appalled at much of what is done. There’s that insulating layer of friendship and class that lets them believe intentions are good.

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:18:26 +0000

ABC – My initial familiarity with Broder came as a Canadian watching an earlier version of US political punditry – rather more careful and mannerly (in the good sense) than now. Jim Lehrer’s show represents one of the few remaining examples of that period. I watched, for example, Bill Buckley and Noam Chomsky have debates more civil than a typical Hardball show and more substantive than anything now available. At that time, I recall Broder as being reasonable and fair-minded.

But in the present environment, the Broderian zest for a rote “let’s hear all sides” centrism is merely lazy and undiscerning. It’s “journalism” institutionalized and dead.

And part of the problem here is generational. We older folks can (and usually do) lose our intellectual rubberiness and courage. We settle in and try to reap benefits of earlier work. It’s why so many of us now turn to Josh or Greg or Matt or Tabibi and others for the brave and honest coverage and viewpoints.

And, for sure, partly it is the calcification which comes from the insularity of a privileged social class existence in Washington/New York. They don’t get that but the rest of us do. If we were part of it, we’d surely suffer the same attendant deficits. If you get a few moments, read the following little time capsule. It is highly revealing. As you read, consider the social class elements which are shown in the responses to Clinton’s sexuality as contrasted with, for example, Rove and Bush’s deceits and policies which have resulted in the deaths of perhaps a million persons, have institutionalized torture, have built access to power upon the furthering of some of our worst human tendencies (fear and hatred) and have furthered the disparities in America’s wealth. The first is perceived as deeply inappropriate and morally destitute but the second as a version of proper behavior and values… http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/quinn110298.htm

By: AllButCertain

AllButCertain — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:15:13 +0000

Bernie, wasn’t there a time when Broder was a sane and liberal voice, plus hard working and well informed? Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but I don’t think he used to put me so on edge. Perhaps there should be term limits for inside the Beltway journalists. Or psychological evaluations after a few decades. There’s the wisdom of age, and then there’s just crazy old cootdom. The thing that always bothers me about somebody like Broder is that a lot of his longtime readers may still believe what he says and think he’s a liberal voice.

And, Tena, I’m real puffed up about my new junior senator.

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:13:57 +0000

And to top off our day, here’s a headline from Fox News…

“Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies”

The world is a better place with Rupert in it.

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:08:14 +0000

And, speaking of integrity (absence of), we’ve got Jack Tapper and Fox’s swell little weasel Griff Jenkins… http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/15/fox-jenkins-sanford/

Don’t ya just love electronic records?

By: Bernie Latham

Bernie Latham — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:27:12 +0000

from wikipedia…
“David Broder has made supportive statements regarding George W. Bush’s political adviser, Karl Rove. In a 2003 column, he wrote “I like Karl Rove. In the days when he was operating from Austin, we had many long and rewarding conversations. I have eaten quail at his table and admired the splendid Hill Country landscape from the porch of the historic cabin Karl and his wife Darby found miles away and had carted to its present site on their land.” [11] Later, in 2006, he declared that several “publications owe Karl Rove an apology” over their reporting on Karl Rove’s alleged role in the leaking of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame”

There’s our boy. Country quail and the blindness that comes from insularity and a perverse version of ‘integrity’.

By: Jack Russell

Jack Russell — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:02:10 +0000

It needs to be said: David Broder is a very small man. Small intellectually, small morally. Small small small.

By: Tena

Tena — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:01:00 +0000

And Dan Boren is from Oklahoma – for the love of god! It’s a miracle that a Democrat even came out of Oklahoma without being thrown out.

By: Tena

Tena — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:51:45 +0000

Yes – Senator Franken pulled out his pocket constitution and read the 15th amendment and discussed his utter surprise at the Repugs’ view of the Voting Rights Act (as unconstitutional) in light of part 2 of the amendment, which expressly gives Congress the power to pass legislation in support of the 15th Amendment.

I’m really liking our new senator from Minnesota.