Sunday, January 13, 2013
NEW VOICE COLUMN UP
about Chuck Hagel's nomination and his investigation by citizen journalists. A hilarious amount of it seems to be about mischievously making points by which no normal person would be swayed -- cf. Robert Stacy McCain: "Hagel nomination and Left's dilemma: Do they hate Israel more than they love gays?" har har, as well as "By Any Means Necessary," "they bring a knife, you bring a gun," "The Chicago Way," "If that vicious bastard Andrew Sullivan supports Hagel, this is reason enough for any patriotic American to oppose the Hagel nomination," and -- here's real berserker logic for you -- "the conservative strategy must be aimed at making that 'win' as damaging as possible to the reputation of the Democratic Party," etc. I'm beginning to think McCain's a mole. But who would pay him?
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I'm hoping that the average citizen listening to the Republicans screeching about Hagel realize that the actual problem Republicans have with Hagel is that Obama nominated him.
ReplyDeleteAnd who knows? Maybe, just maybe, this country can have some sort of conversation about Israel's role in determining not just U.S. Middle East policy, but it's role in deciding who our president gets to nominate to his cabinet.
I am (seriously) not trying to start one of Those Fights, but look: Hagel's a two-term Republican senator who voted for the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, etc. He is not suddenly the Hippie King just because Obama nominated him. Who the fuck are these two-bit warmongering ogres hoping for? Jack D. Ripper?
ReplyDeleteWell, the point about Andrew Sullivan isn't entirely off the mark ...
ReplyDeleteWho they're hoping for is a Republican president, duh. Notice, however, that it isn't just the GOP freaks who are critical of Hagel: it's mainstream corporate media outlets like The New York Times.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fair.org/blog/2013/01/09/a-cabinet-of-peaceniks/
"Who better to preside over the gutting of American defenses than a Republican war hero?"
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
So the game is to try and make it look as if Hagel likes to spend long weekends playing concentration camp in his swastika-lined den, and thus embarrass his nominator.
ReplyDeletethis is truly a journey via an infinite improbability drive of suck.
Who would pay him? The same person that paid Clint Eastwood.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what Bibi can do about this. He's already gone full Wile E Coyote with the bomb.
ReplyDeleteThe Al-Jazeera English that I watch on Dish looks more like CBS News of thirty years ago. That is, they take "the news" more seriously than as just entertainment. But blowhards gotta blow hard.
ReplyDeleteAs long as it gets done...
ReplyDeleteIsrael forever; nuke Iran; the useless F35; more guns; a real War on Islam; more ships; more planes; more bombs; more money, more dead brown people; more wars; war now; war forever!
ReplyDeleteAlso, locking up all those traitors that point out that very few of the above advance either America's or civilization's interests in the slightest.
That's what your warmongering ogres want.
They don't even want Israel, they want Likud.
ReplyDeleteSomebody set us up the Bibi!
ReplyDeleteHopefully, this Hagel hate will further fragment the GOP. I don't mind seeing an ill-advised Republican nominee being the sacrificial lamb for once.
ReplyDeleteI still don't know what a Weasel Zipper is, but I now know it can thunder. Thanks, Roy!
ReplyDeleteWhat, no Jennifer Rubin? She's been quite the yappy little thing, accusing Hagel of "dabbl[ing] in anti-Semitic lingo," whatever in fuck's name that means.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he once said, "Jew eat yet?
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is the leading edge of a draft-Bolton-for-Defense campaign. Or something equally crackpot. It's pretty clear that even a nominal hawk such as Hagel isn't, in their view, up to the level of rapine and conquest necessary for a Secretary of Defense, if only because it was Obama nominating him.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is what nomination from Obama would satisfy them? Going by what they say, even Bibi Netanyahoo might have to break a sweat to get through confirmation.
John Hagee, maybe?
Pretty much the same thing, these days....
ReplyDeleteHagel once spat out Israel's dick long enough to ask them if they wanted him to swallow. Unacceptable. The fellatio must never cease.
ReplyDeleteIf Danielle Pletka's AEI column isn't a prolonged "I got bupkes", I don't know what is.
ReplyDeleteOne can't help but see all this nutblogger whinging over Hagel as kabuki. I can't, anyway. It's not as if one person can any longer singlehandedly change the defense culture (Rummy's "snowflakes," anyone?). It's been evolving for too long, the mode of operation too entrenched, insular and incestuous for any human being to alter in only a few years. It gives them a chance to scream about hurting Israel's feefees, sure, but even there, I'm doubtful that they much care except that the only people questioning Israel's behavior aren't conservatives, by and large.
ReplyDeleteAll of this relates to the age-old--and decidedly cynical and manipulative--cri de coeur that Democrats are "soft on defense." They know that Obama's choices have been made to deflect that charge and in that they sense weakness and capitulation, which further encourages them to attack. Lord knows there were better managers available than the execrable professional toady and sycophant and bungling spook, Robert Gates.
What makes this all the more inane is that, overall, Hagel is remarkably pedestrian. Even his hawkish tendencies are unremarkable. He's not going to be a change agent. He's an expression of Obama's desire to regain and maintain a pre-crash status quo with which conservatives are otherwise quite comfortable.
They've always had the instincts of a schoolyard bully, and they're on display in this little passion play.
"The Thundering Weasel Zipper" is actually one of Lewis Carroll's less-remembered poems.
ReplyDeleteI believe that's _General_ Jack D. Ripper, to you.
ReplyDelete"the conservative strategy must be aimed at making that 'win' as damaging as possible to the reputation of the Democratic Party,"
ReplyDeleteOh darn. They've been so cheerful and agreeable up to now.
My bad. I was sure it was a Motorhead song.
ReplyDelete"Hagel nomination and Left's dilemma: Do they hate Israel more than they love gays?"
ReplyDeleteMcCain sounds quite rapt with his vision of left-wing debate, in which two strawmen enter the Thunderdome of his imagination. It would be churlish to inform him otherwise
In my naivete I had imagined that the responsibility of the Secretary of Defense was over the security of the US from potential external military threats. I would have thought that the relationship between the US and a Middle East ally was the purview of the Secretary of State, and the treatment of gays was an internal affair, and if conflict arose within the Cabinet then there was a guy in charge to sort it out. So what the feck do Hegel's views on these issues have to do with anything?
ReplyDeleteYou mean a Mötörhëad söng?
ReplyDelete(he was on our side)
ReplyDeletePerfect, Roy.
Excuse me Duncan, you just cited the NYT, but linked elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
Right, why'd I ask.
I am amazed the Bush administration never thought of it.
ReplyDeleteGiven how much puffery and saccharine hero-worship the US defense forces get from the press and the general public, I think it is a tribute to the level-headedness of the generals that they haven't come to believe their own publicity and tried a coup.
ReplyDeleteIt's the political version of the falling cat with hot, buttered toast strapped to its back.
ReplyDeleteWell, military spending IS the only "jobs program" the Pugs have ever advocated spending money on.
ReplyDeleteIt used to be enough for the William Kristols and and John Podhoretzs of the world to make Israel the 51st state, but now they won't be satisfied until the U.S. becomes the 7th Administrative District of Israel.
ReplyDeletePerhaps sensing that she is losing the crowd, Pletka moves on to more , serious charges, e.g., "Hagel's conviction that were it not for 'the Jews,' US relations with the Middle East would be copacetic." This is not a Hagel quote, and Pletka does not supply a citation, for reasons you can guess.
ReplyDeleteBecause, clearly, anyone who sass-mouths Likud (by failing to acknowledge that there's only one side to this particular argument) is hoping to return to that Era of Good Feeling known as the British Mandate.
This is what happens when you write about politics the way Hitchcock filmed Lifeboat.
What is it with these guys and their fascination with The Untouchables? Do they not realize that it's a highly fictionalized version of events in which most of the characters didn't exist in real life, and those that did weren't portrayed with any real accuracy? Just because it's set in and mentions Chicago? It's as if they kept talking about Obama carrying a wallet with Bad-Ass Motherfucker on it, Biden reminiscing about a Royale with Cheese, and Rahm Emanuel telling them to pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the fuckin' car.
ReplyDeleteRemember, too, that the Xtian evangelist movement in the U.S. needs Israel to exist so that the Jews can rebuild the Temple and usher in the End Times.
ReplyDeleteThis is why Israel gets a pass on anything it does (and an instant "YES!!!" to anything it asks of America).
As it turns out, you're both right.
ReplyDeleteI should have done, but the fact is I'm sick to fucking death of Jennifer Rubin.
ReplyDelete"Then she taps the side of her knows [sic] and does the Monty Python bit where Eric Idle wants to know if Terry Jones' wife is a goer."
ReplyDeleteThe side of her knows? Oh, Mr. Edroso. Please refund my subscription immediately.
If John Petraeus had been clever enough to choose a mistress who could keep her yap closed...
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sure that more than a few generals have read Seven Days In May with a wistful gleam in their eyes...
ReplyDeletehere you go...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/us/politics/for-kerry-and-hagel-doubts-about-war-born-in-vietnam.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/us/politics/obama-nominees-in-step-on-light-footprint.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print
Talking to that chair was pro bono work.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, FAIR is good people. Well, this FAIR. There's at least one group of jackasses out there using the name.
ReplyDeleteJoin the line... it's stretches 'round the world.
ReplyDeleteI hope they let him keep the chair at least.
ReplyDelete"Maybe things will be better... in Chicago"
ReplyDeleteNoblesse oblige.
ReplyDeleteBecause the FAIR article discusses, and I believe links to, more than Times article, so it's simpler to refer to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks D, and that's kind of my point. Despite whatever good intentions, the FAIR article-- an editorial actually-- sets up both Kerry and Hagel to be warmongers, by cherrypicking their past statements, while the NYT article does not, instead choosing to review what they have said in context.
ReplyDeleteIt's dishonest on FAIR's part, and I don't think it accurately portrays either of them.
Don't get me wrong: I greatly admire FAIR and have done for several years, I just think they got this one wrong.
I further think that the author of the article, Peter Hart, is misplaced. His style is not the dispassionate truth-telling and fact-finding of this branch of journalism, and perhaps he'll find his place at, say, Fox News.
Better than dabbling in anti semitic esperanto.
ReplyDeleteuh, yeah...
ReplyDeleteIt's reminiscent of a well traveled road we use here in Hollywood: find a single word in a disparaging review of a bad movie and cite it in the trailer.
For example, imagine that Roger Ebert writes: The most appallingly bad film i've ever seen, despite fabulous sets"
In the trailer:
Fabulous!
-- Roger Ebert
In other words, gimme a break, Duncan.
One of these days the concern trolls of the right are going to encounter the projection leaders of the right at a conference or an NR cruise, and the result will be the annihilation of both in a burst of pure bullshit. I just hope there's video.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the fallout on his brother, David.
ReplyDeleteI think you mean anti-semiotic.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Bullshit meets bullshit and a cannibalistic coprophagous lunch is self-catered.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, this Hagel hate will further fragment the GOP.
ReplyDeleteNope. Hagel ceased to be a Republican the day he accepted Obama's offer, instead of telling the Usurper to go fuck himself. He's as much a Republican as GWB, which is to say not at all.
Reminder to self: never post before caffeine.
ReplyDeleteJust for that, you can't go on the cruise.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see him nominate Rumsfeld*...just to see what they'd do.
ReplyDelete*Not really.
Everything will be faster in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteAw, fuck it... since the wingy fringe won't approve anyone anyway, Obama ought to go all out and nominate Ward Churchill.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to think McCain's a mole.
ReplyDeleteTime for a cancer screening, there's no way that one's benign.
"I'm beginning to think McCain's a mole. But who would pay him?" The same folks who pay ArgleBargle?
ReplyDeleteIf conservatards get this agitated about a Repug being Sec Def, imagine if Obama nominated Gen Wesley Clark, someone who is sane and had glimmerings of professionalism and ability! Then, the fireworks would be fabulous!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the "If he brings a knife, you bring-" quote, I like to mentally fill it in with suggestions like "-you bring a pack of rabid dogs! Or squirrels!" or "-you bring a CHAINSAW!!!11" etc.
ReplyDeleteCan I go on the cruise in his place? Can I have his spot? Gee, imagine an Alicublog Cruise.... sigh. Just thinking about it makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteI shall email this word, coprophagous, to K Lopez. She likes new words.
ReplyDeleteOK--Hagel's a former GOP senator, who's going to be sitting through endless GOP pontification on his fitness for the job, and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI imagine he also has at least one briefcase full of "observations" and "notations" to be used against his detractors, if necessary, sealed and ready to hand off to the White House. Or the Justice Department. FWIW.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Winslow_Homer_004.jpg
ReplyDeleteMan, Village Voice commenting sucks.
ReplyDeleteI imagine Clint standing around afterwards with a mostly-empty glass of mineral water, and some convention intern coming up to him to take it away, only to have him growl, "I ain't done with this!" The intern backs away, slightly terrified but also in awe, and Clint clutches the glass all the way back to Carmel-by-the-Sea, where he finally sets it down on his kitchen counter, then five minutes later looks at it with puzzlement, wondering why it doesn't match any of his other glasses.
ReplyDeleteTwo strawmen enter, one strawman... No, that doesn't quite work. McCain needs both of these bad boys up and on their feet.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ben. I've always wondered how that was spelled.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDeleteThey used to have disqus, and then they decided to make it worse?!?!?
~
Obama ought to go all out and stop being "a moderate Republican".
ReplyDeleteBut he won't. There's no money in that.
~
Tell her it's Latin for "You love the Pope more than most."
ReplyDelete~
Tell her it's a verb.
ReplyDeleteOh, toast. I thought you said Taitz.
ReplyDeleteSo many turns of phrase that made me literally laugh out loud on this one. They are not paying you enough.
ReplyDeleteHow about instead of a cruise, the Savannah Music Festival, March 20 through April 6. You can all crash at my place! (Not really.)
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the best music festivals in the world, IMHO, and the city is gorgeous that time of year. In other words, it kicks a cruise's ass.
A la lanterne, citizen journalist!
ReplyDeleteaimai
Tell her liberals hate it more than anything.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUaWBjxlc5Q
ReplyDeleteWeasels zipped my flesh.
ReplyDeleteI think it's kind of sad that the crappy Republican Secretary of Defense nominee may be the best of President Obama's recent nominees. Jack Lew is an awful choice for Treasury and how exactly has Brennan gotten better since 2008 when he had to withdraw his name from consideration
ReplyDeleteMcCain is not a mole. He is a melanoma.
ReplyDeleteYou're my hero. It's great to see not everyone from Hollywood is a pompous twat.
ReplyDeleteI'll give you burgers and fries... now, what kind of pie?
ReplyDeleteShh!
ReplyDeleteYou will be scolded for letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Also, when Obama blows up innocent foreigners, it's different (and more forgivable) than when Bush and Cheney did it.
/ Tboggers
~
Tell her not to indulge her munchies.
ReplyDeleteCan I PLEASE dig into the roadkill now? Or do I have to floss this peice of jeans first? Wait... I'm tasting metal...
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you're not bitter, bless your heart.
ReplyDeleteCan I have his spot?
ReplyDeleteAny time.
[WAGGLES EYEBROWS INAPPROPRIATELY]
sigh. Just thinking about it makes me happy.
Yeah, I get that a lot.... Well, sometimes.... Okay, never.
He's not wrong, either. Unfortunately.
ReplyDeletewhen Obama blows up innocent foreigners, it's different (and more forgivable) than when Bush and Cheney did it.
ReplyDeleteNo, he's just done a couple of orders of magnitude less of it.
Left wing moral absolutists: proof that plenty of liberals think math is the devil's witchcraft, too. Who cares about scale and perspective? The number 1 and by extension all mathematics is inherently phallocentric and therefore anybody who does quantitative reasoning about moral issues is a false flag wingnut.
What kind of gibberish is this?
ReplyDeleteAs long as Obama doesn't approach Bush-Cheney's death count, we should give him a pass?
You'd have a better argument if you could illustrate the benefits of Obama's killings.
I guess that is a far more difficult undertaking, because I don't see it being done.
Instead, it's a lot of puffery about "moral absolutists".
~
After which, of course, the Jews can go to hell as far as the evangelicals are concerned. It's the most mercenary and selfish possible reason to support something. "We need you to destroy yourselves as a race so WE can go to heaven! Haha, see ya, suckers!"
ReplyDelete"He pulls a knife, you're Magneto. He sends one of yours to the hospital, it's Wolverine anyway. That's the Charles Xavier way, and that's how Rogue sounds so corn pone."
ReplyDelete