The Red Brick Times

Baratunde Thurston, a columnist on The Huffington Post:

"Bush's strategery in this case, as with global warming, evolution and other facts, depends on creating doubt. He said things like:

1. "Now, I know some people doubt the universal appeal of liberty, or worry that the Middle East isn't ready for it."

2. "Others believe that America's presence is destabilizing, and that if the United States would just leave a place like Iraq those who kill our troops or target civilians would no longer threaten us."

3. "Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently."

4. "Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left."

No, there isn't. This is a complex literary device known as "bullshit," which is employed all too often by people who don't know what they're talking about. I, too, can invoke the tree hugging, ape-descending, freedom-hating "some" and "others" to create a "legitimate" debate where none legitimately exists. Watch me work my magic:"

Posted 8:45 AM by whatley (2) comments

       Comments:

The title of the linked article did not finish the tautology. In truth, the statement should read "Iraq is to Vietnam as Dubya is to Nixon." Venal (check), paranoid (check), clannish (check), self-centered (check), closed-minded (check). Dubya happens to have the teflonish self-assurance of the Morally Right that is a hallmark of shallow-mindedness. Thinkers are prone to self-checking and afterthought (Jimmy Carter). Puppets are never in doubt (Ronald Reagan). Truman wasn't that bright, but he knew it, and accepted the criticism without letting it overwhelm him. The curent administration lives above the tree line, in rarified air where it takes maximum effort just to survive. Nothing grows above bush height in the icy windswept wastes.

# posted by  Andy : August 25, 2007 11:11 AM
 
For those not Andy (another public service from your RBT):

tautology:
1. needless repetition of an idea, esp. in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in "widow woman."

2. an instance of such repetition.

3. Logic.
a. a compound propositional form all of whose instances are true, as "A or not A."
b. an instance of such a form, as "This candidate will win or will not win."

# posted by  whatley : August 26, 2007 11:57 AM
 
Post a Comment


---