Perlstein and his commie pinko liberal ilks idea of "window of opportunity"... through a burqa ie., women have no face, no voice - NO LIFE!
Posted on 08/03/2004 12:09:31 PM PDT by dead
Opening Statement
Dear FRiends:
I once suffered two great frustrations in being a freelance political writer. First, the loneliness: you put an article out there, and you might as well have thrown it down a black hole for all the response you get. Second, the ghettoization: when you do get response, it would be from folks you agree with. Not fun for folks like me who reliish--no, crave and need--political argument.
Then came the Internet, the blogs--and: problem solved.
I have especially enjoyed having my articles in the Village Voice posted on Free Republic by "dead," and arguing about them here. The only frustration is that I never have enough time--and sometimes no time--to respond as the threads are going on. That is why I arranged for an entire afternoon--this afternoon--to argue on Free Republic. Check out my articles and have at me.
A little background: I am a proud leftist who specializes in writing about conservatives. I have always admired conservatives for their political idealism, acumen, stalwartness, and devotion. I have also admired some of their ideas--especially the commitment to distrusting grand social schemes, and the deep sense of the inherent flaws in human nature. (To my mind the best minds in the liberal tradition have encompassed these ideals, while still maintaining that robust social reform is still possible and desirable. My favorite example is the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, author of the Serenity Prayer and a great liberal Democrat.)
Lately, however, I've become mad at the right, and have written about it with an anger not been present in my previous writings. It began with the ascension of George Bush, when I detected many conservatives beginning to care more about power than principles. The right began to seem less interesting to me--more whiny, more shallow--and, what's more, in what I saw as an uncritical devotion to President Bush, often in retreat from its best insights about human nature.
I made my strongest such claim in a Village Voice article two weeks ago in which I, after much thought, chose to say conservatism was "verging on becoming an un-American creed" for the widespread way conservatives are ignoring the lessons of James Madison's great insights in Federalist 51 that in America we are supposed to place our ultimate trust in laws, not men.
Finally, in what I see as the errors of the Iraq campaign, I recognize the worst aspects of arrogant left-wing utopianism: the idea that you can remake a whole society and region through sheer force of will. I think Iraq is a tragic disaster (though for the time being the country is probably better off than it was when Saddam was around--but only, I fear, for the time being).
I am also, by the way, a pretty strong critic of my own side, as can be seen in my latest Village Voice piece.
So: I'm yours for the day--until 7:10 pm CST, when I'm off to compete in my weekly trivia contest at the University of Chicago Pub. Until then: Are you ready to rumble?
Respectfully,
Rick Perlstein
Nat Hentoff, who writes for the Voice, is pretty good, some of the time. He's an old-time liberal, harkening back to the time when liberals were not anti-America, anti-Israel, anti-semitic, Michael Moore-embracing loons.
Perlstein and his commie pinko liberal ilks idea of "window of opportunity"... through a burqa ie., women have no face, no voice - NO LIFE!
I think liberals and conservatives share many ends, but disagree on the means. We both want people to be happy, healthy, fed, sheltered, safe, etc. However, liberals think the ends can and should be achieved at gunpoint, i.e. coercive philanthropy. Conservatives understand coercive philanthropy does not work, and is quite destructive of the ends they seek to achieve. And there's the whole police state thing that's required to make it work.
I detected many conservatives beginning to care more about power than principles.
I don't see any of that amongst the Dims....</sarcasm>
...in what I saw as an uncritical devotion to President Bush...
He saw that here?????
---
I missed this one. Is it sarcasm? I definitely won't have time to give my sense of the matter, but I certainly have seen evidence that, say, paleocon critics of Bush have not been made to feel welcome here.
A sadist likes to do the beating.
where was the....
" I'm rick perlstein and i'm reporting for duty " ?....
and with your best Lurch Kerry cyber salute
Ready to rumble? Village Voice Author, Rick Perlstein,
Here to Debate the Freeper Horde If anyone wants to rumble with Rick Perlstein, his screen name is Perlstein .....Read this short article posted by dead first.
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.
It's not much of a debate is it? Another proof of how uncivilized, for lack of a better word, these damn conservatives are. But then, maybe you cast your net too wide. You axed us to debate everything you wrote. Well, that's not how it usually works here or in any debating society. This is no Toastmasters Club meeting: "speak on any subject." Huh?
I'll ask another. Why does pro-choice only mean when the choice is about whether or not to kill a baby but doesn't address the choice they made to have sex in the first place? Because it's really pro-abortion and to hell with personal responsbility back at the "having sex" stage, right? I just want a simple answer.....
Mr Perlstein -these are statements of Iraqis - do you agree or disagree with them?
"The American soldier is trying to protect me from the terrorists and the American president saved me from Saddam's regime. If this is an occupation then I show my deepest respect to it and if such suicide attacks are called resistance then let the resistance go to hell." - Hoshyar Zakhoi-Duhok/Iraq
“Those groups made the police their primary target and any sane human being knows who are the enemies of the police; they’re the gangsters of course but when shall the cheering and clapping for those gangsters end and until when shall these crimes continue using the lousy excuse of resistance.
The media don’t show the slightest care about hundreds, no, thousands of innocent lives. All the media care about is to spread lies as solid facts. For example some media sources reported that jet fighters flew over Ramadi (where I live) and broke the sound barrier, which didn’t happen. Another example: they reported that the American army bombed a house, while the fact was that some mortar shells fired by the so-called resistance men hit the house and this was not the first time; tens of mortar shells fell on residential areas in my town. What can I say, I’m talking to the deaf”
Mohammed Al-Taa’i - Ramadi/Iraq.
“I closely follow the news about suicide attacks and the operations that target Americans and Iraqis because I was about to become part of this game.
The suicide attacks are performed by Arab fighters who’s first goal is heaven while the brains who plan for these operations have deep strategic goals but they will fail because Iraqis have recognized and hated this game. As for small bombs and IEDs; these are planted by a mixture of ex-criminals (hired right now) and intelligence elements from some countries and also those who were privileged before the change in Iraq”
Shahin Abdul Sattar-Baghdad.
“It’s time for you Iraqis to rise and unite your efforts against terror and terror-supporting countries. We will continue to water the tree of freedom with our blood and woe to the enemies of the people whether Arab or not. Woe to the hypocritical media. We will all build the new Iraq, the Iraq of hope and freedom and let the enemies of freedom go to hell.
Here I ask those who call such crimes resistance? What about our children and the poor workers and salesmen? Are they agents too?
Thanks to the Arabs who care about us and share our concerns and I say to the Arabs who consider us their enemies: we’re moving forward on the road of freedom and you can keep your course if you like but we will never waste the time or the chance to build the Iraq of peace and freedom”
Sherif-Kerkuk/Iraq.
“The filthy suicide attack killed 68 honest hardworking Iraqis among whom there were husbands, fathers. This attack and others similar to it are the last breath of these coward groups that hold Jihad as a slogan and use Islam as a cover.
The corrupt media that is bribed by the neighboring countries is morally responsible for these tragedies because they try to give legitimacy to these coward attacks by using the term “resistance”. The government is strong and its steps are supported by all the honest. Time will be on our side”
Mohammed Abdul jabbar-Baghdad.
“This is the “resistance” killing innocent people and threatening peace in Iraq. Is this Jihad? They kill innocents and they justify their doings by saying that Iraqis cooperate with the occupation while the truth is that these poor victims were people who loved and served their country by joining the IP to bring stability and peace to Iraq where coward terrorists established their stronghold. If those terrorists were the least brave they would’ve shown their faces when they appear in front of the cameras of the anti-Iraqi, poison-spreading satellite channels”
Um Noor-Iraq.
"Regardless of what some may say, something new is sprouting here, a democracy, young, but real, and in need of help. Regardless of what many Europeans may think or argue, as an Iraqi I believe that we shall always be grateful to the US for our liberation." -Monsignor Al Ras,
Iraq
I think that Bush and Blair are the heroes of democracy, humanity and the war on terror and state terror...." -Zana sefeen-Iraq.
"Who said there are no WMDs in Iraq? The most dangerous WMD exists and the American troops captured it. It’s the weapon that exterminated five million Iraqis and hundreds of thousands from our neighbors impoverished, detained and tortured. Saddam Hussain is the WMD in Iraq. Isn’t a weapon with such capabilities worth to go for a war to (disarm it)? Saving twenty million people from that weapon, isn’t that worth the effort?" Hasan Al-Shammari-Baghdad.
"America and the UK have offered the human race the greatest favor ever by toppling the ghoul of Iraq. All the debates and the investigations in these two countries are motivated by political ambitions and jealousy rather than the protection of the country and constitution. Bush and Blair deserve a Noble Prize for peace" Abdulrahman Al-Alwani-Syria.
Source for quotes -
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
Better question yet, how can a man who went to Vietnam for 4 LOUSY MONTHS, who ADMITS he committed atrocities, who joined an anti-war group so radical it planned assassinations, who threw away his medals, now claim to be a war hero!!!??
Talk about chutzpa...
"when I detected many conservatives beginning to care more about power than principles." Odd, we've felt the exact same way about liberals for years. In fact if money is power then dems are by action more concerned about power than principles since they're always trying to take our cash and use it as THEY see fit.
"..the idea that you can remake a whole society and region through sheer force of will. I think Iraq is a tragic disaster..." We aren't trying to re-make a whole society and region. We are trying to rid them of despots and dictators and by so doing nurture the possibility of freedom for millions. What they choose to do with that freedom is up to them. There is a profound difference.
You mean the JFKerry reinvention tour is not working on you...LOL....
Frankly if he gets more than 43 percent of the vote I will be very very suprised : ))))
You could read more carefully too....we are liberating them. Like we did France, Germany, Japan, and every other nation we have 'conquered'. We do not remake a whole society, we give them an opportunity to become free and prosperous. We handed control of the country to them and are merely helping them police it to maintain stability while they establish themselves.
They generally feel the need to tell you when they are trying to be sarcastic. Luckily, they rarely use the </irony> tag as this would be a little beyond most of them.
I would be happy just to get someone to 'splain me why the Wall Against Palestinian Terror in Israel is so bad. What's the downside?
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