Sensible Centrist, Go Fuck Thyself
So saith Sadly, No!. The details are a little muddled here, but the sentiment is clear enough.
Just as I'm experiencing a kind of calm resulting from outrage fatigue against The Worst President Ever, I find something new to bug the hell out of me: the total insanification of the left.
Oh, I TOLD you it was going to happen. The seeds of craziness are always there on the left, just waiting to germinate. They're still only about 1/20th as crazy as the right...or at least only about 1/200th as powerful...but here's a scenario I've contemplated for quite some time:
Just as everybody in the entire freaking world except for a few American conservative dead-enders recognizes that Bush is basically the worst president ever, the looniest fringest of the American left come completely unhinged. Since loony lefties scare middle America way, way worse than loony righties, the right will then use the unhinged left in a major campaign to stave off the crushing defeats they so richly deserve in '06 and '08.
Anyway, so far as I can tell, we're basically fighting a two-front domestic battle: on one side we have to battle against Bush's attempt to destroy much of what we've spent the last 225 years building in this country. On the other side, we have to battle against the frothy-mouthed nutcases who dream about making the American left as crazy and dogmatic as the American right has become.
Know what I don't understand? Idiots who think that extremism is only bad when it's the OTHER guy's extremism.
Sheesh. Blogging used to be an outlet to prevent me from yelling at the t.v. But now what's going to keep me from yelling at my computer screen?
So saith Sadly, No!. The details are a little muddled here, but the sentiment is clear enough.
Just as I'm experiencing a kind of calm resulting from outrage fatigue against The Worst President Ever, I find something new to bug the hell out of me: the total insanification of the left.
Oh, I TOLD you it was going to happen. The seeds of craziness are always there on the left, just waiting to germinate. They're still only about 1/20th as crazy as the right...or at least only about 1/200th as powerful...but here's a scenario I've contemplated for quite some time:
Just as everybody in the entire freaking world except for a few American conservative dead-enders recognizes that Bush is basically the worst president ever, the looniest fringest of the American left come completely unhinged. Since loony lefties scare middle America way, way worse than loony righties, the right will then use the unhinged left in a major campaign to stave off the crushing defeats they so richly deserve in '06 and '08.
Anyway, so far as I can tell, we're basically fighting a two-front domestic battle: on one side we have to battle against Bush's attempt to destroy much of what we've spent the last 225 years building in this country. On the other side, we have to battle against the frothy-mouthed nutcases who dream about making the American left as crazy and dogmatic as the American right has become.
Know what I don't understand? Idiots who think that extremism is only bad when it's the OTHER guy's extremism.
Sheesh. Blogging used to be an outlet to prevent me from yelling at the t.v. But now what's going to keep me from yelling at my computer screen?
posted by Winston Smith at
3:51 PM
10 Comments:
It looks as if McCain, Graham, et al. have compromised with the White House on the torture bill. Meaning the US is one step closer to legalizing torture. Our government is denying that habeus corpus applies to those accused of terrorism, a right that the King of England had to acknowledge after the Magna Carta was signed. And it looks like our president, as well as various pundits and legislators, are dead-set on (at the very minimum) bombing Iran.
On the other hand, we have some guys with websites ridiculing another guy with a website.
Yes, this proves that "the left" -- John Kerry, Bob Casey, Harry Reid, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, as well as everyone else who identifies themselves as "left-wing" -- has gone totally insane.
Also, the latest poll I've seen (LA Times), states that 44% of Americans APPROVE of Bush. "A few conservative dead-enders" is quite the understatement.
I think what that guy is trying to say, very incoherently, is that there are two kinds of "centrism". Centrism as a political stance, and centrism as a tactical stance. It's the latter that has him so up in arms for the most part. And I tend to agree--it leads to 'noble compromises' on issues like, well, going to war and torture. Not to mention running up the national debt.
But then he starts talking about economics in such a vague way that I can't even tell what exactly he's complaining about.
Whoever that Retardo character is, he's a big step down from the original Sadly, No!, who seems to have pretty much hung up his shoes.
- mac
Update: a little more on the people who can fuck themselves.
Spineless, supposedly centrist Democrats who refuse to debate, letting Republicans set the entire agenda. Supposedly centrist Republicans who beat their breasts about the sanctity of the constitution, etc, while simultaneously voting to allow torture, and to do compromise habeus corpus.
Here's the meat of it:
"IN GENERAL. No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas or civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States, is a partyas a source of rights, in any court of the United States or its States or territories."
And worse:
"The President has the authority for the United States to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and to promulgate higher standards and administrative regulations for violations of treaty obligations which are not grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions."
Since mac is the only one with a coherent comment here, I'll respond to him:
Yep, good point. Anybody who thinks that compromise is always good is sadly mistaken. One doesn't compromise with extremists. And Bush et. al. are extremists.
Ok, so you in fact agree with that link - you stand with the Kevin Drums out there and against the centrist-for-centrism's-sake Liebermanfans.
Which means your post is twaddle.
Jeez, Rilkefan, for a physicist your reading comprehension is not so good...
Winston, this type of post used to annoy me, but I've grow to accept the fact that you have an iron-clad ratio of "Bush is the worst president in history and the Republicans are destroying the republic"-to-"Liberal bloggers are almost as bad" posts.
I think it's something like 6 to 1.
Busted...
Yes, the Rabid Lambs of the left wing blogs are as bad as torture, massive deficits, burning out our military, and ignoring global warmings.
Cause you know, the rabid lambs were right about everything, but they weren't POLITE. and as we all know, the most important thing is politeness.
You know, part of me wants to agree with you. Both sides suffer from extremism, and the left does have to show care that we don't let PETA and the like take over like the Dobsons and other theo-cons have on the right.
That doesn't mean it's ok, or fair, of you to call anyone to the left of you an extremist, and it's flat out wrong of you to imply anyone past you on the spectrum is.... unhinged.
One of the easiest signs of extremism to recognize is the willingness to utterly dismiss a large group of people as unreachable and lost to reason. That way, you don't have to try and engage them or deal with any of their arguments, you can simply dismiss them as liberals.
What you're doing is frankly arrogant. You are not the center of the political universe, bubba, and if you're going to simply dismiss people for having views you find distasteful, you're becoming part of the problem.
If you have a problem with Retardo's post, argue against it. I don't agree with absolutely everything he says in it, but I don't think he's so far off base as to be idly dismissed.
And if you don't like his tone, well, shit. Go to a different blog. Sadly, No is about snark, and I don't recall voting you as the standardmaker of the left, empowered to determine what is and isn't an acceptable tone. There's a big difference between extremism and venting irritation, and I'm half sorry you can't see it.
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