Mike Allan

And Glenn is all over a particularly blatant case of pathalogical denial from Mike Allen

Link

ALLEN: And indeed, Scott does adopt the vocabulary, rhetoric of the left wing haters. Can you believe it in here he says the White House press corps was too deferential to the administration?

Wow - who'd a thunk?

I think that is rather important so I'm reposting my reaction there, over here:

Alternate reality
Apparently there are still journalists who inhabit a parallel Universe. That would be the one where vast stockpiles of WMD's were found and our soldiers were indeed greeted by a grateful populace as liberators and bringers of Democracy.

We've come full circle. In 2005 when "Feet To The Fire" came out the fact that the press had been disasterously wrong about what to expect in Iraq was sufficiently fresh, that there could indeed be a reevaluation of the press's role in leading us into war.

Feet To The Fire

But as of 2008, we've now 'been there-done that' and memories have faded enough that the original roles of cheerleaders and 'haters' can be reprised.

I think if someone's going to dredge up the phrase "left wing hater" and try to get any fresh mileage out of it, the suggested opposite should be "right-wing liar".

(Though the latest new from Dunkin' Donuts suggests that right-wing haters are alive and well)

Hearts and Minds

re: Glenn on McCain

It seems that everybody remembers what happened in Vietnam, but no one remembers what the world looked like at the time. The US was locked in a seemingly mortal conflict with the forces of "Godless Communism" but because of the world-ending nature of Nuclear warfare, it was necessary that all our battles be fought in small containable proxy wars.

It was also true that score was kept over who was winning this global conflict by the number of "proxy states" that could be claimed by each side. One of the results of this though was that the competition for allies involved both the carrot and stick sides of the equation. The US and USSR competed heavily for allies by spreading aid around like candy (both in military hardware and food/economic aid.) In that context, it was important that we not be seen as irreparably evil. A decent respect to the opinions of mankind still matters and carpet bombing civilian popuations is not the best way to differentiate yourself from the evil commies.

When I was an adolescent

and was working on developing my political and religious views one of the things I did was sit down and read the New Testatament confining my attention to the four Gospels figurung that they were the closest thing I could find to 'source' material.

What I saw astounded me. The amount of energy that is spent condemning hypocrisy and, more importantly, false piety based on strict adherence to doctrine rather than the common sense kindness to our fellow travelers is boggling especially when you consider how much the very attitudes that Jesus railed against have become reincorporated into our Religious institutions.

I give the Vatican credit for being more consistent about life issues than the Right here in America, but anyone who considers abortion a more grave evil than launching a war of aggresion has carefully avoided thinking about the nature of suffering.