Democrats can't out-tough the GOP. It's possible that James Webb can do it. But he's sui generis; a Democrat who can win at politics when played under Republican rules. Democrats love those candidates, because they think of presidential elections as an away game, and they're endlessly hunting for the candidate who plays best under those conditions.What then are the Democratic "rules"? Or what's the Democratic "home game"? Ezra mixes the metaphor. Sports don't have different rules at different stadiums. But he doesn't even go on to try to discern the rules or the conditions at the home stadium. He moves on to Obama-promotion:
His policies -- particularly his domestic policies -- have not been half as innovative as his politics. But his willingness to double down on opposition to the gas tax holiday, to battle back on negotiating with dictators, to respond to attacks by pressing the point, has been genuinely exciting. And though he has been confident and even aggressive in all of this, he has not been "tough."And he disses Kerry:
He has not pretended to go shooting, or driven on to Jay Leno's show on Harley. He's essentially been making his own rules.So can you figure out what Ezra wants to say about masculinity as played by Democratic rules in Democratic stadiums? He titles his post "The Politics of Masculinity," and I think his real point may be that Democrats shouldn't try to compensate for what appears to be inadequate masculinity, but try to find where he says that:
To be clear, this isn't a commentary on Webb.Well, then be clear. What is it a commentary on?
But the argument for his elevation to the national ticket -- which is to say, to become one of the faces of the party -- is about the electoral benefit of a hyper masculine, effortlessly tough, culturally conservative (seeming) candidate who can win back those Reagan Democrats and white males.I'd love to have a private, confidential conversation with Webb about what he thinks about the way his party perceives him as some sort of walking bucket of extra testosterone.
As I wrote the other day, I don't think the Democratic Party should be orienting itself towards reknitting that particular coalition.Knitting! Only a Democrat would talk about knitting masculinity.
I think there are other, more plausible, paths to a majority coalition; paths that are more durable because they aren't so candidate-specific, and that could create a political model better for progressivism and for broad participation in electoral politics.That's the last sentence of his essay! Come on, Ezra! Real men don't use semicolons. And more than that: Say what you have to say. Don't pussyfoot around. I think you mean:
We are the Mommy Party. Let's own it. Let's do it! The home game is knitting and cooking and putting bandaids on booboos. Be forthright about it. That's more masculine than driving a Harley or a tank or carrying a gun and a dead duck and nominating a bucket of testosterone for VP.
IN THE COMMENTS: George quotes a part of the essay that I left out:
"He [Webb] is the daywalker, combining a progressive's positions with a southern militarist's affectations."UWS guy said:
A 'daywalker' is a vampire.
What does that sentence mean?
I thought the daywalker line was pretty hip. It also made Webb sound even more bad-ass.Chip Ahoy said:
I find Ezra Klein nearly incomprehensible and in possession of a disordered mind. And yet his readers apparently 'get' him. One said he understood the metaphor of daywalkers, then elaborated incomprehensibly.Newscaper says:
This is hilarious IMO. It doesn't mean what Klein, Mr. [wannabe] Hip thinks it does. The other comment here was right in that by making a semi-obscure (by mainstream stds) pop culture reference to Blade -- the vampire comics and Snipes films, he was trying to sound cool and edgy.
What a dipshit -- he actually botched the metaphor.
A "daywalker" is a vampire who can survive in sunlight and fully mingle with normal people and pass as one. But he's still a vampire.
Sounds like Klein is saying the Dems in general are the vampires who can't stand exposure in the light of day (see other commenter's correct 'prog' vs 'lib' observation), and admitting the Dems are treacherous, blood-sucking parasites -- yep, sounds about right :)
But, one might interject, "But wait, the daywalker Blade IS the good guy in the stories," to which I reply that Blade is only the good guy because he has turned *against* the evil of the other vampires, opposing their agenda rather than advancing it.
Klein's metaphor so totally bites him in the ass, by inadvertently being approriate in a way that is 180 out of synch with his intentions in using it.
Posts
123 comments:
You seem to be perpetuating a middle school version of masculinity, Ann.
Real men don't bomb other countries to show how tough they are. That's downright juvenile, as is our national discourse.
Knitting! Only a Democrat would talk about knitting masculinity.
LOL. Great line!
Real men don't bomb other countries to show how tough they are.
No, of course not. We bomb other countries in order to advance our national interests. Nothing wrong with that.
"I think there are other, more plausible, paths to a majority coalition; paths that are more durable because they aren't so candidate-specific, and that could create a political model better for progressivism and for broad participation in electoral politics."
And they are?
AlphaLiberal said...
Real men
Clearly something you are not and can never aspire to solely based on your mewlings on this blog.
don't bomb other countries to show how tough they are.
We are a warrior nation. We don't bomb to show off, we bomb to destroy our enemies abilities to wage war back at us. Your statement is a treatment in your lack of knowledge in this regard and is a feeble attempt at trying to psychoanalyze something you clearly do no understand.
That's downright juvenile, as is our national discourse.
This is just nonsense. Our national discourse is juvenile? Do you even understand what you are saying? We have serious issues that we as Americans deal with on a serious basis. I haven't seen a single juvenile treatment of any of them. Define what is juvenile in our national discourse so I know what the hell you are saying because you are just coming off as a pansy at the moment.
If I taught college English and if Klein were my student, I'd give him a C.
The essay is rambling blather.
Here is one sentence:
"He [Webb] is the daywalker, combining a progressive's positions with a southern militarist's affectations."
A 'daywalker' is a vampire.
What does that sentence mean?
It sounds good. It sounds smart. It's bullshit.
If the Dems can't knit or say damn!, well, they can always...darn.
Hey Ann!
Nice synopsis!
There is a time and a place for being tough, and likely John Kerry's inability to show that he could be such to our enemies during a time of war was one big reason that he lost the 2004 election.
In response to AL's point, the problem is the effect of the view of our president on our enemies. Are our enemies more or less likely to strike at us and ours when our president appears strong and willing to hit back? Or when he is kinder and gentler.
Bill Clinton could get away with feeling everyone's pain because we had just won the Cold War, and were not seeing the threat of Islamic terrorism on the horizon. But after 9/11, that was no longer an option - at least for awhile.
The question will be this time around whether the American people believe that the threat has receded enough that we can afford the kinder and gentler masculinity that AL seems to believe in.
The war isn't being tough; it's being determined.
It only looks tough to the frightened, which is to say to the Democrats.
If Ezra were more manly, he would not be afraid to call himself a liberal. Instead he wields the term "progressivism" like a crutch.
They fear Webb - he won't be controlled by Dem leaders like Durbin and Schumer.
Hell Webb may have Prez ambitions too- in some policy ways he is the real male version of Hillary.
I read the "essay" yesterday and thought it was too short and too vague to tackle a topic as broad and as ripe for dissection as masculinity in politics or VP's or whatever it was about. The whole thing was awkward and forced, as if he felt compelled to write about Webb only because the internets have been buzzing about him and not because he has any real opinion or analysis of him.
Still, he's given Ann a nice opportunity to show off her cajones and to spin the Democrats as a bunch of pussy moms; everyone knows that moms are lame. Well played, Ann.
P.S. Semi-colons are fabulous.
And what a throbbing slab of muscular masculinity is dear little Ezra. Seriously, he's totally adorable but I mistrust his opinions about 'masculinity'.
Anyway, this sort of neurotic twaddle is exactly why Democrats are perpetual losers.
And why is the constant reiteration of failed 19th and early 20th century social policies called "progressive"?
In baseball, there are 'ground rules' which are special rules particular to each baseball park or grounds. The unique design of each ballpark requires that rules be defined to handle situations in which the game interacts with play in fair and foul territory.
So, yes, in a sense, there are different rules at different stadiums...
There's also that ridiculous dh rule they insist on and it's seeping into inter-league play and the World Series...
In many cases in politics, masculinity is perceived as leadership or someone having leadership qualities that can be fostered over time. In the politics is perception world, it would be very difficult to be considered masculine and therefore a leader if you are meek and gentle, even if in reality sometimes being gentle can convey a great sense of masculinity.
Ezra is using terms like sui generis and he wants to figure out how to be more of a man?
Dude, light a cigar, bang a babe and join a gym for grief's sake.
Come on, Ezra! Real men don't use semicolons.
Agreed. Furthermore, he uses the semicolon incorrectly:
I think there are other, more plausible, paths to a majority coalition; paths that are more durable ...
If he'd used it correctly, one would be able to replace the semicolon with a period. As it is currently worded, he probably should have used a dash--usually an indication of unclear or lazy writing and thinking.
Maybe Democrats think of presidential elections as an "away" game because the presidency requires dealing with issues they want to "go away" -- specifically trade and national security.
The Democrats are for free trade, but only if its smothered in a blanket of regulations and requirements that assures that it won't actually happen.
The Democrats are for a strong national defense, but only if its strung up in the net of U.N.-style multilateralism that makes assertive national self-interest impossible.
Another thing that the "away game" metaphor reveals is that Democrats are basketball fans, not baseball fans. In basketball when you lose an away game -- like an eminently winnable presidential contest -- you blame it on the refs.
In baseball, where home field advantage is fairly minor, when you lose an away game, you just lose.
At first I thought, "Jim Who?" But thanks to wikip I remembered he was the lifelong Republican and Reagan administration member who ran as a Democrat against "Macaca" George, and won by a razor-thin margin.
Now, how would this guy help the Democratic ticket, exactly? Republican voters love a turncoat? Obama is sure to lock up the macaca vote that way?
And, "ridiculous" is sitting and waiting for a career .060 hitter wave his bat futilely till he's called out. Or having the pitcher who's shutting down the opposition pulled in favor of some pine rider who bats once per day.
Palladian said...
And why is the constant reiteration of failed 19th and early 20th century social policies called "progressive"?
Because it attempts to make leftists and liberals sound cool. No one wants to be labeled a leftist/liberal kook, but get called a progressive and you start to puff you chest out like superman, like you matter, like you are one of the cool kids now. Shit, you don't even have to own a hybrid as long as you are called a progressive because the meaning of the word alone means that you are forward thinking (progressive), sensitive (progressive), issues based (progressive), sympathetic to the plight of the poor (progressive), anti-war (progressive), pacifist (progressive). Get called a progressive and you stand up like bulwark for the ideology. Get called a liberal or a leftist and you cower and shirk that label as if you just got 5 gallons of the black plague thrown on you. Being called a progressive is no different than putting lipstick on a pig.
Ezra Klein is a progressive semicolon.
I think there are other, more plausible, paths to a majority coalition; paths that are more durable because they aren't so candidate-specific, and that could create a political model better for progressivism and for broad participation in electoral politics.
Odd that he's saying Webb's virtues are "candidate-specific," but somehow Obama's success in getting crowds of screaming young enthusiasts to march around with giant posters with his face on themisn't. Just stepping back and looking at the big picture, wouldn't you think he's got that entirely backwards? There's no personality cult around Webb -- any Democrat could occupy the same cultural space, if he were willing to get up and forthrightly condemn the Vietnam war protesters, condemn affirmative action, and defend the values, traditions, and culture of the rural and small-town bits of America against the scorn and criticism of wealthy liberal enclaves. Webb has muted some of the seething contempt he's expressed for liberals and progressives in the past, but he remains credible because -- I think -- people understand that as pretty much necessary to get along with the kind of people who now run the Democratic party.
Take away narcissistic self-labeling, trite slogans and the repetitive delusional rant and there would be nothing left of the modern liberal-"progressive". Welcome to the heart of today's Democratic Party, which over the past 40 years has gradually relocated to that nether region shared with a couple of sagging butt cheeks.
Joe,
Don't--and I mean this with all due respect without diluting its intensity in anyway--dis the dash.
Ann, this post is why I love reading your blog. You have such a wonderful way of cutting through the bull.
Sh!t, that should've been "any way". Anyway--
Meth sez:
We are a warrior nation. We don't bomb to show off, we bomb to destroy our enemies abilities to wage war back at us.
We are not a warrior nation, we're a commercial nation. We bomb to get our enemies to install McDonald'ses and 7-11s.
The warrior class of our nation is that fraction of a percentage--our own little Spartans--who actually re-enlist in Iraq.
The rest of us just want to sell stuff and make cash.
Truth be told, that seems to be a more effective peace-keeping approach than force.
Rhhardin wrote:
The war isn't being tough; it's being determined.
It only looks tough to the frightened, which is to say to the Democrats.
Rh, do you know you just wrote words that George Patton would've been proud to utter?
That's saying something, brother. Congrats.
Cheers,
Victoria
Now, how would this guy help the Democratic ticket, exactly? Republican voters love a turncoat? Obama is sure to lock up the macaca vote that way?
There's a lot of voters who, while they identify as Republican or Democrat, aren't, you know, fanatical about it, any more than Webb is. If they like the candidate on the other side better, they'll vote for him. These are the so-called "Reagan Democrats." A lot of these people, who would otherwise vote for McCain, may find that Webb joining Obama on the ticket is a strong signal that it's safe to vote for Obama, that they'll have someone who will look out for and defend their interests in an Obama administration, even if the person at the top views them as little more than an anthropological curiosity, and dismisses their opinions as nothing more than outgrowths of their deprived social and economic situation.
Smart teams play good away games.
They realise the home crowd needs to be impressed with flair, but what really gets their juices flowing is not some John Rocker idiot strutting up to the mound, but a crafty veteran who can expose holes the crowd know all too well exist in their favourite team.
And when you can demoralise the home crowd not by talent or macho brio, but by being smarter in playing to their weaknesses, that creates the only respect the opposition understand.
That has been the success of the Republican Party in Presidential elections since 1952:
We play like there's a lot more than just an away game at stake.
Cheers,
Victoria
Well Henry, your not much of a baseball fan, I guess – baseball owners have been building teams around their stadiums for ages and grounds crews have been doctoring fields for the home team for even longer.
Ann,
"I'd love to have a private, confidential conversation with Webb about what he thinks about the way his party perceives him as some sort of walking bucket of extra testosterone."
He might be flattered by it, actually.
And as far as the Mommy Party goes, well Klein did say "broad participation", didn't he?
gopher, you can call me a lot of things, but don't call me not a baseball fan.
Since 1902, the home team in MLB wins about 54% of the time.
In the NBA, the home team wins about 60% of the time.
That's significant enough for me.
If only democrats figured out that G.W.Bush is/was a Christian Democrat in the European sense, but no, they tried to sell him as a evil republican who would steal lunch money from needy public school children.
I also think Webb is 100% the best choice as Veep for Obama. They would win in a landslide of Reaganesque proportions.
McCain would be forced to pick gov. Palin (a woman) as his veep choice to counter the testosterone of Webb.
......and everyone knows this country isn't ready for a female head of state, so McCain would lose.
The Democrats don't need to learn how to be masculine -- they need to learn how to appeal to men. A good first step would be for them to be less hostile to things that men tend to value.
Oh..and Webb is the opposite of a christian democrat...a progressive conservative. Which is more of what we need in politics.
Huckabee was right in his most recent op-ed. Right and wrong...
right on, revenant.
So how is Webb going to help Obama with the woman vote? Jim has written some harsh things about women that the NOW crew will go ape-sh*t over. Obama has some healing to do with white females.
If McCain wants to roll the dice he picks Palin as he VP. Women will be calculating two things then.
1) a female who is smart, attractive, accomplished, and who is not shrill instead of the Hildabeast.
2) likelihood McCain survives his first term. Maybe he's the one who needs a food tester...
I also think Webb is 100% the best choice as Veep for Obama. They would win in a landslide of Reaganesque proportions.
Please. Name one VP candidate that caused his ticket to win by a landslide. It just doesn't happen.
Webb could help Obama in VA but he'd have to weigh that against the possibility that Webb could do something stupid and embarrass him.
Would Titus stick his dangling participle up Ezra's semicolon?
What then are the Democratic "rules"? Or what's the Democratic "home game"? Ezra mixes the metaphor. Sports don't have different rules at different stadiums. But he doesn't even go on tro try to discern the rules or the conditions at the home stadium.
He doesn't need to explain it at a 3rd grade level. It's self-evident, the differences he's talking about.
If we were holding a class for people from Trinidad and Tabago, then, yeah, it might be unclear. But when people say, "I'm going to the store," it's not ambiguous because they fail to define "store."
Anyone who has followed American politics for more than 12 months knows exactly what he's talking about, and with certainty I contend that includes Ann Althouse,.
He doesn't need to explain it at a 3rd grade level. It's self-evident, the differences he's talking about.
So, what are these obviously self-evident rules that Klein is referring to?
I'm afraid I misplaced my Democratic Party-issued secret decoder-ring, can you help me out?
Please. Name one VP candidate that caused his ticket to win by a landslide. It just doesn't happen.
Were Obama not a flaming left-winger with troublesome associations with anti-white and anti-American elements of society he would win in a landslide just by virtue of the Republican Party being widely hated. If Webb reassures voters that Obama can't be all that bad then that might be enough to put Obama back in landslide territory.
So it isn't so much that people are like "Webb for VP? ZOMG taht is teh awesum". It is more like people will say "well, Webb's a decent guy, Obama must at least be OK".
The Democratic Party is shaping up to be a lot like the New York Mets season. The manager is a black guy who is basically decent and a winner, but he can’t do what he wants to do because the powers that be will stop him. The press is looking for answers but is in a reverse Roberto Clemente firestorm. There are so many Latin players that the culture has changed. They refuse to be accountable because they know that the GM Omar Minaya will back them up. So they have a separate enclave in the clubhouse, on the plane and in the fabric of the team. The press and the fans get nowhere with their questions and complaints. So they turn to the few white guys on the team like David Wright and Billy Wagner who are getting pissed off at having to explain everything while the Latin guys pretend they don’t speak English and skate. So they start losing and the finger pointing starts. The racial element in our society is poised for a sea change. The overwhelming swarm of Spanish speaking and Latino culturally oriented voters will be a tidal wave if any of the amnesty or naturalization plans go forward. There will be new coalitions and combinations. But if they don’t hold the whole team to same standard of accountability, they are going to get the manager fired. That’s how politics is like baseball now. Interesting times indeed.
Oh, and welcome back Maxine.
"Sports don't have different rules at different stadiums."
The one he's talking about does. The home team bats second in baseball. That is an important differance. It has a huge impact on how a team uses their bullpen.
May I be so bold as to ask if you received an 'A' in math?
Is home and away an expression of the different levels of patriotism and alienation between the two parties? The Republicans warm their hands at the home fires: They are slightly corny, fly flags on Memorial Day, think Norman Rockwell illustrated America, and believe that a lost war is more immoral than an unnecessary war. The Democrats are the hipsters at midnight: they are cool and ironic, think George Grosz illustrates America, and believe that losing a war for the right reasons reflects their higher moral consciousness.
"May I be so bold as to ask if you received an 'A' in math?"
Most likely a C+.....grading on the curve.
Blake said...The warrior class of our nation is that fraction of a percentage--our own little Spartans--who actually re-enlist in Iraq.
There is quite a bit larger fraction than that. Vets like me, spouses of vets (young and old). The people that Webb wrote about in Born Fighting.
In other words, the Majority: Middle America.
People that tear up when they see the Flag rise and the Anthem is played.
People who would rather meet and talk with a Medal of Honor winner than a Congressman
People who regardless of their opinion about whether we should have gone into Iraq, still root for victory
People that actually support our troops, rather than mouthing the slogan for politcal advantage while hoping for failure.
Yeah, call me a Spartan.
"The Spartan's ask not 'how many?', but where they are"
When told the amount of Persian arrows would blot out the sun:-
"So much the better, we shall fight in the shade,"
Isn't he like 25?
Too much of a twink for me.
I can't take any 25 too seriously unless they have their legs spread, their pumps are facing the ceiling and they are saying harder daddy.
Also, he is too skinny for me. I workout like a pig at the gym in order to look and feel fabulous and get hot muscled hog. I am not going to settle.
It's not that I haven't done 25 year olds I have but I can't actually have a conversation with them although I generally try not to have a conversation with any of my tricks. The little I know the better. The more I know them the less I like them.
"The home team bats second in baseball."
Sorry, that's the same rule. The rules are different from the situations calling for application of a rule.
On the other hand they always love me and want to buy cemetery plots the moment they meet me.
If Barack Obama is Willie Randolph then John McCain is Casey Stengl.
Hillary, Marge Schott.
And Bill is Schottize.
I doubt he is a batter. Looks definitely like a catcher to me.
Fellow republicans the summer has arrived here in NYC. The city has been beautiful all week.
The city is alive with color.
What color are you?
A 25 year old wanted to do my on Wednesday night but he was a sad case.
He had moved to NYC from San Diego, was living with his brother, was unemployed wanted to know what he could buy at the bar for $2.00 and then screamed at me when I wouldn't do him.
I could of accepted all of the faults if he was hot. He was dressed cute and all and loved my watch and shoes and shirt and the whole package but the girl needed to get her ass to the gym.
I was like girl if you are going to make it here the first thing you need to do is get a body.
Otherwise, your doomed. You will be miserable.
Gay Cardinal Sin is not working out....constantly.
Diabolique is on IFC.
Love this movie.
"On the other hand they always love me and want to buy cemetery plots the moment they meet me."
Because they can't wait for you to die.
"Gay Cardinal Sin is not working out....constantly."
Of course, for idiots with nothing better to do it's the best thing really. It keeps you out of the streets most of the time.
If Webb reassures voters that Obama can't be all that bad then that might be enough to put Obama back in landslide territory.
No, character issues can't be resolved by proxy. Obama will need to deal with this himself and sell the undecideds on him.
Dukakis attempted this with Lloyd Bentsen and it didn't work. Even though Bentsen was the most respected VP nominee I can remember and Quayle was a disaster, people voted for the guy at the top of the ticket.
"Otherwise, your doomed. You will be miserable."
Your life sounds like the most miserable existence I can possibly imagine. The only think that makes contemplating your life bearable is to remind myself that it's completely fictitious.
Whats the differance between Sean Bell and a Irish Guy?
An Irish guy can take fifty one shots and still show up at his wedding the next day.
I find Ezra Klein nearly incomprehensible and in possession of a disordered mind. And yet his readers apparently 'get' him. One said he understood the metaphor of daywalkers, then elaborated incomprehensibly.
The degree of misinformation over there in the comments, falsehood taken as axiom, is alarming. One commenter insists the Republicans own all the media! Another attaches a disparaging derisive nonmasculine moniker to recognizable conservative names. Much like a grade school game or an attempt to cram every rotten thing one has heard into a single sentence. I'm sick to the gills with the term "chickenhawk" especially from obvious gay men like Klein where the term suggests an even less appropriate connotation. I get the sense Klein writes to hear his own voice inside his head. What so-called "rules" does Klein suppose Republicans "play" by, when there aren't any rules and there is no game save for the ones floating around inside Klein's own cranium?
Knitting. Ann, you're a gem.
Thanks for untangling that mess over there. Of course, the comments are un-untangleable. It would take a whole planet full of Freuds a geologic age to get at the core of their apparent psychological disruptions.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Bush for $300.00 that was automatically deposited into one of my accounts today -- Simply the single most straight-up Socialist thing I've ever witnessed a president do in my lifetime.
While I'm moderately incrementally wealthier, my respect for the GOP has incrementally diminished. Strange phenomenon, that, innit?
wanted to know what he could buy at the bar for $2.00
No $2.00 PBR in Manhattan? Or are gay bar prices higher than dive bar prices?
Did anyone else think that Hillary really butched it up over the course of the campaign?
PBR. I'm suddenly in the mood for a Newcastle or a Guinness.
Why would you pay $2.00 for a PBR when the content of the men's room urinal is free?
What's a PBR?
Palady Malady my life is not fictitious. I go to the gym 6 days a week. Today I did back and triceps. 12 different back exercises with 4 sets of 8-12 reps, than onto 4 different tricep exercises with again 4 sets of 10-14 reps. I did pyramid sets.
Than it was 30 minutes on the stairmaster where I dropped 800 calories.
Finally I ended with an abs class that was killer.
And then I posed in my downward facing dog for about 10 minutes-you should of seen it-my posture is fabulous.
Now come over here and make my dindin (no bread please) and give me a big special hug. I will let you squeeze my tits if your a good boy.
If you are really good I will let you shave my pucker.
"Your life sounds like the most miserable existence I can possibly imagine."
That's the life of myself and every friend I have. And I have a ball or two. I have a blast in life. You should try to be happy. Why so glum?
I am constantly laughing. Going out to dindin with friends, having cocktails, shopping, museums, walking the dogs. It's not all wine and roses. I can get sad at times but I enjoy my life and myself for the most part.
You should try it sometime.
Your karma is shot and your chakras are not aligned. You need to see your third eye and say hi little third eye. I bet your second isn't very wide either.
"What makes that little old ant
think he can move a rubber tree plant
He's got high hopes!"
Namaste.
Superb essay, Prof. A.
What's a PBR?
Pabst Blue Ribbon, the beer that makes Coors Light look classy and refined.
There is quite a bit larger fraction than that. Vets like me, spouses of vets (young and old). The people that Webb wrote about in Born Fighting.
Hope that's true, Sgt.
Still, we're a country founded on commercial interests. Despite the leftist cant, we're really reluctant to go to war, often resulting in a bigger mess than we might've had if we hadn't put it off till the last second.
What is PBR?...
The beer that makes the phrase:
You don't buy beer, you rent it
take on a whole new meaning
Hey Cyrus, the Yanks and the Twins have a four game set in the Metrodome. It's 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth. Perhaps a small wager?
If the twins I will wear a Che T shirt to the Knights of Columbus and have a tofu burger. If the Yanks take the series you have to wear a Derek Jeter jersey and go to a John Wayne film festival.
Let's go Celtics.
Is it me or does Ezra Klein seem to be the perfect admixture between Andy Rooney and a pre-menopausal Erma Bombeck?
Gad, I wish Mike Royko were alive today to bear witness to Barack's mendacity.
Let's go Celtics
And that's what Webb is all about. Celtic (hard c) pride. He wrote a book about how the Scots-Irish are the backbone of the American character and have been throughout its history.
http://tinyurl.com/3wejze
I imagine this book would not be a point in his favor with the Democratic base.
Drill Sgt said:
"People who regardless of their opinion about whether we should have gone into Iraq, still root for victory".
Well said pal - it is sad more don't feel that way.
The Democrats are the Mommy party, and their voters the children.
With all this Webb talk I recommend everyone read this excellent book:
The Nightingale's Song
Jesus H Christ, can someone give Maxine her medicine?
By the way, just so everyone knows:
Maxine, today, went on a complete rampage over on Ezra's own blog. She wrote post after post, targeting Ezra with some of the most disgusting and despicable things I've ever read on the Internet.
Ezra deleted many of her posts, but there might be a few still left up, and if you know anything about Ezra, he rarely deletes anything off his blog.
I've, personally, never encountered anyone as craven, reprobate, and just plain EVIL as this "Maxine" creature.
Aw, come on. Bones knit, not just spinsters.
Palady Malady where is my fucking dindin?
Now come to me oh bitter and angry one.
I will make you feel much better.
I will kiss you and hug you and give you special pats on the back and tell you that you are a good boy.
I see a marriage in the future between Palady and myself.
I can tell Palady secretly wants and desires me.
Palady, don't get too excited. The marriage will consist of me being able to do anything and anyone at anytime. If you are a good spouse I will let you watch.
How do all of you know Maxine is posting?
Her name isnt on anything here???
Maybe you know the personalities here better than I.
My focus on me.
I hope you don't think I am her. I have been accused of being her.
I am not.
"I wish Mike Royko were alive today to bear witness to Barack's mendacity"
Ooooh, yeah! I actually haven't thought of Royko much recently, but indeed he sure could have done a number on O!
Jim, I enjoyed Timberg's book, despite his dismissive view of Reagan. The chip on Webb's shoulder was pretty evident, but McFarlane's stupidity wasn't stressed enough. RR's biggest mistake was keeping him on after Oct 83.
I thought the daywalker line was pretty hip. It also made Webb sound even more bad-ass.
"People who regardless of their opinion about whether we should have gone into Iraq, still root for victory".
Well said pal - it is sad more don't feel that way.
You can put me in the (apparently minuscule) category of people who didn't vote for Bush (either time, though neither for Gore or Kerry), was really on the fence about Iraq, but have come to: a) think it was brilliant; b) be really, really, really impressed by the work of the armed forces.
Which means, heh, I don't really agree with anything that Bush did apart from the war.
Blake, if you really feel that way, and you haven't done so yet, please darling, read Michael Yon's book:
Moment of Truth in Iraq: How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope
Certain people complain how the media were muzzled or in direct collusion with the Bush Administration, in not researching the facts before going to war.
What I blame them for the most is their desultory and negative coverage of the war, since day one. To me, that's unforgiveable.
Thank God for people who risk everything, like Michael Yon.
Cheers,
Victoria
Oh, by all means, I plan to.
I haven't read nearly as much Yon (et al) as I should but his book is on my list.
Ain’t it something, and amazing, and something amazing, I dare to say, that there could be so many songs about a gal named Maxine, even though, I daresay, very, very few people IRL have ever met someone by that name? Examples:
Steely Dan
Traveling Wilburys
Eminem
John Legend
Oh, yeah.
What I blame them for the most is their desultory and negative coverage of the war, since day one. To me, that's unforgiveable.
Several of the local lefties (Eli for one) have been passing along media claims that, back when Bush was popular and the American people were enthusiastic about the invasion, reporters felt "pressured" not to contradict the popular sentiment.
Well, let's assume, for the sake of argument, that that's true. What does that tell us about the likely behavior of the media now, when Bush is incredibly unpopular and opposition to the war is running hot? Are we to believe that *now* those reporters are taking a Brave Stand for the Truth? Or are they still passing along half-truths and biased stories... but for the other side of the argument, now?
You mean misusing a semicolon. A comma was the appropriate puntuation there.
Overcompensation?
No, Ann, real men absolutely do use semicolons. Unlike Ezra, though, we use them correctly.
;-)
I'm a real man. I hack code, making frequent use of the semi colon; I knit for realaxation, play hymns occasionally on the highland bagpipe, and can't fathom the fascist desire to put people in unnatural categories.
I thought the book, "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche" had outlived its usefulness, but apparently this is not the case.
It's a false dichotomy to assume or imply that being anti-war means you're a big ol' wuss, or vice versa. Case in point: the chickenhawks who make up the current Republican administration. And on the other hand, two-time Congressional Medal Honor winner Gen. Smedley Butler, who wrote "War is a Racket." (I realize I'm reaching far back in history with the example of Butler, but he really is the quintessential anti-war badass.) For a more recent example, whatever you might think of Pat Buchanan's politics, he's generally anti-war / isolationist, but doesn't come across as an unmasculine type.
Real men DO use semicolons. But they use them correctly, unlike Ezra -- who clearly should have used a dash instead of a semicolon in that last paragraph.
By the way, I've been wondering, are you females even AWARE that James Webb is the guy who was that cranky Republican Secretary of the Navy 20 years ago, and back then all the chicks HATED him because he really is a good old fashioned chauvinist?
Kevin,
In about 1978, Webb wrote a long article "Why Women Can't fight"; I have yet to hear anyone on the Democratic side raise that issue with him.
Lingle for McCain.
Two terms. Dem State. Election landslide. Jewish.
If the Democrats are the "Mommy Party," does that make the Republicans the "Daddy Party"? And who died and made them our parents? The arrogance really is astounding. If the State really is our mommy and our daddy, it's a really abusive and blood-sucking and exploitative kind of legal custody they've assumed over us, where the whims and interests of the parents take precedence over the "best interests of the child." Think Britney Spears' parents. No wonder we've turned out to be such dysfunctional, incompetent and co-dependent freaks.
If McCain picks an Indian, a Woman, or a Jew (gasp!) he will lose all the voters that are voting for McCain because Obama is a black muslim manchurian.
Bob Barr will pick up 12% of the vote and cost the republicans the election.
McCain will pick a white man who is married or else the racists will stay home.
Not in any way saying McCain is racist (he most certainly is not) but by default he gets the racist vote and I'm not sure he's maverick enough to reject it.
uws,
The so called "values voters" are gone. Might as well go hunting in Democrat territory.
George quoted Klein and said:
""He [Webb] is the daywalker, combining a progressive's positions with a southern militarist's affectations."
A 'daywalker' is a vampire.
What does that sentence mean? "
Me: This is hilarious IMO. It doesn't mean what Klein, Mr. [wannabe] Hip thinks it does. The other comment here was right in that by making a semi-obscure (by mainstream stds) pop culture reference to Blade -- the vampire comics and Snipes films, he was trying to sound cool and edgy.
What a dipshit -- he actually botched the metaphor.
A "daywalker" is a vampire who can survive in sunlight and fully mingle with normal people and pass as one. But he's still a vampire.
Sounds like Klein is saying the Dems in general are the vampires who can't stand exposure in the light of day (see other commenter's correct 'prog' vs 'lib' observation), and admitting the Dems are treacherous, blood-sucking parasites -- yep, sounds about right :)
But, one might interject, "But wait, the daywalker Blade IS the good guy in the stories," to which I reply that Blade is only the good guy because he has turned *against* the evil of the other vampires, opposing their agenda rather than advancing it.
Klein's metaphor so totally bites him in the ass, by inadvertently being approriate in a way that is 180 out of synch with his intentions in using it.
UWS,
"by default he gets the racist vote "
Black racists will vote for McCain? I had them penciled in for Obama.
Sometimes semicolons are used, not to separate independent clauses, but as kind of super-commas. Nothing wrong with that, oh stiff-necked syntaxicists.
A comma (or supercomma) may technically be acceptable, but it's a poor choice stylistically. I say dash is just the ticket, but even a colon would be better than a semi or a comma. (That would be the punctuation-related colon, not the other one.)
No...the 'daywalker' was born of the same tribe of Cain after the fall of Adam (the South) and knows it's ways (military service, rustic lifestyle, books about war, hunting etc).
Yet being a Son of Cain (christian-republican) on the outside, on the inside he has a bleeding heart and a desire for 'change'.
In a slightly different variation, He is a Democrat that can "walk among"(i.e. get their vote) the Republicans ....er...this is where all metaphors start to fall apart...
One sign of genuine masculinity is the inability to make serious references to Vampire/Star Trek/Star Wars/Matrix movies.
It can't be done.
Wait, wait, I got it.
Jim Webb is a Doppleganger
On the outside he looks the part of a southern-man's-man -republican, but on the inside he's a hideously malformed space alien that lives on the brains of humans to survive.
or something like that, it's a metaphor you figure it out.
I never understood why Webb and Lieberman remained Democrats. If there is a party that currently represents the position of treason toward your country, and you stay in that party, what does it say about you?
If there is a party that suggests that we should begin negotiation on how many of our people we should hand over to the enemy for slavery and murder, do you stay with that party so you can influence the selection of who to hand over?
I just don't understand it.
Well, crud. I love semicolons. There was actually an English prof at a university I attended who had a class on the proper use of them. I thought it was kind of cool, actually; semi-periods and super-commas, he called them.
Just FYI Daywalkers are half vamps and half human. In most fiction I've read they typically lack immortality, and all of the weaknesses of the vamps, but have most of their strengths, and the hunger for blood.
Just FYI Daywalkers are half vamps and half human. In most fiction I've read they typically lack immortality, and all of the weaknesses of the vamps, but have most of their strengths, and the hunger for blood.
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