lbo-talk-digest V1 #7260

Reed Tryte reed_tryte at yahoo.com
Thu Jan 16 08:59:44 PST 2003


Peter K wrote:


>Reed:
>>Calling Christopher Hitchens a right-winger
>>may indeed be cheap, lazy and stupid. (Although
>>Doug referred to him as a Bush fan, not a
>>right-winger.)
>>
>>Still, you haven't answered the question: who
>>exactly are these leftist flacks for Saddam and
>>Osama?
>>
>>Also, I hate to wade into these waters again, but
>>what's your opinion about people who talk about
>>"leftist flacks for Arafat and Hamas"? After all,
>>Hitchens himself has often been referred to in
>>exactly those terms.
>
>Doug also wrote
>[So now he's writing for the WSJ's comics page! "From


>the left" indeed.]
>
>People here have admitted to seeing Bush/Ashcroft
>as bigger threats than Saddam or Osama. What do you
>think about people who try to link Arafat and Al
>Qaeda when Arafat himself has disavowed the
>connection? Flacks for Sharon and Osama?
>
>Peter

Peter, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Do you mean that anyone who sees Bush & Ashcroft as bigger threats than Saddam & Osama can accurately be characterized as a "leftist flack for Saddam and Osama"? Are they the people you had in mind when you first used the term?

Also, you haven't answered the second question: what do you think about references to people (including Christopher Hitchens) as leftist flacks for Arafat and Hamas? The reason I ask is because I wonder if it gives you pause to use the same type of rhetoric.

Finally: yes, I'd agree that people who try to link Arafat and Al Qaeda could be accurately termed flacks for Sharon or Osama -- though not for Sharon AND Osama. I don't think there's been anyone who does PR for both of them, ever since William Safire dropped Osama in the early nineties. I'm sure there are still those who'd be willing to handle both accounts, but these days it's just too awkward when they run into each other in reception.

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