>
>
> Today, I had the opportunity to read Cockburn's piece at CounterPunch,
> and what stood out most in his rant was its similarity in style to
> Hitchens' fling rage in all directions with a drunken sneer (and hope
> something sticks).
>
> He writes:
>
>> The war grinds on, but the pwog Democrats prefer to talk about other
>> matters, such as the fact that Rove is not going to be indicted.
>> Thank God. the left will have to talk about something else for a
>> change. As a worthy hobby horse for the left, the whole Plame scandal
>> has never made any sense. What was it all about in the first
>> analysis? Outing a CIA employee. What’s wrong with that?
>
>
> The last sentence alone seems to distance him from reality. What is
> wrong with outing a CIA employee? In the minds of the American
> public, I
> would think, everything!
Ace is right. It was alternately hilarious and revolting to see the liberal left getting up in arms about outing a CIA employee in violation of the law - a law that was passed with radical pubs like Counterspy and Covert Action in mind. What the hell is so sacred about preserving the identities of the Ghouls of Langley? Even more unseemly was the crush that the liberal left developed on Joe Wilson, who was just the kind of slick functionary who makes the empire run. What's so great about that?
Seems like a bad idea to sacrifice principles (the CIA is a bad thing to be opposed whenever possible) for political expediency (oh those conservatives - so unprincipled!).
> There is also, I think, a confusion of terms, in the above. The
> left has
> Let us deal with this question: Since 9/11, where has been the good
> news
> for the Administration? I can think of some answers to that, and I
> invite your criticism:
>
> a) Significant increase in Bush poll numbers and legitimacy
> b) Blank cheque from the public for wars and civil rights violations
> c) Huge benefits for friends and the infrastructure in general
> d) Gains in the House and majority in the Senate, 2002
> e) Re-election, by a wider margin, for Bush, 2004
Bush's approval is off its lows, but aside from the year after 9/11, it's been a straight downtrend. A real opposition could do something with that.
Doug