[lbo-talk] Fall in love with Hitchens all over again

[ravi]

On 18 May, 2007, at 11:25 AM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
> However, I am afraid that his appearance on that show was not very  
> favorable
> - he mumbles, looks sly and duplicitous, whereas Reed and Hannity  
> appeared
> eloquent, decent and sincere.  This tends to me true of most  
> intellectuals,
> and that is why they are often marginalized in public debates by  
> demagogues
> and mountebanks like Reed, Hannity & Co, who personally might be  
> vile pieces
> of shit, but are very skilled in maintaining the right public image.

I am not sure about it... I felt despite the mumbling and shiftiness,  
he came across more sophisticated/smart, certain and funny/quick (he  
managed to get in jibes about Reed's Abramoff connections), whereas  
Hannity looked whiny and inconsistent/cowardly. But I think you may  
be right given my understanding of how rhetoric works in the USA:  
Hannity (i.e., right-winger, Christian, etc) doing what Hitch did  
would be considered punchy, combative (a +ve attribute), etc. The  
left doing what Hannity did ("You are so mean") would be considered  
"whiny". But the standard is not applied similarly in reverse.

	--ravi