MaxSpeak, You Listen!
THE FIVE WORST ARGUMENTS IN BLOGISTAN
1. The comparison of Thurmond/Lott to Byrd/Dodd. I know Dodd apologized, but for what? Saying something harmless that provoked a stupid reaction? Giving Armstrong Williams, a certifiable fool, something to talk about? [P6: I thought that was what he apologized for.] I really don't get it. Dodd said Byrd would have been an asset to the nation at any time in its history. The reference was obviously to Byrd at his modern best, not the Byrd who took a leading role opposing civil rights legislation, much less the youthful Klan member over half a century ago.
2. The Memo of Mass Destruction. As Assistant-something-or-other in Clinton's DoJ, Jamie Gorelick writes a memo alleged by the R's to have crippled the Bush Administration's ability to combat terrorism. A f*cking memo. A MEMO. Not even a regulation, much less a statute. Couldn't John Ashcroft, as one of his first official acts, have written a memo of his own entitled, "Jamie's memo sucks"? What kind of excuse is that?
3. The Politicized 9-11 Commission. Judgements of criminal culpability or civil liability aside, politics is the way decisions are made in a democracy. We like that because it's better than, say, dictatorship. Decision-making is more costly, but the results command greater legitimacy and support. The beef with commissioners should not be that they are political, but that their points are not well-founded, if they aren't.
4. The Plame Game. The Bushies were caught dead to rights on this. Determining the perpetrators would be elementary for the president, were he so inclined. Where is the justification in bloviating about the hubbie's political allegiance, in light of that indubitable fact?
5. Musical job surveys. When one survey showed no job growth, an assortment of people demanded we consider the other survey, which came off better. More lately, the bad numbers on the first survey turned around, while the numbers on the other went south. The reaction of the White House's defenders was to hype the good numbers and ignore the bad ones.
