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Home Front: Politix
Kerry Encapsulates Self Loathing AntiAmericanism of the Left.
2004-08-16
The fact is that the press killed the Dean candidacy and created Kerry's. They have far too much of themselves invested to simply let it go at this point, or worse, contribute to their own choice's downfall - and in the case of the Boston Globe, for one, almost literally lessening the value of their own stock. It goes against human nature. John Kerry is far too perfect a candidate for many on the Left to let go - the veteran who turned against his own, the perfect encapsulation of a generation's self-loathing, the man who can speak as a soldier while so many of their own can't while at the same time legitimizing their own anti-military-America-can-do-no-right impulses. Will they ever understand why so many of Kerry's own peers loathe this man? It's not likely. For many, it is utterly unfathomable that a man that trumpeted the uncritically accepted narrative of America-as-evildoer in Vietnam may be viewed as anything other than a hero. Such a viewpoint is an understood truism of a certain class of Northeastern Liberal Elite entrenched firmly in the dominant media culture. So one may understand how, even with over 250 of Kerry's peers on the record viewing the Senator as not a hero, but a backstabber, there is some major league denial going on in editorial boards across the nation.
Sorry to post from a blog - but this was a good read. Besides..it'd be pretty tough to find any MM quotes on this subject...just for the very reasons stated above.
Posted by:B

#10  Not that there's anything wrong with self-lothing of course.
Posted by: El Kapo Americano   2004-08-16 7:49:40 PM  

#9  A perspective if you please: If 80% of the Management at Halliburton claimed that Dick Cheney was incompetent, would the press attack them? Would they call their charges irrelevant? I saw the Dick Cavette debate on CSPAN this weekend and Kerry could not defend his position! What really stuck in my mind was the point about flood refugees from Laos and Cambodia. I am paraphrasing: “If we were really evil in the minds of the civilian population, why didn’t they flee to the Viet Cong (instead of from)?” Come to think of it I can’t think of one instance where people fled to Communists country. The exception being North Koreans fleeing to the PRC.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2004-08-16 4:39:47 PM  

#8  I heartily approve, Dave D. Used to do the same thing whenever I saw Robert Goulet on the screen. The man didn't even know the words to the Star-Spangled Banner...
(fades back to Parts Unknown...)
Posted by: Elvis   2004-08-16 4:25:46 PM  

#7  "Anyone watch the asshole James Carville, Lanny Davis, and Chris Matthews?"

No. I keep a gun in the house, and my impulse control really isn't all that terrific; if I watched shows featuring any of those vile cretins I'd soon have a 9mm hole in my TV set.
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-08-16 4:00:59 PM  

#6  Here is a partial transcript of Carvelle, and Davis on Crossfire attacking O'Neil rather than dealing with the substance of his claims.
Posted by: yank   2004-08-16 3:52:29 PM  

#5  Lead by Kerry, these liberal loons are dissing our Vietnam vets a second time. Anyone watch the asshole James Carville, Lanny Davis, and Chris Matthews? How dare these losers accuse the swift boat vets for truth of being liars?
Posted by: Capt America   2004-08-16 3:32:43 PM  

#4  I think these two episodes-- the "Bush AWOL" fracas and the Swiftboat Vets accusations-- are a good illustration of not just media bias, but of outright media dishonesty and connivance between the media and the Democratic Party.

Someone ought to write a book and lay it all out.
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-08-16 3:27:54 PM  

#3  Good blog comment.

Self-loathing (hating oneself, shrinking from the essence of one's own being) can only be accomplished with the permission of a self which thinks it is guilty and irredeemable. There is one solution to this trap--fashioning oneself into a hero so that one can fake self-esteem in the eyes of one's peers and feel worthy and valuable.

Hmmm-I hadn't thought of it before, but this mindset bears something in common to that of suicide bombers, doesn't it?
Posted by: jules 187   2004-08-16 3:16:07 PM  

#2  The New England Republican has a good comparison of the MSM's handling of the Bush AWOL item and the MSM's complete disregard of Kerry's Cambodia lie.

Those questions take up 37 minutes of a 45 minute press conference. The transcript shows the tenacity with which the press corp handled the AWOL controversy but it doesn't even begin to show the contempt some of the reporters displayed for McClellan and the President. The attitude and disrespect from some of the reporters is unbelievable.

Can you imagine the reporters following the Kerry campaign covering the Christmas in Cambodia story like this? Of course it would be nice if they covered it at all!
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-08-16 2:48:38 PM  

#1  "...over 250 of Kerry’s peers on the record viewing the Senator as not a hero, but a backstabber..."

I seem to recall the technical term we used in the Army back in those days for someone like Kerry was "buddyf*cker."

That, and "glorygrabber."
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-08-16 2:41:33 PM  

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