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2004-04-15 Home Front: Politix
Paul Berman tells Democrats to get off their asses already. MUST-READ
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Posted by growler 2004-04-15 13:28|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Which Democrats does he think he's talking to exactly?
Posted by someone 2004-04-15 1:35:24 PM||   2004-04-15 1:35:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 I don't really know. They might not exist.
Posted by growler 2004-04-15 1:48:39 PM||   2004-04-15 1:48:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 "Somebody else will have to straighten out these confusions, then. I think it will have to be the Democrats — at least those Democrats who accept the anti-totalitarian logic. And why shouldn't they show a bit of leadership? After the Spanish election last month, America needed to reach out to the new Spanish leader, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and his voters. Mr. Bush was in no position to do this, given that in November he had delivered a speech that was all-too characteristically insulting to the European left. Instead, it was Senator John Kerry who made a public appeal to Mr. Zapatero to keep troops in Iraq"

Ahhh the French-looking haughty gent who, by the way, served very briefly in Viet Nam will save our bacon by sucking up to the defeatist coward in Spain..... Simplisme!
Posted by Frank G  2004-04-15 1:49:31 PM||   2004-04-15 1:49:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 And how did that go???

I seem to recall they're still leaving.
Posted by Anonymous2U 2004-04-15 2:04:17 PM||   2004-04-15 2:04:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 The real question is whether the Democratic Party is anything other than the party of opposition.
Posted by Dave Schuler  2004-04-15 2:05:53 PM|| [http://www.theglitteringeye.com]  2004-04-15 2:05:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Democratic solidarity - Like Sen Miller of Ga, and Fmr Mayor of NYC Koch, who are supporting GWB?

My kind of Soladarity
Posted by Anonymous4052 2004-04-15 2:08:08 PM||   2004-04-15 2:08:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Paul Berman is an idiot. What a waste of time reading that article was. Worthless.
Posted by Kentucky Beef 2004-04-15 2:17:30 PM||   2004-04-15 2:17:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Reading Berman is like watching "The West Wing", mental masturbation for reality-challenged Clintonites.
Posted by RWV 2004-04-15 2:57:24 PM||   2004-04-15 2:57:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 He's far from an idiot. His book "Terror and Liberalsim" is fantastic.

He may be on the left, but that doesn't make him an idiot. In fact, he's one of the few on the left who talks openly about Islamic death cults and fascism. Some of the very things Bush should be saying, but isn't because it wouldn't play well.
Posted by growler 2004-04-15 3:06:53 PM||   2004-04-15 3:06:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 He's not an idiot, but he is a bit blinkered by his background. I have to give him this much credit - he managed to be one of the loudest and most enthusiastic backers of the war without getting sucked into defending every twitch and tremble of the White House. A comparison of Hitchens and Berman is illuminating.
Posted by Mitch H.  2004-04-15 3:55:09 PM|| [http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]  2004-04-15 3:55:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 This op ed might resonate with the voters in the Dem primaries who were appalled by the Dean, Kucinich, Clark, Sharpton position on the War on Terror. The fact is however that many Dem voters liked that position.
Posted by mhw 2004-04-15 4:48:47 PM||   2004-04-15 4:48:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Berman's "Liberalism and Terror" is a must read.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-04-15 4:56:05 PM||   2004-04-15 4:56:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 "I think the internal divisions of the ANC are such that he can't get off the reservation but so far"

Last i heard they were helping to cordon Najaf. They will stay if there is a suitable UNSC resolution, and thats on the admin agenda anyway.

I think Bermans suggestion to Kerry is spot on, but I dont know if Kerry will follow it. Kerry should make Berman a principle foreign policy advisor right away.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-04-15 5:00:36 PM||   2004-04-15 5:00:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 It worries me that a TeeVee show seems to have such pol power. I guess I'd better watch one or two... Hoping Starksy and Hutch make big comeback.
Posted by Shipman 2004-04-15 5:54:17 PM||   2004-04-15 5:54:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 I read "Terror and Liberalism" and found it thought-provoking but scatter-brained. There was too much diversion into obscure elaborations.

Later I heard him in a long interview and read several of his articles and found a lot more clarity and cogency. I think that he has now distilled a lot of thought into a very good argument. I found this particular article to be excellent.

He is writing for liberals, who in general have lost their ways over the last 40 years or so. He is giving them a very useful new perspective on how they ought to react to the global problem of Moslem terror.
Posted by Mike Sylwester 2004-04-15 10:29:57 PM||   2004-04-15 10:29:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 There seems to be helpful content in Berman's work that is in agreement with Joe Leiberman's policy ideas. If liberals digested and followed his recommendations they would do much less harm to the country than what Teddy Kennedy is spewing.

That said, I was annoyed by Berman taking such pains to blame Bush for the fact that a large percentage of Americans are too moronic or too indoctrinated to understand such unnuanced and obvious statements as "AQ is responsible for 9-11." He also gives credit to the DNC for the Neocon's democratization policy that Wolfowitz put into practice during Marco's fall.
Posted by Super Hose  2004-04-15 10:40:24 PM||   2004-04-15 10:40:24 PM|| Front Page Top

12:11 dave fitz
09:33 Chris Edwards
22:19 Raj
22:16 Raj
22:15 Not Mike Moore
22:02 Not Mike Moore
16:53 Brian the Great
09:31 W. E. Wallis
05:21 tipper
04:37 Kentucky Beef
03:48 Super Hose
03:32 Super Hose
02:42 eLarson
02:40 eLarson
02:34 Edward Yee
02:26 eLarson
01:27 Kentucky Beef
01:26 Zenster
01:12 Zenster
01:07 Zenster
00:59 Zenster
00:48 RMcLeod
00:44 RMcLeod
00:23 Evert Visser in NL









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