TNR's Neo-Winter-Soldier Meme Crumbling (In An Empty Forest?)

After three weeks I finally found the time to try to fix my substandard den internet connection. Spent from dawn until mid-afternoon tinkering and bugging my ISP and Microsoft tech support, to no avail. Finally I was forced to run my machine over to the local shop before it closed, and now I'm having to horn in on my kids' machine, which is easier to do since one kid is away at Awana camp.

So Ed, I can relate. And now I have a day's worth of events to cherry-pick, as well as a show to prepare for tomorrow. Ah, life is good.

Better than it's going to be for the New Republic's Frankie Foer:

Flashback: Franklin Foer Claimed He "Confirmed The Woman"

I kept asking - what the hell does "confirmed the woman" mean?

Now we know.

This was claimed last week.

FOR A NEARLY A WEEK FRANKLIN FOER KNEW A KEY CLAIM IN HIS NEW STEPHEN GLASS' WAR JOURNAL WAS FALSE BUT DID NOT REPORT IT HEN
QUESTIONED, INSTEAD LYING TO EVERYONE THAT TNR HAD "CONFIRMED THE WOMAN."...

Oh, I'm sorry, a small "error" our "reporter" made, a tiny "mistake." This did not happen in Iraq as he claimed, and thus is not a portrait of the deadening effects of war. Instead, it happened in a staging area in Kuwait, and hence demonstrates nothing about war but an awful lot about the viciously cruel character of our new star "reporter."

Did I forget to mention that?

My bad. Must have slipped my mind.

But the story was just SO delicious, Foer couldn't help himself. We can all understand that.

Right?

I'm astonished Ace got through that post without dropping a single F-bomb. If ever one merited a fusillade of them, it was this one.

We could all have understood that.

Right?

I mean, it's verbiage the Kos-hacks would surely be familiar with.

Case doubtlessly in point (via DB):

As the Military and [Reactionaries] panel came to an end, a young man in uniform stood up to argue that the surge was working, and cutting down on Iraqi casualties. The moderator largely freaked out. When other members of the panel tried to answer his question, he demanded they "stand down." He demanded the questioner give his name, the name of his commander, and the name of his unit. And then he closed the panel, no answer offered or allowed, and stalked off the stage,

Wes Clark took the mic and tried to explain what had just occurred: The argument appears to be that you're not allowed to participate in politics while wearing a uniform, or at least that you shouldn't, and that the questioner was engaging in a sort of moral blackmail, not to mention a violation of the rules, by doing so. Knowing fairly little about the army, I can't speak to any of that. But it was an uncomfortable few moments, and seemed fairly contrary to the spirit of the panel to roar down the member of the military who tried to speak with a contrary voice.

"Participate in politics"? All the "young man in uniform" did was tell the truth. He said zippo about the Treason Lobby and the den of vicious, fanged, rabid doves all around him who doubtless wanted to gang-beat him to a bloody pulp for uttering such "neocon heresy" at THEIR convention. He merely stated a fact: the "Surge" is working and reducing Iraqi (and American) casualties. And the Kos-hacks call that "moral blackmail".

But what Thomas Scott Beauchamp did - impersonating a soldier, donning a uniform to go undercover in order to libel the entire U.S. military - THAT wasn't "participating in politics," but a valiant display of patriotic heroism. For which he should get both a Congressional Medal of Honor AND a Pulitzer, no doubt, while "the young man in uniform" deserves to be court-martialed.

I'd call it an outrage - and rest assured that's exactly what it is - but there've been so many since last November that it's tough not to grow numb. Something that'd be a lot easier than pondering what kind of country we've become that a majority of voters could restore to power the party that represents such organic scum.