or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
June 21, 2007
It's Exactly This Kind Of Intellectual Humility And Willingness To Take Responsibility That's Going To Win Us This War
This is from a transcript of Frederick Kagan, one of the intellectual architects of the "surge," being interviewed in a new Frontline documentary:
KAGAN: I think it's important to mention this -- we have really suffered from the fact that the opposition to the war has not been constructive and that there have been many, many opportunities for critics of the war to challenge the administration on the way that it was fighting the war that had been missed as critics through the end of the 2004 presidential campaign focused on whether we should have gone to war or not at all.
As it happens, I also have a transcript from a precocious 2 year-old Freddy Kagan speaking in 1971:
KAGAN: I think it's important to mention this -- we have really suffered from the fact that opposition to me smearing shit all over myself and the walls and everyone else has not been constructive. There have been many, many opportunities for critics to challenge me on the way I've been smearing shit on everything, but they have been missed as critics focused on whether I should have started smearing shit on everything at all.
AND: Let no one say the Bush administration hasn't followed through on his 2001 inaugural address:
America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected...Posted at June 21, 2007 08:34 AM | TrackBackOur public interest depends on private character...
I will live and lead by these principles...
Top be fair to George Bush, he said America *at its best* is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected. As a slow witted C-student he was referring to perhaps what Al Gore or Ralph Nader or some other straight A nerd would have done.
When a cocaine addicted Jesus freak tells you that the public interest depends on private character, isn't he telling you that you shouldn't have voted for him?
Posted by: Doug B. at June 21, 2007 09:29 AM"inaugeral" |--> "inaugural"
Posted by: Annoying copyeditor at June 21, 2007 11:03 AMThey said the sound barrier wouldn't be broken...it was.
They said no one would break the 4 minute mile mark...someone did.
They said no one would break Roger Maris' single season home run record...several did.
They said no one would break the bullshit mark set by those attempting to pin the Vietnam War debacle on the protesters... Ladies and gentleman, Frederick Kagan has just done it. By God, he has done it!
Posted by: Ming The Merciful at June 21, 2007 07:02 PM
