With so many truly wacky, irresponsible opinions on the Web, why would a highly-placed figure like Peggy Noonan choose to cite Democratic Underground in her column?
After all, in the lead-up to war DU was right about the lack of a threat from Iraq, about the WMD lie, about the real reasons for the war, right about Bush's failures in protecting America against the 9/11 attacks. Is that unhinged? Why point out a site with such a good track record?
DU is right about the tainted elections in 2004, 2002, and 2000.
DUers suspicions and criticisms of much of the main-stream media as a bought and paid for arm of the Republican party continue to prove valid.
DU is accurate when it points out the abysmal lack of coverage of recent peaceful anti-war protests while cable channels cover a relatively small protest--covered 8 hours a day--to preserve the vegetative state of an unfortunate woman whose brain has degenerated into mostly fluid.
Main-stream media has gotten it wrong too many times. Do they lie? Are they just lazy? Is it now considered wacky to get stuff right the first time?
DU had nothing to apologize for in its discussions leading up to Bush's Iraq war, While some in the mainstream media issued mea culpas for their inaccurate reporting. Apologies that were offered many thousands of deaths, immeasurable amounts of suffering, and billions of dollars too late.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is Wacky. Crazy, sick, irresponsible wacky. No one in power anywhere has paid for the rigmarole that brought us to where we are. In fact, many have been rewarded with medals and promotions.
When the press actually goes after those responsible, I will accept all apologies. Until then, there's always that flying leap at the moon available to them.
The press heeded neither plain facts nor recent history in their rush to grant the White House every point on their planned-in-advance wish list for war in the Middle East. Those hoping for forgiveness include such outlets as the New York Times and The New Republic.
I think it's reasonable to assume that DU's decent accuracy rate along with its activism is exactly why "Peg'O'The Darts" bothers to give DU the time of day at all.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110006460DU is one of the on-line sources that gets the big picture right, and despite her attempt to discredit DU, her attention to Democratic Underground actually serves to draw attention to her own failures as a member of the press.
Her membership in the press-corp should be worthy of respect. But that trust, a trust constitutionally protected, has been betrayed. She's got plenty of company.
What I find most interesting is that Noonan represents a party that whines ceaselessly, vigorously and disingenuously about "elitists" .
From their well-paid perches, from face-lifted jaws and chemically-plumped lips, from under expensive toupees and out of designer outfits put together by highly paid advisers, from every trained hand gesture, emerges their disdain for the common man and woman, our views, our concerns, and the manner of speech we employ.
Lofty, unflappable Peggy thinks it's "unhinged" to declare that one has "kicked the sh-- out of the fascists."
The statement was taken out of context, which is somewhat surprising for a writer who graduated cum laude from Fairleigh Dickinson University. More surprising is that Peggy Noonan still manages to miss the clearly fascist elements ascendant in our nation, If only by definition.
She misses the planted bomb,the attempt to steal a gun,the solicited assassinations, the death threats to leaders--all tactics employed by the Right-Wing to protect the sanctity of life in the Schiavo case Noonan writes about. These were not unexpected tactics, given some of the players in this drama, but here is Noonan's take on reality:
'And why do those who argue for Mrs. Schiavo's death employ language and imagery that is so violent and aggressive? The chairman of the Democratic National Committee calls Republicans "brain dead." Michael Schiavo, the husband, calls House Majority Leader Tom DeLay "a slithering snake."'
Really Peggy? When's the last time calling someone a snake directly resulted in their head exploding?
Noonan's tender musings miss the greatest part of the whole sad Sciavo story, a part that 80% of Americans did not at all fail to miss: Government has no business at all in making such a decision. When Congress and Mr Bush outrageously wended their way into such territory, they tread a small path toward fascism, and Americans know it, even if the elitist Ms. Noonan does not.
One wonders if a youthful Peggy didn't blow her way through college in a great windy hurry, missing out on the finer points. Indeed, perhaps this is the trajectory of her entire career.
Many of us on DU are blue-collar, middle-class and lower. I was raised among the steel-mills of South Chicago. And I don't like it when powerful elitists like Noonan try to intimidate me into how I should express myself. When DU is attacked, a broad cross-section of regular, earnest Americans is attacked. I don't like it and I'll say so when a Ms. Noonan, deeply rooted in Washington's power, begins tossing her crumbly bricks at people who do not have access to the high place from which she expresses her views.
Not that politeness should be ignored, but when faced with lies and willful ignorance, a little verbal rough-housing is in order. And DU is a place for that, as it is also a place for high-mindedness.
Even the kind Ms. Noonan employs, only not so obviously full of the horseshit she has been paid so well to spread.
Just because a person isn't in possession of an expensive college degree or a college education at all, doesn't mean they can't read and don't have the ability for critical thought.
Indeed, during campaign 2000, the press made a big honking deal about how George W. Bush "spoke just like the people". Well, that was a lie, too. Most Americans don't speak like fatuous, dishonest idiots. They really don't.
But when Noonan uses the august platform of the Wall Street Journal to promote (as she has in the past) war-hungry old men as hot little sex bombs, I think DU can be permitted to ask " What the hell is THAT shit all about?" Let alone become agitated when we see America barreling down the wrong path.
And while Ms. Noonan is busy flushing-out "Those who are half in love with death" in her column, she might wanna look to her aging Chickenhawk boyfriends in the White House.
Talk about unhinged...
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