Friday, May 05, 2006

Light Weekend Reading

It's a great week to be Iowahawk. Recent events have only served to play to his genius.

Iowahawk has miraculously unearthed Juan Cole's original response to Christopher Hitchens. See what can happen when you dig through a dumpster behind the University of Michigan College of Liberal Arts? A tiny taste:

I belong to a private email discussion group called The MySpace Center for Global Strategic IM Chat Leadership. It has academics, journalists and many of the top popular policy makers on it. We abide by a strict guideline: “the first rule of Chat Club is, there is no Chat Club.”

Cole is way more pissed then he was in that, like, other column. Trust me.

Then there is Patrick Kennedy. I almost feel sorry for the guy. I pill addiction can be a hard thing to deal with. After what Rush Limbaugh went through, the hateful references to him as a cokehead, pill popper, etc., for months on end, endless calls for his head on a platter, and a politically motivated DA looking to score points for the home team, Kennedy's future looks dim indeed.

What's that you say?

Kennedy is a what?

A Democrat?

Oh. (Please disregard my opening paragraph)

Ahem. Anyway, in honor of Patrick Kennedy's entirely human mistake and subsequent harmless fibs, Iowahawk also revisits a classic Ted Kennedy guest blog. Kennedy masterfully gets the "quagmire" message across using the ingenius analogy of an Oldsmobile sinking in a river, thus eliminating any chance that he could be accused of cowardice or anti-Americanism. It is a watershed moment in the history of political subtlety. The obligatory taste:

That is why I believe we have reached the point where we must take a deep breath and immediately depart the Oldsmobile. We must seek through the watery darkness and release the belt latch of madness that has kept us here, and reach out for a sane and honorable window crank.

Obviously there will be passengers in the Oldsmobile who do not want us to leave, and will likely try to grasp and grab at our feet as we depart. While we wish them success, it is critical that these passengers quickly learn independence and self-determination. The most effective way to teach them is through example, and with a vigorous kick-off. Let us hope they will cherish our shoes as a lasting legacy of our commitment to liberty.


"Cherish our shoes." I think Ted Kennedy just figured a way to get the Democratic position on Iraq onto a bumper sticker.

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