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Dowd issues correction (sorta)
Edited for length, snarky comments and illogic. In today's column, Ms Dowd corrects a misquote of George Bush without ever admitting that she had misquoted him in the first place, thereby setting a new journalistec low for the NYT!The tactical efficacy and moral delicacy of American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq solidified a trend: the children of Vietnam-scarred boomers trust the government, and especially the military, far more than did their parents, whose generational mantra was "Don't trust anyone over 30." In other words, I and my fellow travellers have failed to destroy the military's image like we did during Vietnam. But damn it, we're trying! As Ms. Toner noted, a Harvard poll found that 75 percent of college kids trusted the military "to do the right thing" either "all of the time" or "most of the time." Two-thirds of the students supported the Iraqi war, with hawks beating doves 2 to 1. This proves my contention that most liberals (sorry, Liberalhawk) don't understand math beyond simple addition and subtraction. Umm, Maureen two-thirds and a 2 to 1 ratio are exactly the same thing, just expressed differently. The president and his posse diverted anger over 9/11 to Iraq, and now they are diverting it to Iran. The Bushies are playing up Al Qaeda terrorists they say are hunkered down in Iran, even as they overlook all the Al Qaeda terrorists crouching in countries the administration doesn't want to demonize, like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. And the hawks have turned to grooming Iranian exiles, who are pumping out reports of secret nuclear labs. Sound familiar? Maureen, you should really stick to things you understand, like fashion and gossip because you really don't understand strategy like "defeat you enemies in detail" (one at a time) and "destroy the biggest threat first." If Dowd had been writing during WWII, she would have criticized Roosevelt for defeating Germany first when, afterall, Japan had attacked us first. "Al Qaeda is on the run," the president said in Little Rock, Ark. "That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely, being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top Al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore." This is the money quote. In a prior column, she had left out the "Right now, about half of all the top Al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead," sentence without an elipsis to indicate the deletion. In college, my profs would have dropped you a grade for something like that. The public should take its cue from Mr. Bush's beau ideal, Ronald Reagan. As the Gipper advised, "Trust, but verify." Can you trust anyone without the moral courage to admit a mistake? Posted by: 11A5S 2003-05-28 |
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