Power Of The Blogosphere, Indeed

The river is running backwards - Congressional hearings now sound like a comments thread at an over-heated blog:

A bit later, emotions warmed even more as Representative Donald M. Payne, Democrat of New Jersey, asserted that Mr. Bush had misled the American people by taking the country to war against Iraq ("It wasn't difficult, because many people have a difficult time getting the details straight"), while the main mission was still Afghanistan.

"And I have never seen such a misuse of our power," Mr. Payne observed.

That was too much for Representative Henry J. Hyde, the Illinois Republican who heads the committee. He said that "calling the commander in chief a liar by every hour on the hour" was simply wrong, and was helpful to "the other side," by which he appeared to mean America's terrorist enemies.

Moments later, Representative Gary Ackerman, Democrat of New York, said he and his colleagues were "sick and tired" of hearing their patriotism questioned whenever they exercised their responsibilities and rights, as citizens as well as members of Congress.

Mr. Hyde did not mollify Mr. Ackerman a bit. "Nobody questions your patriotism," Mr. Hyde said. "It's your judgment that's under question."

The two lawmakers interrupted each other a few more times, until Mr. Ackerman said, "What's obvious, Mr. Chairman, is that you are a rather vicious partisan."

"Now you're really getting personal," Mr. Hyde observed.

"Well," Mr. Ackerman countered, "I think that willful ignorance is kind of personal also, Mr. Chairman."

"Just remember," Mr. Hyde shot back, "ignorance is salvageable, but stupid is forever."

"I know that," Mr. Ackerman said, "and I'm glad that you've memorized that." He went on to say that Mr. Hyde's insults notwithstanding, he had never called the president a liar.

If nothing else, the session underlined the importance of specificity in language, especially on the eve of President Bush's foreign-policy debate with Senator John Kerry, and the dangers of hyperbole.

"The time has expired, happily," Mr. Hyde said on adjournment.

Comments

[abb1]

He said that "calling the commander in chief a liar by every hour on the hour" was simply wrong, and was helpful to "the other side," by which he appeared to mean America's terrorist enemies.

But perhaps he meant something else: vast majority of the world's population who have no doubt that Mr. Bush indeed lied to justify the Iraq invasion. This includes almost a half of the US population, over 60% of the Brits and, I would guess, over 80% of the rest of the world. Not a bad side to be on, I must say.

[Gerry]

Could be worse. Pete Stark could have been involved.

[Slartibartfast]

I would guess

Objection; redundant.

[Robert Crawford]

Ah. The "bandwagon" argument.

[Forbes]

Fake, but accurate. Popular, but wrong. Good for you, but tastes lousy. Cures the disease, but the side affects will kill you. I insist my guess at the facts, are correct. Some will decide for others what's best for them. And some people just keep repeating the big lie, because they know it's true.

Funny how the "stupid" keep fooling the smart, and the smart keep telling us how much smarter they are. Kinda makes you wonder...