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NO SMOKING GUN (Michael Kinsley Slams Downing Street Memo and the Left conspiracy theorists)
Washington Post ^ | 6/13/05 | Michael Kinsley

Posted on 06/13/2005 9:36:48 AM PDT by areafiftyone

After about the 200th e-mail from a stranger demanding that I cease my personal coverup of something called the Downing Street Memo, I decided to read it. It's all over the blogosphere and Air America, the left-wing talk radio network: This is the smoking gun of the Iraq war. It is proof positive that President Bush was determined to invade Iraq the year before he did so. The whole "weapons of mass destruction" concern was phony from the start, and the drama about inspections was just kabuki: going through the motions.

Although it is flattering to be thought personally responsible for allowing a proven war criminal to remain in office, in the end I don't buy the fuss. Nevertheless, I am enjoying it, as an encouraging sign of the revival of the left. Developing a paranoid theory and promoting it to the very edge of national respectability takes a certain amount of ideological self-confidence. It takes a critical mass of citizens with extreme views and the time and energy to obsess about them. It takes a promotional infrastructure and the widely shared self-discipline to settle on a story line, disseminate it and stick to it.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: britishmemo; conspiracytheory; michaelkinsley; notevenkinsleybuysit; theleft
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Developing a paranoid theory and promoting it to the very edge of national respectability takes a certain amount of ideological self-confidence.

Developing a paranoid theory and promoting it to the very edge of national respectability takes a certain amount of ideological self-confidence drug induced delerium.

1 posted on 06/13/2005 9:36:48 AM PDT by areafiftyone
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To: areafiftyone

Lets see the actual memo first, not the hype. If WMD do not exist then the UN lied with their inspectors and the report that came out a couple ago from the UN is a lie also.


2 posted on 06/13/2005 9:41:39 AM PDT by mountainlyons (alienated vet)
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To: areafiftyone

This memo must have been so stupid for the WP not to make like it's a cover of something deeper.


3 posted on 06/13/2005 9:41:41 AM PDT by tobyhill (The war on terrorism is not for the weak!)
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To: areafiftyone

And today's BIG question is: Why does the editor of the LA Times write an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, and NOT his own paper?


4 posted on 06/13/2005 9:45:20 AM PDT by ken5050
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BUMP!!!


5 posted on 06/13/2005 9:50:39 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod (Benedict XVI = Terminator IV)
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To: areafiftyone

i thought we went in too early without an adequate plan. i don't understand?@!


6 posted on 06/13/2005 9:51:47 AM PDT by wildwood
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To: ken5050

I've always considered the WashPost as the most rational of the big three liberal fishwraps. Unlike the NY and LA Times, they won't try and create a story out of nothing. If they've gone over this "memo" and can't find a smoking gun, it means this is just more Michael Moore, Howard Dean and Al Franken fantasy from the loony left.


7 posted on 06/13/2005 9:55:18 AM PDT by ABG(anybody but Gore) (I don't hate anybody, except the French....)
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To: ABG(anybody but Gore)
The Washington Post is actually the worst of the lot. They invent stuff all the time, and consistently come down on the side of America's enemies.

Part of the problem is they are owned by a billionaire.

We'd be much better off establishing a wealth and income cap and stripping them of their surplus and distributing it among their 500 closest relatives.

8 posted on 06/13/2005 9:58:22 AM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: ABG(anybody but Gore)

Yes the Washington Post is the more rational of the liberal papers. The left is sooo excited because Raw Story put out six more supposed doucments which have no original sources like the Downing Street Memo. NO ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS! How can they actually believe that the MSM and Congress will impeach the president over Newpaper articles?


9 posted on 06/13/2005 9:59:02 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
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To: areafiftyone

I wouldn't say Kinsley slams the memo. Actually, he seems to believe all of the allegations made by the left in regards to it. I don't read this as telling the liberals to just drop this and move on - I read it as him telling them "This looks promising, but you've got to keep manufacturing more 'proof'".


10 posted on 06/13/2005 9:59:11 AM PDT by CFC__VRWC ("Anytime a liberal squeals in outrage, an angel gets its wings!" - gidget7)
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To: CFC__VRWC

They have NO original documents to speak of. Even the Times of London could NOT get hold of the original document. They supposedly have six more documents that came out today and NONE of them are originals.


11 posted on 06/13/2005 10:00:26 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
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To: areafiftyone
NO ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS! How can they actually believe that the MSM and Congress will impeach the president over Newpaper articles?

That didn't stop them from trying to take him down during the campaign with obviously forged TANG documents.

12 posted on 06/13/2005 10:01:37 AM PDT by CFC__VRWC ("Anytime a liberal squeals in outrage, an angel gets its wings!" - gidget7)
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To: CFC__VRWC

They are certifiably NUTS!


13 posted on 06/13/2005 10:02:40 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
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To: areafiftyone

Is it going to be called the "Downing Street Gate"?


14 posted on 06/13/2005 10:02:43 AM PDT by tobyhill (The war on terrorism is not for the weak!)
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To: areafiftyone
They supposedly have six more documents that came out today and NONE of them are originals.

No doubt obtained via fax from a Kinko's in Texas....

15 posted on 06/13/2005 10:02:52 AM PDT by ABG(anybody but Gore) (I don't hate anybody, except the French....)
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To: tobyhill

DUmmie Street Gate!


16 posted on 06/13/2005 10:03:26 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
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To: areafiftyone

You'll get no argument from me. "Fake but accurate" is now the standard for MSM "journalism", and minor little details like a lack of original documents are no reason to discard a story that you want to be true.

Excuse me while I go look out the window - I just want to check what color the sky is on this bizzare world we're in these days.


17 posted on 06/13/2005 10:06:34 AM PDT by CFC__VRWC ("Anytime a liberal squeals in outrage, an angel gets its wings!" - gidget7)
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To: CFC__VRWC
At DU, they are literally foaming at the mouth at Kinsley's article. They claim that he has stabbed the Left in the back.

And when those guys attack..it's personal, it's mean and it's vicious. And they are letting Kinsley have it with both barrels.

Btw, the general consensus at DU is that the MSM is firmly in the Bush camp. They are propping up the "BushReich", as one raving lunatic put it. These guys are just loving the red meat that Dean is dishing up...they really think that this is the path they have to take back to "power" and the WH.

They are eating their own in Biden, Lieberman and Edwards...they are, literally, demanding that the Dems move further Left. I can see why one reporter referred to the DU'ers as part of the "psychiatric wing" of the Dem Party.

18 posted on 06/13/2005 10:12:45 AM PDT by sofaman
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To: sofaman

bump


19 posted on 06/13/2005 10:28:06 AM PDT by woofie ("Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!!")
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To: areafiftyone

Developing a paranoid theory and promoting it to the very edge of national respectability takes a certain amount of ideological self-confidence.

"Developing a paranoid theory and promoting it to the very edge of national respectability" has become the MO of the Democratic Party. Honestly, I've lost my sense of humor with these people. They are no longer funny. They won't fight for America, or democracy, or freedom, and they are endangering American lives.


20 posted on 06/13/2005 10:32:06 AM PDT by popdonnelly
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