Posted on 02/03/2007 7:30:31 PM PST by seanmerc
The Lynching of the President By Ben Stein
So there I was, lying in my bed in Malibu with my dogs, watching Mr. Bush's State of the Union speech. I thought it was darned good. Realistic, gracious, modest, sensible. I happen to think we should get out of Iraq yesterday, but I thought Mr Bush put forward his case well. And Congress responded graciously and generously on both sides of the aisle.
Then, whaam, as soon as the speech was over, ABC was bashing him, telling us how pathetic he was, how irrelevant he was, how weak he was, how unrealistic he was.
Right after that, Jim Webb gave a very short speech biting Bush's head off -- but not making any concrete proposals about anything. No network person mentioned how simple minded and unrealistic he was.
Then, tonight, the next night, I walked into the kitchen where my wife had left the radio going with NPR to amuse the cats. NPR was having a call-in show talking about the State of the Union. The first speaker I heard was a country music legend, Merle Haggard, who said he had never seen things so bad in this country. Then a legion of anonymous callers chimed in with similar thoughts.
And suddenly it hit me. The media is staging a coup against Mr. Bush. They cannot impeach him because he hasn't done anything illegal. But they can endlessly tell us what a loser he is and how out of touch he is (and I mean ENDLESSLY) and how he's just a vestigial organ on the body politic right now.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
While the Internet is probably the greatest single source of information in human history, it is most definitely the greatest single source of disinformation.
One indication that a site is a source of disinformation is excessively tendentious writing.
I ran into him at a local restaurant. What a hero he is. I was honored to be in his presence.
Is he right on the money or what? Do you have to be named Stein (Steyn) in some way to be brilliant these days?
Reading through these responses... Hey guys, his POINT, on which we ALL CAN AGREE, was not about the war. It was about the mainstream media and how they were not elected to anything by we the people, and how we NEED to put them into their place toute suite or we are letting them rule over the Constitution.
...and the callers are more whacko than the station that gives them airtime. Ever take notes on the veiws of callers on NPR or PBS? 10 to 1 left vs right.
bttt
Happy to see someone else caught that. History, will determine in the long run, not todays drivel. Ben is wrong on the war, and that is all there is to it. In fact I've just about had it with anyone critical of the president for any reason, except maybe when my ox, unrestricted illegal immigration, is being algored.
For someone of Ben's supposed intelligence, to buy into the dem buzz words "tax cuts for the rich", just boggles my mind. It is tax cuts for taxpayers you idiot, and personal perception of income status has absolutely nothing to do with it. Everyone who pays taxes is "rich" in the leftist socilaist scheme of things, and Ben Stein is smart enough to know it or he's on the target list.
Had you ever heard of Plan Orange before now? How about MacArthur deciding not to follow it, then changing his mind, too late to bring the stockpiled supplies to Bataan?
Yaelle,
Spot-on! You got it. Thanks!
"Had you ever heard of"
I'm not even going to get into that with you. Your source claims, "He deliberately starved his men." That is not only outrageous slander, it is no more credible than "I'm having Elvis' baby...abducted and raped on UFO."
I find it appalling that you would ascribe the least shred of credibility to a source that would advance such a ludicrous claim. Minimum standards of good judgment require that their every utterance be disregarded.
Clearly, you have wandered into the fever swamps of anti-Americanism, where revisionists are trying to make Americans feel worse about themselves by robbing us of one more hero through the rewriting of history.
None of the things you've alleged about Mac has even the remotest grounding in reality, and I hope that some day you break away from that insanity and return to actual history.
"For someone of Ben's supposed intelligence, to buy into the dem buzz words "tax cuts for the rich", just boggles my mind. "
I'm still waiting for somebody to show me where he has. I won't believe it until I see it.
So, you had never heard of Plan Orange and MacArthur disregarding it. Look into it before pronouncing MacArthur a genius.
I'm not going to "look into" anything on whacko Web sites that make claims like, "He was deliberately starving his own men." You show me a legitimate historical source, and I'll be glad to look into it.
Actually I don't agree with his Iraq War stance.....
Try http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/70-7_06.htm (p. 66) or http://www.users.bigpond.com/pacificwar/gatheringstorm/Philippines/SiegeBatCorr.html. Cheers,
I like Ben Stein and he may write the truth, but he is a little slow on the uptake with this one. The press has been doing this since day 1 of his Presidency and for Stein to just realize it now shows a little disconnect.
And to think....JFK would be right-wing conservative...compared to most in the GOP now.
I don't think the press foresees the true future regardless of who's in the White House. They are blinded by bias and bigotry.
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