{"id":307,"date":"2004-03-17T21:50:57","date_gmt":"2004-03-18T04:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/wp2\/uncategorized\/rights-wrong\/"},"modified":"2004-03-17T21:50:57","modified_gmt":"2004-03-18T04:50:57","slug":"rights-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/letters-to-the-editor\/rights-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Right’s Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right’s right: His domestic failings aside, the <\/p>\n

president is focused on this basic truth: We’re a nation at war<\/a> by Jeff Gardner, Albuquerque Tribune Online<\/p>\n

[The Left] <\/p>\n

disingenuously<\/b><\/i> raged about ”W’s rush to war” or deceitfully<\/b><\/i> claimed W ”lied” about weapons. <\/p>\n

Well, let me say this about that….[I]f the president believed the weapons were there, he wasn’t lying…. [Duhbya] is dead right about <\/p>\n

the most important thing: We’re at war.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s so frustrating to read right-wing columnists like Jeff <\/p>\n

Gardner. First, conservatives act as if they don’t run everything: the House, the Senate, and the White House (ie, all of the Executive <\/p>\n

and Legislative Branches). As for the Judiciary, the radical right rails against ”activist judges” while doing their best to stack <\/p>\n

the bench their way (while using the Legislature to curtail numerous rights). With a tight grip on all three branches of government, <\/p>\n

arch-conservatives turn their ire on the media, the supposed liberal media that puts someone like Gardner on the front of the section and <\/p>\n

may, just may, print someone like me a few pages back.<\/p>\n

If Bush wasn’t lying about WMD (or tax cuts or the Patriot Act, ad nauseum), <\/p>\n

then he is ill-informed, even ignorant and incurious (widely acknowledged). Why is that so much better in a President?<\/p>\n

For at least 20 <\/p>\n

years, conservatives have framed and determined every aspect of public discourse. Everything must be expressed in their terms, by their <\/p>\n

rules. We are at war because they say we are. Gardner uses two standard reactionary tactics: put words in your opponents’ mouths <\/p>\n

(ridicule them for things they never said — reread his column to note all the little digs and jibes) and repeat exactly what other <\/p>\n

conservatives say (stay on target, consistent and loyal). These are powerful techniques that the radical right uses to stifle discussion. <\/p>\n

You’re with them or you’re against them.<\/p>\n

Bush’s presidency is the crowning achievement of the radical Christian fundamentalist <\/p>\n

right — our Taliban. And still they feel the need to berate, belittle and bully the Left. Real nice folks. It’s a shame they can’t <\/p>\n

enjoy their near-total victory (and all the spoils). Better get what you can before the pendulum swings again, as we all know it will — <\/p>\n

maybe even in November. mjh<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right’s right: His domestic failings aside, the president is focused on this basic truth: We’re a nation at war by Jeff Gardner, Albuquerque Tribune Online [The Left] disingenuously raged about ”W’s rush to war” or deceitfully claimed W ”lied” about weapons. Well, let me say this about that….[I]f the president believed the weapons were there, … Continue reading Right’s Wrong<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-to-the-editor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}