See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
Now some posters on Crash Landing don't see what the big fuss is about. How could anyone possibly take umbrage at the hard-hitting journalists over at Reason, who will stop at nothing to bring truth to their readers? Case in point: David Weigel's recent blog post about Ron Paul's book hitting #1 on Amazon.
So what is the point of Weigel's post? Does he note the amazing success Paul is having in getting his (geeky and boring, I would have thought) message out to average folks? Nope. Oh, I know! Maybe he doesn't agree with Paul's arguments, and so goes through and criticizes certain parts of the book? Nope.
Rather, what Weigel does is remind everyone that Lew Rockwell is a big fat racist, liar, and coward, and then ties this in to Paul's new book because Paul has the audacity to tell his readers to visit LRC. Then, Weigel further enlightens us by saying:
The Revolution is the best-selling book at Amazon.com today. I've read the book, though, and anyone expecting another bigot blow-up is going to be disappointed.
Aww, what a gip! Is it too late to cancel my order?
(Note: I too thought it was ridiculous that Paul said he had no idea who wrote those newsletters. But OK, he handled that poorly. Are we going to bring that up every time we discuss Ron Paul from now on?)
So what is the point of Weigel's post? Does he note the amazing success Paul is having in getting his (geeky and boring, I would have thought) message out to average folks? Nope. Oh, I know! Maybe he doesn't agree with Paul's arguments, and so goes through and criticizes certain parts of the book? Nope.
Rather, what Weigel does is remind everyone that Lew Rockwell is a big fat racist, liar, and coward, and then ties this in to Paul's new book because Paul has the audacity to tell his readers to visit LRC. Then, Weigel further enlightens us by saying:
The Revolution is the best-selling book at Amazon.com today. I've read the book, though, and anyone expecting another bigot blow-up is going to be disappointed.
Aww, what a gip! Is it too late to cancel my order?
(Note: I too thought it was ridiculous that Paul said he had no idea who wrote those newsletters. But OK, he handled that poorly. Are we going to bring that up every time we discuss Ron Paul from now on?)
"Does he note the amazing success Paul is having in getting his (geeky and boring, I would have thought) message out to average folks? Nope."
ReplyDeleteYes, he does, Bob. In fact, YOU quote him doing so: "The Revolution is the best-selling book at Amazon.com today."
"Rather, what Weigel does is remind everyone that Lew Rockwell is a big fat racist, liar, and coward"
I think Lew was a racist in the early nineties but has reformed -- I haven't seen any trace of that kind of "let the police beat the crap out of blacks since that time. In any case, Weigel DOES NOT SAY ANYTHING in this piece about Lew being a racist. As far as being a liar goes, the vast weight of the evidence is that he did lie on this point. I Wendy McElroy says she knows that Lew wrote a lot of that stuff, then he did.
And did you understand the last sentence you quote? Weigel is saying, "Whatever Paul wrote in the past, THIS BOOK is not bigoted."
Bob, this is exactly the sort of "Seeing attacks where there are none" that I keep writing about.
Bob, this is exactly the sort of "Seeing attacks where there are none" that I keep writing about.
ReplyDeleteGene, you seriously need to back up and look at this. What was the title of Weigel's post? Is he just a die-hard Beatles fan and works in their lyrics all the time?
Let me give you the benefit of the doubt. Are you saying, "Bob, you see 18 attacks in this blog post, when by my count there are only 3."?
When I read moronic dipshits like that Ayn Randian dude in the comments, I can't help but sympathize a little with the paleos. Anti-austrians/anti-paleos often engage in the same kind of guilt-by-association, ad hominems, ludicrous red herrings, and straight up dishonesty that the whinging wing of the Elite Populist Paleo Brigade.
ReplyDeleteJor, I entirely agree -- people like Postrel and Palmer are rabidly anti-paleo, and just as bad as the most rabid of the paleos. My view is someone like Rockwell, went astray in the early 90s, has gotten much better, and should be forgiven for his past sins. My paleo-problem is that, when anyone mentions those sins, many of the paleos launch into vicious personal attacks on the mentioner, instead of admitting, "Yeah, that was wrong, but he's not like that now."
ReplyDeleteGene,
ReplyDeleteI don't want to drop this. Are you claiming that Weigel was launching no attacks in that blog post?
Or maybe you're saying that he was attacking Rockwell, not Paul?
Gene, I agree.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I don't really see the problem with Paul being labeled by his worst political mistake. You can't claim surprise over that, and he pretty much deserves to be remembered for it, imo.
ReplyDeletePS--I accidentally posted as Bob, and then had to delete the comment. This is what happens when you keep your computer in the guest room, and in-laws visit.
Frankly, I don't really see the problem with Paul being labeled by his worst political mistake. You can't claim surprise over that, and he pretty much deserves to be remembered for it, imo.
ReplyDeleteSure, if Paul were the presidential nominee, I would fully expect Obama or Clinton (or Gore?!) to constantly run ads with excerpts from the newsletters.
And yeah, I suppose if Bush comes out with his memoirs, and talks of the brave sacrifice of Iraqis in the war against terror, I might have a very quick blog post bringing up the ones killed by U.S. bombs.
But at the same time, I would admit I was attacking Bush's foreign policy, and saying he was a bad president.
In contrast, Gene is still denying that the people at Reason have anything against Ron Paul or Lew Rockwell. They're just a bunch o objective reporters.