Election Road Trip, Day 12

Smart and moving? Sorry, I thought it was pretty patronizing and that all the heartland and “national-patriotic system” talk was pretty cheesy and even dangerous. He’s so enamored of a system where people will “put down their tools and sign up” to fight wars that he calls “inevitable,” and it’s as if he doesn’t even realize that every war he cites in the piece was a war of choice that by no means had to happen.

This whole article is a good example of how debased, ill-informed and unintellectual our debate has become and it’s the very language that Pinkerton uses that actually gets people to acquiesce to a system that gives normal people no recourse but to live at the whims of the economy and our political class. If we had fewer people willing to do whatever is asked of them and more skeptical people looking out for their interests, we’d likely be better off.

I was confused by this too. First, I cringe to find myself on the Fox News site. Then the overblown article, although containing threads of some intelligent thought.
.
I think the “smart” part is the high compliment of Klein and his expertise in things military and the “war on terror”. The “moving” part is about the tribulations of the disabled veteran.
.
I haven’t followed the road trip much and went back to see who Pinkerton is. Turns out he is a sort of libertarian tied to the older Republican Party, including the blowhard Reagan and the Bush the Wise (as opposed to Bush the Foolish President, but Wise ex-President). Pinkerton has a sackful of reasonably rational ideas, but it’s not clear in the jumbled Fox link article. Example of jumble: the blue collars fight our wars, but get no break in the economy; not mentioned is that wounded blue collar soldiers are provided for and don’t rely on that blue collar anymore. Further, much of the economic mess can be attributed to the insane war machine.
.
Final analysis, this is about as sane an article that you’ll get out of the Fox News machine.

“I think the “smart” part is the high compliment of Klein and his expertise in things military and the “war on terror”
.
That is exactly what I thought.
.
The gross “we’re in the same club” style of “reporting”, while trivial, makes my skin crawl.

It seemed more like a tribute to his buddy Joe. Thanks for sharing Joe.

Frankly, I enjoyed the article. While others found it a bit incoherent, I think Pinkerton was making a larger point. Our politicians seem to have little sense about their policies and the effects on people. Personally, I think that is the problem for Obama. When he was first elected, he was concerned he would be stuck in the Washington “bubble”, and from what I can see, I am afraid his worse fears have come true.
I think Obama is doing what is best for the American public in the long run, but he has failed to communicate that to the American people. People still personally like him, still put most of the blame of our economic woes on the previous administration, but don’t think Obama has connected with them. What is he doing to help these folks here and now? Health care reform is great in the long term, but what is he doing to help the economy and create jobs now (though creating jobs is not the President’s job).

As a result, he has emerged as the most astute journalistic chronicler of U.S. counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I think this is probably true, and wish it were more generally acknowledged here. Sometimes I wish that instead of taking the opportunity to take down a member of the village, we took the opportunity to pick his brains.

oops. I forgot that would mean he’d have to respond to comments. Well here’s hoping.

welcome to our website === w w w (www.Ccshopping ) – u s === ..The new update, a large hot ..
WE ACCEPT PYAPAL PAYMENT.
YOU MUST NOT MISS IT!!!

Ahoy, Mateys! Welcome to International “Talk Like a Pirate Day” at th’ Swampland!
.
‘ere’s ‘opin’ that our dearly departed Pirate Wench be pitchin’ ‘er course towards ‘ome and the Swampcritters.
.
Joe’s post’ll be remindin’ us all of how littl’ ‘as changed amongst th’ Villagers in th’ past year…aaarrrg!

Kathy–If you ask, I shall respond. That’s always been the policy. I will not respond to rants, harangues and ad hominem attacks. I wish more of the Swampies were as thoughtful as you.

Praise=thoughtful
.
Praise=smart

Hey, if a little flag-waving helps to get the point across to the FNC crowd that we’ve sacrificed our manufacturing capacity (and the good paying jobs that go along with that) to Mammon, I’m okay with it.

@Joe Klein, when I thoughtfully and correctly warned you last week that you had uncritically re-reported a racist, almost certainly made up story, you didn’t think it was worth responding to.

I’ve had some great exchanges with you on this blog and have appreciated them all, but you have to realize that you shouldn’t have retold that story without making some attempt at verifying it, and that the story had factual and logical errors that make it unlikely true to begin with.

destor, Joe in a smart and thoughtful post explained that people who called bs on that story just didn’t like what that gentleman had to say.
.
You see Joe just reports, uncritically, what he is told.
.
That’s how he gets his access to powerful people in the military and becomes an expert on the military and the “war on terror”.

Unfortunately Joe, as you have told us, some of us are ignorant and sordid. In the future, warn us about a link to a Fox site. I might bump into Pinkerton’s pals Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly, or Palin.

thanks.