New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | October 11, 2004

Matt Welch plays Yojimbo in the war between MSM and SBVFT.

Comments

gary|10.11.04 @ 10:43AM|#

Another flailing gasbag refutes the Swifties by declaration. I don't think these ostriches even bother cracking the spine of Unfit for Command. It's easy for Captain Picard to say, "Make it so," but really folks, someone has to actually do the work. Where is the demand for Kerry to sign form 180? And if you think Michael Moore is viable, you shouldn't write for a mag called Reason, nor should they give you more than the boot.

|10.11.04 @ 12:24PM|#

Personally, I find the refusal of the Establishment Media to go after all of Kerry's records to be the single strongest reason to believe they are in the tank for Kerry, and I discount all of their fulminations against the Swifties accordingly.

In any civil case, the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence put forward by the Swifties would easily carry the day. Sealing the deal would be the refusal of Kerry to release all of his military records.

The contrast between the media's utter hysteria about Bush's rather unexceptional National guard service (to the point of recklessly propagating obvious forgeries), and its utter disinterest in Kerry's rather extraordinary and controversial naval career (to the point of not caring that he refuses to release his records), could hardly be more striking.

|10.11.04 @ 12:35PM|#

"In any civil case, the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence put forward by the Swifties would easily carry the day."

Of course civil cases have also allowed suits for hot coffee to carry the day.

|10.11.04 @ 1:16PM|#

The Swifties make a stronger case regarding Kerry's dubious leadership abilities than the MSM or any number of bloggers have dared to illuminate. Why so? Why not a greater push for Kerry signing form 180? Why dismiss the Swifties' reports as "largely unsubstantiated" and sniff haughtily at the idea of doing real homework and honest reporting? It's disgusting. Bias is all over the place on this subject.

|10.11.04 @ 1:44PM|#

Matt Welch - another MSM gasbag. I wonder what your article would look like if the Swifties were against Bush? Or do I really wonder - if you think that Moore packages "hundreds of facts" into his polemics.

|10.11.04 @ 3:01PM|#

gary, RC, Curtis,

I've heard/read a lot of conflicting things about whether Bush has signed form 180 to allow release of all of his military records. Do you know if he has signed form 180? If so, why are there gaps in his publicly available records? If not, are you as bothered by his unwillingness to release all of his military records as you are by Kerry's?

gary|10.11.04 @ 3:19PM|#

Yes, Bush has directed that all his records be released. When will Kerry?

|10.11.04 @ 3:28PM|#

J., It's my understanding that Bush has authorized the full release of his records and I hope that's true because, yes, the records of both candidates should not be hidden.

Matt Welch|10.11.04 @ 7:24PM|#

Jack -- Since the column was in fact about how news organizations should not shy away from and heap unsubstantiated scorn on topics simply because they are generating a lot of partisan hot air, the Swifties were just the highest-profile recent "example" of this trend, and had they indeed generated a similar amount of controversy by attacking the president, I would have written largely the same column.

Gary -- I didn't call Michael Moore "viable," I said his polemics, in addition to containing fictions, also contain some facts (and that therefore for a news organization to dismiss every word he says would be wrong, just as it's wrong to dismiss every word said by the Swifties). I've spilled thousands of words attacking Moore's truthfulness over the years (even in French!).

huski|10.12.04 @ 3:44AM|#

But the real question is...Yojimbo? Yojimbo is one of my favorite movies of all time!

Plot summary adjusted for context (with apologies to Amazon, among others - warning: Spoilers!):

Hit and Run mainstay Matt Welch (The Seven Columnists and The Hidden Argument) plays a nameless wandering pundit for hire who plays both ends against the middle with two warring factions, surviving on his wits and his ability to outrun his own angry commenters. Eventually the pundit seeks to eliminate both sides for his own gain and to define his own sense of honor. His task is complicated by the arrival of the stolid George Soros and the wily John O'Neill, brandishing dueling 527 TV campaigns. The highly skilled pundit prevails, and everyone involved ends up politically dead, except for a youth (John Edwards) who had joined one faction of gangsters to prove his manhood. The pundit spares him, pulling back from a swirling attack of withering prose at the last second, and sends him back to honest work at his parents' textile mill. The Nameless Pundit is striking for its unorthodox treatment of journalism and morality, reserving judgment on the actions of its main character and instead presenting an entertaining tale with humor and much visual excitement, ranging from furious trackback flamewars to the image of a dog trotting through the offices of Reason with a severed Ethernet cable in its mouth. Matt Welch's gruff, twitching portrayal of the pundit is unforgettable. This masterpiece of ironic Bush-ido is marred only by a tacky Kerry-oke soundtrack.

|10.12.04 @ 10:27AM|#

The Swift Boat Yadda Yaddas didn't prove that Kerry was not in Cambodia on Christmas Eve, as Matt claims. They've only demonstrated that he can't prove he was in Cambodia. Fair enough, he can't. But absence of proof is not proof of absence.

That's a pretty smart guy, to make up a story about doing something controversial several years before anybody started claiming it was controversial, just so he could get ahead of the controversy. If John Kerry actually posessed that level of foresight and cunning, we would be insane not to make him Commander in Chief.

kelly ripa|11.4.04 @ 8:00PM|#

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