Words, Words, Words

New at Reason: Operation Iron Hammer? Winning Militarily? Coalition Force Ratio? Smart Democrats? What do these phrases mean? Jeff Taylor explains it all in his Iraq phrase primer.

Comments

[Anonymous]

Why is this tired leftist propaganda being published on a libertarian site?

[Joe3]

What is "tired" about it, what is "leftist" about it, and what makes it "propaganda"?

[Ruthless]

Abe Lincoln might have gotten elected twice while laying waste and running amok, but Dubya will go down very much like Quincy: the one-term President son of a one-term President father.
Or I wouldn't be surprised to see him pull a "Johnson" (LBJ) and decline at the last minute to run again.

In Lincoln's day, gummint wasn't perceived as the magnum dispenser of "benes." Today Dubya will be seen as the "waster" of gummint benes that would otherwise accrue to the loafing/ voting class.

[Jack]

I'm afraid that's wishful thinking, Ruthless. Unless G.W. is caught with the proverbial "dead girl or live boy" in his bed, he's cruising for a second term. The US will declare victory in Iraq by next summer and evacuate all but a handful of troops, leaving some sort of governmental shell but effectively allowing the country to break apart. See, e.g., Afghanistan, which the mainstream media continues to hail as proof of American nation-building prowess.

[Cheshire Cat]

why does this read like a conversation with Alice?

[drunk at the bar]

Alice? Who the fuck is Alice?

[Todd Fletcher]

Remind me again, why does Jeff Taylor write for Reason? Even when I disagree with the other writers, I think they're worth reading. Taylor's just an absolute bore - makes me wish Dr. Zaius would've finished the job.

[Andrew Lynch]

Tim. I'm afraid Jeff's preoccupation with -- or analysis of, or humorous whatever -- "Winning Militarily" and the like doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot to those of us who just live normal lives and can plainly see through bullshit. Why is this important to people who don't think Glenn Reynolds is some kind of revolutionary?

Come on, man, I come here for beef, not tofu.

[The Merovingian]

Actually, Lincoln's day government was considered a source of government benefits; thus war profiteering.

And of course the state and local governments were viewed as such from before the revolution; that is when they were colonies.

[Anonymous]

It's tired because the same sentiments have essentially been out there for months. It's leftist because it's exactly like what you can read over at The Nation or other like-minded magazines and blogs (whereas, if anyone cared, it'd be quite easy to mock the silly slogans the Democrats use regarding Iraq as well). It's propaganda because, even though it's nominally a humor piece, it's relentlessly anti-Bush and not a single claim rings true to anyone, pro or anti-war, who wants to be fair.

[Will]

Whether you agree or disagree with Jeff's political statements, you have to agree that his writing is terrible.

That article looks like a result of "My editor gave me a deadline to get *something* into print, but my head is pounding from all the tequila last night."

[LobelWeiss Nick]

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DATE: 12/20/2003 07:59:56
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[Smith Whitney]

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