Maher Follow-up

Chris Dierkes

Chris Dierkes (aka CJ Smith). 29 years old, happily married, adroit purveyor and voracious student of all kinds of information, theories, methods of inquiry, and forms of practice. Studying to be a priest in the Anglican Church in Canada. Main interests: military theory, diplomacy, foreign affairs, medieval history, religion & politics (esp. Islam and Christianity), and political grand bargains of all shapes and sizes.

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8 Responses

  1. greginak says:

    Great stuff by Mahar and sadly true. Our policy options are so constrained by what is considered acceptable that it is ridiculous. We mostly debate shades of policy instead of seriously different ideas. The media establishment just won’t allow debate on many issues, like lowering the defense budget. That a public health option is considered somewhat fringe and possible not going to pass is downright silly given all the potential plans and ideas out there.

    I think a lot of The Big O’s machinations are more about convincing/pushing/dragging reprobate democrats then anything else. If you gave any republican president the kind of majorities O has every chosen policy would be implanted without question, much debate or much hullabaloo by the media establishment.Report

  2. ChrisWWW says:

    “Again in terms of political parties–not political philosophies–I have to spend my time aimed at Democrats because, as much as I’m not a fan, they are the only party approaching some level of sanity. It’s pretty minimal in my estimation, but at least it’s something. The GOP–which is different than conservatives (at least some kinds of conservatives)–is just a total write off and can not in away be taken seriously.”
    QFT.

    As an aside, to be fair to Nader and Kucinich, your complaints about them are based on fairly recent observations about their conduct and behavior. Even in past presidential contests, they were given basically zero coverage, and the coverage they were given was highly demeaning. As for Chomsky, he seems to have no trouble finding a platform in foreign press, so it’s odd he’s given no voice here.Report

  3. paul h. says:

    That all seems very correct — I’m a social conservative but simply can’t bring myself to vote for the GOP.Report

  4. Tyler says:

    Yea. I think he realized that he had to critique more than Obama to really get his point across. This is great stuff from him.Report

  5. Alice says:

    you couldn’t be any more personal and misinformed about Nader…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC9Hal0gycgReport

    • Chris Dierkes in reply to Alice says:

      I think ChrisWWW above is right that my criticism of Nader was more post 2000 than anything else. I actually have a lot of respect for his earlier work, but I think he’s gotten angry and bitter in his later years.Report

  6. Butters says:

    Excellent post.

    This is definitely my favourite political blog 🙂Report

  7. Alice says:

    -he’s gotten angry and bitter in his later years-

    Who wouldn’t be, [insert every truth about the treatment of THE PEOPLE since the inception of the united states], in this country? Yeah…I guess the Iranian [mandated births] youths must merely be angry and bitter…

    That man has spent his lifetime attempting to point out the obvious to the other humans….Report