Joe Klein's 8-29-05 Time Essay.....

[HardWorkingDem]

Joe Klein wrote a pretty good essay on what he titled "The Danger of Yellow Ribbon Patriotism".

I thought that "Yellow Ribbon Patriotism" was a pretty good descriptor of how many people in this country are responding to the Iraq war - throw a bumper sticker on their cars and then think, "I've done my part".

Does anyone else have any other witty phrases like "yellow ribbon patriotism".


http://www.time.com/time/columnist/klein/article/0,9565,1096435,00.html

[ribrepin]

1. He's still pimping the war

He seems to be saying that if Bush just acknowledges the cost in lives and moves on everything will be hunky dory. Maybe throw in a bond drive or two and a little speech about national service.

They never acknowledge the real problem. The Iraqi's are no more going to accept an occupation than the U.S. would accept foreigners occupying us. Do they think the Iraqi's are so different than us?

[ShockediSay]

2. yellow belly chicken hawks

comes to mind.

All the patriotism in the world isn't going to change the facts of life. Without a clue about real life warfare, our leadership has brought this country to ruinous disaster. As the Downing Street Memos indicated, nary a second thought was given to post invasion planning.

Joe Biden: our last clear shot is a Constitution with liberty and justice for all. If that's not in the cards, then we should write it like we did in Japan and Germany.

[Ken Burch]

3. Remember, it's KLEIN, people...

This is the weasel who's had the same schtick for thirty-five years or more: that liberalism needs to keep moving towards conservatism.

The night David Dinkins beat Ed Koch in the NYC mayoral primary, Klein was the first person on the air calling for "fusion" support of Giuliani against Dinkins.

Even further, he wrote that bullshit biography of Woody Guthrie in which he hyperventilated every time he wrote the word "communist."
(As if nobody in the Thirties had any reason to question whether the US should stay capitalist.)

And he's also the guy who spent months denying he'd written PRIMARY COLORS and was caught lying about that.


In other words, consider the source.

[HardWorkingDem]

4. Look beyond the author - What gets me......

is that almost every writer, journalist or pundit has detractors, but from time to time a writer can put out a piece that is compelling and important.

Klein has hit on something here and instead of always hitting on the messenger, the message should sometimes be examined for what the theme of the article is beyond that of the mere author. Here Klein has pointed out how many Americans don't appreciate the impact of this war and that the troops know it and how many Americans feel they have done their part by slapping a magnetic sticker on their vehicle.