The Atlantic’s James Fallows says Dick Cheney and company “have earned the right not to be listened to.” Slate magazine’s Jamelle Bouie says that prominent public intellectuals and journalists who supported the Iraq war should “be barred from public comment.” Charles Pierce at Esquire is less subtle: “Shut up, all of you. Go away.”...
I’m always curious what agency in a free society is in charge of enforcing prohibitions on such things.Shriek, wail, I'm being censored.
Given the tendency for nearly everyone to get things wrong over time, this is a dangerous game. Vanden Heuvel has been wrong about so many things, it’s difficult to know where to begin. She opposed pretty much the warp and woof of America’s Cold War policies. She opposed Bill Clinton’s war in the Balkans. She opposed the Persian Gulf War.
Fallows made a name for himself in the 1980s and ’90s championing the notion that Japan Inc. would overtake the United States. Shall we stop listening to him on economic issues?Similarly, this guy thought Avatar was going to win Best Picture, while Jonah pushed America into the hellmouth that is Iraq. Everybody makes mistakes!
There's more, but who cares.
UPDATE. Oh, all right:
I supported the war, and I still think the arguments in favor at the time were superior to the arguments against. Alas, the facts on the ground didn’t care about the arguments.Stupid facts! Farrrrrt.
UPDATE 2. Oh wait, oh wait, oh wait:
If postwar Iraq grew into a stable, confident nation progressing toward a lawful, decent society, I’ve argued, then someday in the future the mistake might look like a success.I don't even have to write punchlines for him anymore. Or farts!
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