Okay, Atrios posted some content on this article by Anna Marie Slaughter today. It's a puff piece about how we all need to eschew partisanship and make everything work together, because, you know, the country really needs to pull together.
FLIP is not just one of Mrs. Wilson's boys.
Ms. Slaughter writes:
It's time, then, for a bipartisan backlash. Politicians who think we need bargaining to fix the crises we face should appear side by side with a friend from the other party -- the consistent policy of the admirably bipartisan co-chairmen of the 9/11 commission, Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton. Candidates who accept that the winner of the 2008 election is going to need a lot of friends across the aisle -- not least to get out of Iraq -- should make a point of finding something to praise in the other party's platform. And as for the rest of us, the consumers of a steady diet of political vitriol, every time we read a partisan attack, we should shoot -- or at least spam -- the messenger.
Ms. Slaughter wrote this today. I am tired of the naive fixation on "bi-partisanship" that many of our journalists foster today. I wrote her back:
Subject: I'm sorry to disagree
But "partisanship" is not a problem. It is
bi-partisanship that got us into the quagmire in Iraq.
Everybody voted to give George Bush authorization to
make war on Iraq, and it was well known at the time
that war was his intention. Perhaps if Democrats had
been a little more partisan at the time, we would not
be in the position we are today.
I am an American person. I favor the Democrats
standing up to the GOP and their corporate welfare
programs. I am not tired of partisanship. Please do
not deign to speak for me in this matter.
Ms. Slaughter replied:
Subject: Your message
Thank you for your message. I do not disagree that we needed more partisanship in 2003. But today the only way out of the mess that Bush et al have gotten us into is not to play his game. We're going to have to stop finger-pointing and pull together.
Thanks for writing,
AMS
Gee whiz, Ms. Slaughter! That's a great ideer! If only we would all just quit acting so special, we could all get together and put on a show!! Here's my actual reply:
Subject: Re: Your message
I respectfully disagree with you, Ms. Slaughter.
Also, I do not expect us to become long time pen pals,
so I do appreciate you taking time to read and answer
my email.
I do not understand your answer, however. You do
realize that any piece of legislation or funding bill
that doesn't get filibustered by the GOP in the Senate
gets vetoed by the president, right? Your article
doesn't seem to call on the GOP to stop the
destructive tactics of demanding that the Senate and
House Democrats drop all attempts at oversight over an
administration that has proven itself inept at
everything except corruption.
That would leave one alternative, and that is for the
Dems to stop resisting the president, and give him
what he wants, because you know the president will not
budge.
If you accept this premise, then I do not see any
other avenue for the Dems to pursue than pressure the
GOP and president by giving them progressively harder
legislation and options. You don't raise a child by
getting on their side and negotiating a solution to
the question of what's bedtime. Conversely, you don't
treat an administration who has consistently lied and
ignored the law as if they are starting from the
center and a position of power.
It is incumbent upon the GOP to oppose the president.
If they choose his side, George Bush, Katrina, the
failed Iraq war, GOP lies, and Osama bin Laden will
all be running on the Republican side of the ticket in
every single congressional race next year.
Giving George Bush what he wants is George Bush's
game.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
johng
I thought I was being nice, and respectful of a busy journalist with an opinion. Apparently, I was merely keeping her from the next cocktail party, and cramping her style. Her reply:
Subject: Out Of Office AutoReply: Your Reply:
I am on sabbatical for the year in China. If you are writing on business relating to the Woodrow Wilson School please contact Acting Dean Nolan McCarty at nmccarty@princeton.edu. If you need to contact me on an important matter please write or call my assistant, Nancy Everett, at neverett@princeton.edu or 609/258-2492.
Oh, so that's how it's going to be, Ms. Slaughter? You post a piece of shit to the Washington Post, answer a few emails in a condescending tone, and whisk off to China? Well, here's my reply to the out of office reply:
Re: Out of Office AutoReply: Your Reply
I, too, am on sabbatical. Except I am on sabbatical
here in the America that alot of irresponsible
journalists have vacated their jobs from, and have
allowed democracy to die while they go to DC parties
and hope to make friends in the administration. I am
only reading people that make sense. If you have
written a column that is bullshit, and only "wishes we
could all get along" because that is what our country
needs right now, please stop writing these columns
because you are wrong and destructive to our
democratic system.
Could you please throw your immense weight on the side
of good? thanks.
I don't expect her to listen to little old me. After all, I do not throw DC cocktail parties.
Peace.