"...Surely, surely we can all agree that Peter Beinart is a slimy, transparently self-serving asshole..." Robert Wright reading an email response to a diavlogg with Beinart.*
My jaw nearly dropped, for reasons that will become clear.
Wright's dead-pan delivery and evisceration of Beinart, served-up to a shocked Mickey Kaus, is only part of a larger more important discussion; one that questions the judgment of Markos and the role Daily Kos is likely to play in America's national debates. Find out more below the fold.
UPDATE: Welcome to Bob and Mickey!
UPDATE: Robert Wright responds.
Like just about every other sane person who opposed the invasion of Iraq well before George Bush trampled all over the election process in 2000, I've been enraged to be called "irresponsible" and "unserious" about making the world safer from religious extremists.
Until this year, I'd kept all of my efforts private, emailing pundits on the left and right and receiving a fair number of generally sensible responses, even from noted wingnuts. I'd been happy enough to engage and was occassionally pleased to see my opinions or humor quoted here and there.
But when Bush got elected a second time, and it became clear that nothing was going to get done I realized that I had to take it up a notch. I searched around for the most widely-read, politically diverse progressive blog I could find and set up shop at Daily Kos. It hasn't always been smooth sailing. I'm not here to suck-up to Markos or anyone else for that matter; and I've generally benefited from the feedback, both favorable and unfavorable.
But I still send out those email. As I noted in this diary yesterday Destroy Iraq: NRO Pundit Comes Clean the worm is turning for many on the right, and I linked to Robert Wright's attack on Beinart as one example. As is my habit, I sent off a couple of email to comment and thought little of it. I got home last night tuned in to find out how viewers had responded to Wright on Beinart and there was Robert Wright reading my assessment of Peter to the web world. Yes!!!! Follow the link and move the button to 8:25 of viewer email to hear Wright reading me. And here's the email in its entirety.
To: bloggingheads.tv feedback.
I wouldn't ordinarily resort to profanity, [in email] but surely, surely everyone has to agree at least that Peter Beinart is a slimy, transparently self-serving asshole. Robert Wright was far too conciliatory.
Let me put it this way: if two people were talking about writing a book. One person has never written one, but goes on record favoring a method that fails and fails miserably. The other person has written a book and argues against the method suggested by the novice. The novice is proven wrong.
Does the novice who has never written a book and who has been proven wrong have anything of real value to say to the author, especially criticism of any kind?
Cause that's who Beinart is: a college boy who's never fought who presumes to lecture his intellectual and militarily more experienced betters on their chosen fields of expertise.
We're talking Richard Clarke, Rand Beers, et al who mounted devastating informed critiques of the plan to invade Iraq.
Who the fuck is Peter Beinart?
He's a magazine editor who might know something about spelling and punctuation, but is singularly and now spectacularly unqualified to write or speak on anything beyond essay construction.
So, yeah, I was pumped. And just to show how fast things change on the web, Robert Wright has already appended an apology to Markos for remarks that would have been the focus of the second part of this diary.
Afterthoughts
Added Jun 13 by Robert Wright re: Special Annoyance Edition
Correction: I apologize to Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (aka Kos) and his legions of potentially wrathful admirers for getting a consequential fact wrong in this diavlog. I said he and Jerome Armstrong are partners in the consulting firm Armstrong Zuniga--and went on to suggest that this rendered shady some support Kos gave Mark Warner in a piece he wrote for the Washington Post (given that Armstrong works for Warner). Before repeating this assertion, which had come to me via e-mail, I checked it out by going to Wikipedia and reading in its article on Armstrong that "Moulitsas joined Armstrong in a political consulting partnership called Armstrong Zuniga". What I didn't do is look below the Wikipedia article, under the heading "Varia," to see this sentence: "In January of 2003 Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga formed the political partnership Armstrong Zuniga until it was formally dissolved in December 2004." (Loose ends dept.: What does "Varia" mean, and why didn't Wikipedia just put that fact in the article itself?)
Wright's apology speaks for itself. Clearly the questions surrounding the way candidates are selected and promoted here at Daily Kos are likely to persist. Be aware that Kaus is joining up with Beinart to attack Markos, comparing Markos to Coulter. Sorry, no links. I'll leave that for Markos and others to address. I want to stay positive.
(Update Crank has picked up the Kaus/KOS angle.) Does KOS need to put a pre-emptive disclaimer on the masthead?
For all those activists who feel that your email or letter never get read or have no impact, take heart. We get read. I really do rarely resort to profanity in email because I don't want to give anyone a chance to trash my arguments because I've used taboo words or made reference to touchy topics. We talk a lot about acceptable discourse. Sometimes calling someone like Peter Beinart an "asshole" is the right thing to do. Clearly, others feel the same way.
What happened? Not much. Bloggingheads.tv isn't Meet the Press. Small potatoes. But every little action helps move the goal posts. Plus, it feels great. It feel great to know we're getting heard and it nice's to hear Beinart called out as an asshole, no matter how the statement is framed. Kaus was horrified.
Get in somebody's face today. Be polite, be firm, piss someone off, have fun.
UPDATE: Robert Wright provided first rate help with the dingalink. The miracle of technology allows us to insert exactly the clip we wish as html in any email or webpage, with proper citations, I assume. Bob also pointed out that in the origian diary, it appeared that it was he who was calling Beinart an asshole. The intro has been changed. Thanks again to bloggingheads.tv. Check them out. They're great!