I guess I am a lousy judge of character. I once respected Kevin Drum, and was fooled by his alleged ‘moderation.’ No more- check out how he is slowly building the meme that Bush’s records were doctored. In his initial foray in to the issue, he stated:
Bottom line: Burkett’s story might be absolutely true. I don’t know. But there are enough red flags that I’m skeptical of it without further backup. In the meantime, caveat emptor.
In the second post, he states:
Overall, then, his story hangs together reasonably well
Steve
I told you so.
I find it fascinating really.
I disagree this is how you build a meme, but is really how a meme (like its biological counterpart the gene) can mutate. First it was that the evidence that was provided was no good. Then as that evidence got better and better a new version of the meme had to come out or it would face the possibility of going extinct. So up pops Burkett again, but this time with stronger claims and of course no supporting evidence.
Evolution at work!
The Worm Has Turned
John: I agree with almost everything you have to say about this subject. However, I never understood how Drum (or Oliver Willis, for that matter)got away with being considered a voice of moderation on anything.
Rick
Worm,
Because they so assured each other.
Cordially…
anon ex-Democrat
Gotta agree with you John. Kevin is playing a nasty game.
Lonewacko
The loafers had me fooled too.
Ricky
Oliver’s not ‘moderate’, unless considering people to the right of Barbara Lee to be ‘moderate’, he’s a partisan. Nothing wrong with that. I am.
Drum has added intentional dishonesty to the partisan label…..there’s something very wrong with that. Why he decided to go down this avenue is a question I’ll leave to others, but there is no denying that he’s knowingly posting and leaving false information.
mark
Yahoo has a story now on how the dentist does not remember Bush! How long until Kevin posts it as “proof?”
I wrote about it on my site…
Ricky
Yeah, the teeth may have been there…..but was Bush?
HH
Well, if the “skeptical” Drum is convinced, case closed. Burkett’s stumbling over his words when the words “under oath” came out of Chris Matthews’ mouth tonight are all I need to know… Speaking of which Matthews is supposedly all abuzz, as is much of the media about this Kerry story but they’re sitting on it. But there’s just as much evidence that Bush “scrubbed the records” and they’re going with it.
HH
The dentist doesn’t remember Bush… but the guy saw HUNDREDS of people that day.
Jon H
“The dentist doesn’t remember Bush… but the guy saw HUNDREDS of people that day.”
That’s not important.
What was Bush doing in Alabama in January, when he supposedly returned to Texas weeks earlier?
That’s the issue raised by the dental exam.
Charlie (Colorado)
Kinda sounds like he was going to the dentist.
HH
Or was the dentist a secret agent of… KARL ROVE???
Charlie (Colorado)
Can we go back to the Space Alien CIA Spy theory? I kinda like that one.
st
Actually, John, both Kevin and yourself have become far more intensely partisan in the last six months or so. I know that you often criticize Bush, but so what? Kevin often criticizes Dems he doesn’t like. The proof of the polarization is the degree of indignation and fury that both of you evince while criticizing the other side of the aisle.
Wow. The signature tactic of the “moderate left,” eh? Welcome to Election 2004, I guess. Have fun, it’s pretty clear you don’t want people like me around anymore.
Ricky
st,
Drum has been caught on several occasions posting misleading, redacted and in some cases intentionally false information.
Discredited is a kind description.
st
ricky:
Every word in John’s closing screed was plural. He’s saying we all lie, all the time, as a political strategy, and that we all make him sick. Hey, all’s I’m sayin’ is “message received.”
I really liked the ten questions with Ezra Klein, by the way. That’s a good series you got goin’ over there.
Ricky
I’ll let John speak for himself, but I took it to be confined to the folks who are willing to close their eyes and ears to anything that doesn’t fit their predisposed notion that Bush = Lucifer, and that isn’t “Democrats” or “the left”, but folks like Drum who have pretty much decided that political partisanship is more important than credibility. But, that’s my opinion and lord knows I’ve been wrong on more occasions than I care to recall (or be reminded of). :)
And thanks, I plan on it being a recurring theme & have more lined up.
Thanks
Kimmitt
Um, Bush really is rather an amoral human being and a truly awful President. That’s not quite Lucifer, but anyone who thinks that Bush is either a good person or a good President has their own issues to work on.
CleverNameHere
“Um, Bush really is rather an amoral human being and a truly awful President. That’s not quite Lucifer, but anyone who thinks that Bush is either a good person or a good President has their own issues to work on.”
assertion + insult = powerfully persuasive argument
I’m convinced.
Hal
The strategy seems to be working quite well for John Cole
Sebastian Holsclaw
Personally I think Kevin is still a good moderate-liberal voice, but he just got carried away. I’m understanding about that because heaven knows I get carried away. Now if he make a long term habit of it, that is another issue. But I suspect that he won’t.
Ricky
There’s quite a difference between getting carried away and knowingly passing along the false as factual.
There’s a word for that…begins with “L”.
russ
Memories place Bush in Alabama if records don’t
(http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0204/14alabush.html)
By DAVE HIRSCHMAN in Montgomery , MONI BASU in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/13/04
The search for proof that young Lt. George W. Bush worked weekends at an Air Force base in Montgomery, 32 years ago has taken on a strange, forensic quality.
Dusty dental records and copies of old pay stubs provided by the White House are the only hard evidence that the future president, then 26, was ever there. But journalists have interviewed scores of Alabama Air National Guard pilots, navigators and mechanics from the period and have found few, if any, who can remember seeing him there