James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
James, James, James--I love you, man, but come on. You must see the problem with running both of these paragraphs on the same page:
New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, deservedly slammed here and elsewhere for writing that "the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people," apologized in his Saturday column ... Nocera deserves credit for apologizing ...
and
But if Obama had the means and inclination to impose a dictatorship, is there any doubt that Drew Westen and Joe Klein, at least at the outset, would goose-step with gusto?
There's really no need to suggest that Westen's a Nazi. All you have to do to mock him is quote him. He does all the work for himself:
Although I am a scientist by training, over the last several years, as a messaging consultant to nonprofit groups and Democratic leaders, I have studied the way voters think and feel, talking to them in plain language. At this point, I have interacted in person or virtually with more than 50,000 Americans ...
See? Perfectly polite. Twice as insulting.
As for Joe Klein ... well, maybe. If I squint:
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Mar '11
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
There's really no need to suggest that Westen's a Nazi.
Mr Taranto is clearly referring to the Liberal Fascism of Jonah Golberg, where the goose-stepping is metaphorical and done with a smile :-)
Btw, Mr Bean recently wrapped his $1M McClaren around a tree in Cambridgeshire - ouch!
Edited on Aug 10, 2011 at 12:55amFeb '11
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
Is James Taranto a member here? You surely don't think you can impose the Ricochet CoC on everyone. Makes you sound like Mayor Blumberg.
(Just to clarify, does the CoC apply to us members even when we are writing elsewhere?)
Jul '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
The problem, of course, being that Taranto writes topical humor. If Queen Claire and her cats shut him down, what could possibly save Ricochet's beloved Mark Steyn in the long run? It would only be a matter of time.
As for the CoC applying everywhere, well, some of us are very careful about protecting our pseudonyms.
Dec '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
The Soviets had it all over the Nazis when it came to goose-stepping.
Dec '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
And murder.
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
The Code of Conduct is an ideal, even in cases where Ricochet has no jurisdiction.
(And it was just kind of funny that both items were on the same page.)
May '11
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
I'm not catching the second "insult." What was it?
Aug '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
Being an enthusiastic fan of Taranto, I had already read the piece before seeing Claire's deconstruction. I didn't see the problem the first time and I don't see it now. The Nazi allusion, such as it is, is clearly based upon a fanciful hypothesis, and the image employed is so mild that I find it hard to see how it could be considered offensive, or in breach of the c-o-c if posted on Ricochet. (Just to be clear, I take great objection to the other type of Nazi allusion, or as Taranto might call it, the "good allusion" as opposed to the "bad allusion").
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
I'm an enthusiastic Taranto fan myself. And the argument he's making--until that sentence--is serious: Westen's expressing a sentiment that is at once bloviating and distasteful; Westen's argument that it is the "story" rather than the "truth" with which Obama should be concerned is at best unoriginal. But you can't keep a straight face if you insist upon being indignant over Nocera's use of the word "terrorist" to describe the Tea Party while at the same time--seriously--intimating that Klein and Westen are budding Gauleiters.
Jun '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
Goose stepping has long since become a metaphor for group think. It is not a Nazi label. Anyway, observe that the degree to which actual troops actually goose step is a good measure of the degree of dictatorial behavior of the regime. Iranian, North Korean, and Chinese troops all goose step in parade. So its reference to excessively enthusiastic conformance and conototations of malevolence have very current associations. Now, what were we talking about?
Aug '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
Nocera wrote in the past tense about what Tea Party Republicans had done and compared it to waging Jihad on the American people.Taranto mused about what might happen if Obama had the means and the inclination to impose a dictatorship when clearly he has neither. He certainly doesn't have both. That puts the remainder of his comments in the realm of the hypothetical, in stark contrast to Nocera's bald assertion in respect of historical actions. Since Taranto's hypothesis centres on dictatorship the reference to "goose-step" is apposite. To me it suggests that some supporters of Obama have been so mesmerised that they would follow him blindly wherever he might lead (at least initially). Their devotion has undoubtedly led many of them to engage in grotesque abuses of language and decency to denigrate his opponents.If Taranto is giving them a dose of their own medicine it is a very mild one indeed.
Edited on Aug 10, 2011 at 5:53amAug '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
There's really no need to suggest that Westen's a Nazi. All you have to do to mock him is quote him. He does all the work for himself:
As somebody who regularly works with survey data I have to say I find this to be a hilariously bizarre way of asserting credentials. If I download the Census Public Use Micro Sample and run a cross-tab on it have I just virtually interacted with 15,000,000 Americans? Or does it only count if its original data collection?
Dec '10
Re: James Taranto, The Sirens You Hear are Ricochet's Code-of-Conduct Cops
Budding kommissars, more like.