We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:58:58 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification I wish I had more time to address the issue with specific references, but I don't, so I'll throw out a few thoughts and maybe start a dialog in the milblogosphere... From the Blogfather today: EJ & TROOP MORALE [Jonah Goldberg] The thing I honestly don't understand from folks like EJ Dionne (Ramesh links below) is when they write things like this: "Bush was not subtle. He said that anyone accusing his administration of having 'manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people' was giving aid and comfort to the enemy. 'These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:28:02 -0600 ISR on station observing supporting fires. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34754 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34754 Wed, 16 Nov 2005 23:34:14 -0600 FDC, this is OP 1 Fire mission... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34729 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34729 Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:41:10 -0600 "I can understand that liberals don't like to be told their arguments make the troops' job harder." They don’t like to be told that because it means their efforts are transparent and their underlying agenda is showing. Liberals don’t *care* if the troops’ job is made harder; they don’t like the troops to begin with, and consider application of the military to anything other than “humanitarian” operations a waste of time and money, especially since that money could be spent on new, improved, or expanded “entitlement” programs--and the Armed Forces just isn’t that big a block of voters. "Who would want to hear they're undermining the war effort?" Ummmm--Liberals. In particular, Liberals who think that, by undermining the war effort, they will ultimately succeed in convincing the American public that they--the Liberals--were absolutely correct in their assessment that the war is an unjust one, being fought for all the wrong reasons and entered into on the basis of a pack of lies perpetrated by an out-of-control POTUS. Bearing in mind, of course, the Lib definition of a lie is, “Whatever contradicts what we happen to be saying at the time.” "But what EJ and so many others almost always fail to do is answer whether they think it's actually true. Does EJ think Bush is lying when he says that showing a lack of resolve is harmful to troop morale and/or encouraging to our enemies? Or does EJ think it is true but nobody should say it?" The question is moot, actually. Liberals are like the Red Queen, insofar as belief--even in the impossible--goes... "I mean that seems like an important part of the equation, doesn't it?" Only if you have a logical mind. Liberals are not logical, they are creatures of emotion. Whether or not something is true has no bearing on the subject under discussion. To a Lib’s way of thinking; the only criteria are: a. "Did I advance my agenda?” and b. “Did I achieve catharsis?” "There's an inherent conflict for the Mainstream Media to address precisely this sort of question because the media knows that their -- often necessary -- coverage of the war has a negative impact on the war effort." The MSM’s coverage of this war, from what I have seen, is the same as its coverage was of my war--too much of it is fraught with spin, innuendo and self-serving lies. “Necessary coverage” must also be “truthful coverage.” "Still, from the email I get from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, I get the sense that some of the Democrats' efforts are decidedly unhelpful though these readers are generally more dismissive than outraged." Your correspondents show the typical reaction of most uniformed types in this matter, to wit: *shrug* Roughly translated, it means either, “Well, what did you expect?” or “It’s not worth the effort to even get upset with them--and I have more important things to worry about.” "For example, I get email from soldiers and marines generally sympathetic to my politics. So it would make sense they'd be peeved at the Dems." Reverse what you perceive as cause and effect in those two sentences, Jonah, and I think the picture might become a bit clearer… Heh. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34714 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34714 Wed, 16 Nov 2005 01:40:08 -0600 Can I add this to the list of things that need fixing??? Thanks for the e-mail tip!!! I'm in too... (Below is from a post I put up today.) The Tool of Choice for Bush Bashing Most Pollsters in this new era of fast news... the Internet and Bloggers... will give you a straight up admittance that the Polls they conduct today for the MSM have a sampling error of 3% to 5%. What they will not give you is this... (That is unless you go and look into the bowels of their report findings...) That in addition to the sampling error in most Polls of 3% to5%... the question wording and the practical difficulties in conducting surveys alone can introduce more ERROR or BIAS into the findings of public poll opinion. Before the 2000 elections we saw a major flaw in Polls... If I’m correct, many in this field of business had to go before a Committee to explain and then fix the problem.... Then we have what’s going on in the MSM today... They haven’t fixed anything... The results are off the charts WRONG by their own definition and prove NOTHING!!! Yet they get away with it... WHY???????????????? It’s BIG NEWS!!! It fits into most of the MSM political agenda-- to BASH BUSH... to bring him down... to politically take him out and I personally feel at times that they truly wish to undermine the War on Terror. All the above has gotten way out of hand and it is an extremely dangerous game the MSM has undertaken. So... to my fellow Bloggers out there I ask-- no I beg you to do this for me, for yourself and for this great country of ours... Research what I have brought forth above and if I am correct in your finding... please write up your findings and pass it on. Something has got to change and soon and I’m afraid it’s going to take those of us in the Blogisphere to fix it.... Thanks for your time, AubreyJ........ http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34702 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34702 Tue, 15 Nov 2005 21:52:29 -0600 I'm in, thanks for the e-mail tip! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34701 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34701 Tue, 15 Nov 2005 21:33:03 -0600 Cleared hot... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34695 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34695 Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:16:25 -0600 I considered blasting that out to the milblogs list... and then spamming Jonah with the results. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34694 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2005/11/im_busy_but_for_what_its_worth.html#comment-34694 Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:00:44 -0600