Sadly, No and Pandagon reminded us of a recent post by Ezra Klein on his desire to see a blogosphere “Battle of the Titans:”
Armando, of Daily Kos fame, and Josh Trevino, the artist formerly known as Tacitus, have created a group blog named Swords Crossed. The concept — get this — is to have a blog where intelligent, articulate defenders of the left-wing philosophy and perspective will coexist and interact with intelligent, articulate defenders of the right-wing philosophy and perspective. I know!
I admire Ezra’s writing and his optimism, but Retardo’s right about Swords Crossed being a poor example; Armando sips his tea with his pinky out while Trevino pees in his mug and smashes it in the Liberal Face. Amanda is also right to point out the disingenuousness of the stated goals of most wingnuts and the resultant slippery tactics they employ.
Of course, in theory, debate is good. There’s tremendous value in discussing the finer points of public v. private health care, various taxation schemes, and the like. These are multi-faceted issues on which we could all use more education.
Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find a right-winger who isn’t caught up in partisan hackery. At present, I must conclude that the new right-wing philosophy is either “Totalitarianism: not just for peon countries we like to abuse anymore” or “[fingers in ears] LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.”
I refuse to believe that an intelligent, articulate defender of actual right-wing philosophy would stand behind an administration that has so egregiously mismanaged its pocketbook, expanded government influence in a number of spheres, lied its way into a protracted nation-building obligation, and established a corrupt intelligence network that robs American citizens of their privacy. Things are so bad on a basic level that anyone who is articulate and intelligent should have no interest in defending this administration regardless of one’s political leanings. That BushCo. has so egregiously violated the supposed principles of those who vote for it is no surprise; that its constituency bent over and asked for another reaming is indefensible.
Show me an intelligent, articulate defender of what is supposed to be right-wing philosophy and I’ll show you someone who looks a lot more like a Dem than a Repub these days. Says awful things about the Dems but even worse things about the Party of “The World is Flat.”
Armando less sips his tea with his pinky out and more sips his tea with his pinky in it and never notices that his chamomile tastes like flesh.
He’s not what I’d call a “titan.” Neither am I, but then I’m not “crossing swords” with anyone.
To be fair, Armando isn’t crossing swords with anyone, either. He’s merely taking a real poking.