Lileks slams Kerry, Clark, DU.....

[PatGund]

(Note: Not sure if his site now counts as a right-wing source. It didn't used to.)

You know, I used to like James Lileks, especially his retro stuff like the Gallery of Regrettable Foods.

That was before today's "bleat", where he decides to bitch about the Democrats running. And one of the stupidest smears on Clark I've had the misfortune to read.

http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/04/0204/020504.html

Quote: McAuliffe said he was responding to the GOP’s attacks on Democrats’ patriotism. Examples given: none. You want attacks on patriotism, listen to Wesley Clark, who has specifically accused Bush of being unpatriotic – and in the same speech said that the Democratic party was the only party that exemplified Christian teachings.

Lileks, you're a decent writer and pop-historian. But you have some major gall accusing someone who served their country in uniform for over 30 years, and who retired as a General in the US Army, as "attacking patriotism". I used to like you're writing, but you're starting to sound like you want to go back to the 50's and cold-war conservatism.

[Gato Moteado]

1. whats the history on the photo at the bottom of the page?

was it photoshopped?

[Jerseycoa]

2. A diplomatic moment, I'd say

Let them see it on DU and eat shit. :evilgrin:

[JI7]

3. i don't know who lileks is

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Lileks -- conservative since the mid-90s

He claims it was 9/11 that made him see the light, but he's just like Dennis Miller -- a conservative poseur who thinks that hipness makes bigotry okay. His use of pre-1965 pop culture iconography, far from being unique, puts him in league with half of the first-year BFA students in this country. And if writing about smoking qualifies him to wear the mantle of H.L. Mencken, then standards really have fallen.

Not quite as bad as Idiot Rottweiler, but he has a larger audience.

Sure, he writes well. So does Karl Rove.

--bkl

[charlie]

12. He was always sort of a mildly conservative curmudgeon

but not so much that it infected everything he wrote. It really was 911 that did it -- after that day he flipped into teeth-baring maniac mode and hasn't come back. It's a shame, he can be a terrifically entertaining writer. I truly miss the old Bleat.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. I met him in the early 1980s

when he was on the staff of the University of Minnesota Daily, and I was a part-time editorial writer (and part-time academic and part-time temp worker, ah, the Reagan recession!) At that time, he was always making snide remarks about Reagan.

Too bad that some people devolve as they grow older.

[QC]

5. Lileks should stick to discussing midcentury gelatin desserts.

Anything beyond that and he's in way over his head.

[maxr4clark]

6. My 500 words or less

I personally believe the Democratic party is the only one that exemplifies, rather than spouts, Christian teachings.

I believe Clark said that what Bush does, waving the flag, is not patriotism. That is quite different than saying Bush has been unpatriotic, and I fully support Clark for making that statement.

I also believe that Clark claimed the Democratic party exemplified the teaching that he finds in common among all major religions: that those who are more fortunate should lift up those who are less fortunate. I completely agree with Clark that the Democratic party exemplifies that, and that the Republican and Constitution parties do not. I think the Green party may also exemplify that, but I think Clark's comments should be taken as specifically about the two dominant parties in America, the Democratic and the Republican.

[Gato Moteado]

7. i'd still be interested to know what the history of the photo is....

a repub coworker sent the link to me. i'd like to know why albright is in the shot before i respond to him. certainly it's the repubs lame attempt to distract from the rummy-saddam thing.

[Toucano]

9. I'm not sure what's to know.

The Clinton administration had negotiated an agreement with North Korea. Albright says in her book and in interviews that the cards were left on the table when they left.

Bush's team didn't pick the cards up. They walked away. Then they decided to start calling countries names. North Korea kicked out the inspectors and resumed the nuclear program.

There's nothing insidious about Albright in that picture. Successful negotiations with mutually beneficial terms are cause for celebration.

If anything, it shows what a miserable failure Bush is in foreign affairs.

[Gato Moteado]

10. good point

nt

[NNN0LHI]

8. Wonder if this guy is another Chickenhawk too? Hit a nerve maybe? n/t

[no name no slogan]

11. Lileks counts as a right-wing source

Although I tend to like his dead-tree stuff in the hometon Mpls Strib and his pop culture bits, he is quite well known as a warblogger of some esteem.

Lileks' politics blows goats. He probably still believes there's WMDs in them thar sandunes in Eye-Rack.