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By Bryan Keefer
Ted Rall knows something you and I don't: the war in Afghanistan is all about oil, not terrorism. At least, that's what he tries to argue in his latest column, written in response to a critique of a previous piece by my co-editor Brendan Nyhan. As one of the most elaborate and prominent expositions of the war-for-oil theory, which has been repeated by some liberal pundits, Rall's conspiracy theory is worth a detailed look. Not surprisingly, his argument breaks down under scrutiny into little more than a few wisps of circumstantial evidence held together by anti-Bush vitriol and emotionally charged rhetoric. (Read the whole column by clicking here or on the title above.)
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4/11/2002 11:42:51 PM EST |
Republicans pull the race card on Estrada nomination (4/11)
By Ben Fritz
Senate Republicans have turned Democrats’ opposition to judicial nominee Miguel Estrada into a classic case of baseless, highly charged rhetoric designed to reverse traditional accusations made by Democrats against Republicans.
In a press conference and other statements today, Republicans repeatedly said Democrats’ opposition was based on Estrada’s ethnic background. "They (Democrats) don’t want Miguel Estrada because he’s Hispanic," Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-MS, said after a White House meeting, according to a Reuters report.
"If you are a conservative and minority, the bar goes up a lot higher," Sen. Rick Santorum, R-PA, said, according to the Associated Press. "This is Clarence Thomas all over again. This is complete discrimination."
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM, may have pulled the rhetorical master stroke, though, as he counseled Democrats who oppose Estrada on how to overcome their assumed racial animus. "I want to say to Democrats ... you don’t have to be afraid," he stated. "They (Hispanics) are good lawyers and great judges."
Unsurprisingly, these charges are groundless -- there is no credible evidence linking Democrats’ opposition to Estrada with his ethnicity. As Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT, pointed out, they have confirmed three of the four other judicial nominees who are of Hispanic descent. A representative statement as to why Democrats oppose Estrada came from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, who instead pointed to Estrada’s conservative politics, describing him as, "in the mold of Justices Scalia and Thomas."
It is certainly possible, as some have alleged, that Democrats fear Estrada as a conservative who could be appointed to higher courts, even the Supreme Court, and would be difficult to oppose for political reasons. But that is hardly reason to accuse them of animus against Hispanics.
Bringing up the highly charged issue of race without evidence to back it up is one of the cheapest and most manipulative forms of political argument. Lott, Santorum and Domenici are trying to embarrass Democrats -- who often call for more diversity in the courts -- by making them look like hypocrites. But they are the ones who should be embarrassed, for dragging down the political debate.
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Related links:
-Pickering's Race War (Ben Fritz, 3/13/02)
4/11/2002 12:49:19 AM EST |
A San Francisco activist claims she's the originator of Michael Moore's unsourced list of dubious Bush achievements in his bestselling "Stupid White Men"
By Ben Fritz
[First published on Salon.com (Salon Premium subscription required)]
A list of 48 dubious achievements of President Bush appears in Michael Moore's bestselling "Stupid White Men," without footnotes or citations of any kind. A reader might assume that they are accumulated nuggets from Moore's own research.
But a San Francisco activist says she came up with the list, and she's not too happy about the way Moore is using it.
Kirsten Selberg contacted Spinsanity following a piece detailing the numerous errors and factual distortions in "Stupid White Men" to say she compiled that list for a wall that was displayed at the "Voters March West" that took place nearly a year ago in San Francisco, on May 19.
Still posted on the Voters March Web site, Selberg's list contains 47 of the 48 facts about Bush mentioned in Moore's book -- in the exactly the same order and with very similar wording. The only difference is that, unlike Moore, Selberg provides sources for almost all of her facts.
Representatives for Moore did not respond to requests for comment.
It's quite possible that Moore got his list from any number of sources besides Selberg's wall. As both she and David A. Sprintzen (wrongly cited on some Web sites as the author of the list) explain, the list was frequently forwarded through e-mail last summer, presumably while Moore was writing his book. More recently, it showed up on a number of liberal Web sites.
While Moore didn't bother to source or footnote the Bush list, at least he got his facts straight in this case, unlike much of the rest of his book -- though he does manage to change Labor Department official David Lauriski's name to Dan.
As Selberg points out, though, nothing on the list has been updated to reflect developments since it was written. To take one example: She wrote -- and Moore repeats -- that Bush proposed to cut the "Reading is Fundamental" program in his original education plan. By the summer, however, when Moore was still writing his book, media reports showed that the money was restored as the plan made its way through Congress.
If Moore had bothered to update the list, she wouldn't be so irked, says Selberg. "What upset me at first is that Moore and so many others have been repeating this list without bothering to give it the serious update it needs," she told me. "I don't mind that my work is being used by other people, but I'd like to see it updated and accurate rather than just repeated over and over by people who won't do their own research."
[This column was available exclusively to Salon Premium subscribers on Salon.com. We hope you'll consider signing up through our affiliate link for immediate access to our newest work, as well as all the other good stuff on Salon Premium.]
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Related links:
-One Moore Stupid White Man (Ben Fritz, 4/3)
-Stupid white lies (Ben Fritz, 3/25)
4/10/2002 08:18:46 AM EST |
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