Intellectual Dishonesty

I’ve got my issues with Barack Obama and his campaign, but the recent attacks on him and his wife have bordered on the intellectually dishonest. Michael Reynolds eviscerates the accusers in a perfect bit of satire and I have very little to add. Only, it’s these kind of blog/news cycle eruptions that make my occasional absences from blogging so enjoyable. I get so irritated when otherwise smart, perceptive people start harping on pseudo stories, pretending they’re illuminating the issues when they’re really just obfuscating the truth. So, instead of letting it get me down, I’m letting Reynolds do the heavy lifting of revealing the fallacies and idiocies of the current non stories.

Stupid Texas Law Struck Down

We seem to have a lot of those. Dyre Portents has the details.

"He's a politician so soft and safe, Oprah likes him."

That's humorist Joel Stein talking about Barack Obama in a column that explores why he likes him, why maybe he shouldn't and why Obama supporters sometimes embarrass him.

Funny. Worth the read.

A Little Political Truth

“Of all the strategic errors that all of the campaigns have made this cycle, Romney's effort to appeal to all the individual factions of the GOP may have been the biggest.”

That’s from a great article from Dean Barnett of The Weekly Standard. The truth is fun. Read these other quotes:

On Republicans…

[T]he link between all the current Republican party-approved issues is tenuous if indeed it exists at all. If you favor a muscular approach in the war against Radical Islam, do you necessarily contradict your support for the war if you favor gay marriage? The same question holds for lower taxes and environmentalism. While many of these issues have become part of the tribal warfare that separates the two parties, it's impossible to identify a coherent philosophy that demands a voter adopt all the Republican orthodoxies.

On John McCain…

Right now, it looks like we have a party composed of members who pick and choose from a menu of Republican positions that have no logical reason for co-existing with one another. How else do we explain John McCain's success?

And on the Democrats…

The Democratic party has long been a multi-member marriage of convenience. The only thing that truly unites its disparate members is their disdain for the Republican party. The preceding, by the way, is one of the reasons Barack Obama has a chance to be such a transformative figure--he's the first Democratic politician in well over a generation to offer a sweeping (though vague) vision that offers anything more than a bunch of little schemes to rip off a piece of the federal government's carcass to give to each member of the coalition.

We don’t have parties anymore. We have two political buffets and we get to choose at which we’d rather eat.

Finding Meaning in Iowa

Some must reads on the Iowa caucus results:

Shay at Booker Rising gives an in-depth look at what Obama’s victory means for racial politics and black politicians in America.

Michael Reynolds at Sideways Mencken looks at the results and forecasts what’s to come.

Joe Gandelman of Moderate Voice examines how both parties bucked their establishments.

Donklephant has all kinds of news including some live-blogging from last night and analysis of Obama’s victory as well as Ron Paul’s decent showing.

And, finally, from the MSM, David Brooks looks at the two earthquakes felt last night and what they mean for both parties.

Great Reads from Dennis Sanders

Dennis Sanders has two excellent posts that relate to the whole Imus issue while touching on deeper matters. The first looks at what it means to stand up in the face of adversity while avoiding the culture of victimhood. The second looks at the nature of bigotry, what it means to be a bigot and whether Imus qualifies.

Give them a read.

Why Imus' Words Hurt

Tyrone Steels II has the best reasoning I've read as to why Imus' words were particularly hurtful. It doesn't chage my opinion on the matter, but it does raise some enlightening points well worth considering.

A Little Reading While I'm Away

I will be out of town visiting family until next Wednesday. So, as I always try to do, here are some great posts by other writers from my blogroll.

Amba brings us the interesting story of plummeting sales of magnetic yellow ribbons.

Aubrey J. explains the theory that if we hadn’t invaded Iraq we’d be fighting a far bloodier war in Afghanistan.

Centrisity gives us a hilarious political cartoon.

Callimachus discusses the moral shame of the ALA. That’s The American Library Association – and, yeah, it really is shameful. Read it.

I also enjoyed this Callimachus post about Bush’s failure to ask enough of the civilian citizenry – a point I’ve harped on more than once.

Just about anything Ali Eteraz writes is worth reading, particularly for anyone serious about understanding Islam. This post is fascinating and so wonderfully written it makes me want to hang up my quill.

Fed Locally praises the political wisdom and skill of Tony Blair.

Gruntled Center gives us this astute Biblical analysis linking Barack Obama with a great figure from the Old Testament.

As I have recently said, the whole controversy over Al Gore’s power bill is off-topic. NeoMugwump agrees and has this excellent commentary.

Richard Lawrence Cohen is a master of words. But, in this post he shares with us some hilarious words invented by others.

That’s hardly all that’s worth reading. There’s much more. I’ve just run out of time to link. So, until Wednesday, take care y’all.