Friday, December 10, 2010

Letter: Bipartisan squabbles undermine progress

Just go read this great letter from David Hackathorn.

3 comments:

Justin Rains said...

Took your advice, read the letter. A solid read, although the writer does slightly seem to absolve the left in the dealings of which he speaks. Perhaps that's because he was writing in response to a similar letter that did nothing but rip the left and completely absolve the right of any wrongdoing.
The fact is, it happens on both sides, nowhere, in my opinion, more awfully than by the Republicans who refused healthcare to 9/11 first responders this week.
But, after reading the letter I was drawn to J.J. Casserly's new piece and found it to be a far cry from anything I ever expected to see bylined by the "former newsman and author." It, as well, was a good read and I was wondering what your thoughts on it were?

Steven Ayres said...

I think it's intellectually dishonest to blame right and left equally for what's going on in our public discourse. The right has maintained a knowing and implacable campaign of lies, vilification and naked power-mongering going back to the Reagan years, and today it's worse than ever. But, like all diplomacy, I accept that dishonest rhetoric is often more likely to bring about better results.

As for JJ, I think this week's piece has a few good sentiments mixed into his usual mishmash of ideology, ignorance and truly awful prose. I just can't imagine how anyone could read "not the star of David, but the Death Star" without sniggering, sorry.

Justin Rains said...

I'm not saying blame equally, but blame both because both are to blame.
As for J.J., let me clarify--and i brought this upon myself by calling it a good read--it threw me with his position, but his writing was kind of painful to get through.