Comments on: How To Ascribe Super-Powers To Words http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sat, 26 May 2012 14:07:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Gary Farber http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58114 Gary Farber Mon, 24 Jan 2005 22:30:00 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58114 Thanks for looking, Sven. Thanks for looking, Sven.

]]> By: Doug http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58113 Doug Mon, 24 Jan 2005 21:50:49 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58113 Belle, can I have a pony, too? Belle, can I have a pony, too?

]]> By: Sven http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58112 Sven Sun, 23 Jan 2005 20:09:32 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58112 Well, dammit, I can't find the smoking quote. I might have been in something I read off-line. It was in an interview and may have been a wry Brooksian reference to <a href="http://www.geocities.com/lclane2/secular.html">this article</a>, where he describes himself as a "recovering secularist." As usual, in lecturing lefties about religion he demonstrates he knows next to nothing about it. He thinks he's discovered the Rosetta stone of Bushian rhetoric: <blockquote>Many Americans have always sensed that we have a transcendent mission, although, fortunately, it is not a theological one. We instinctively feel, in ways that people from other places do not, that history is unfulfilled as long as there are nations in which people are not free. It is this instinctive belief that has led George W. Bush to respond so ambitiously to the events of September 11, and that has led most Americans to support him.</blockquote> I can't claim to be a theologian, either. But I remember enough about the Baptist sermons from my youth to know that messianic proclamations have to be tempered by contrition. Elsewise, you risk the heretical sin of pride. That's why Noonan feels disturbed by the inaugural address. There's a lot of religious symbolism in support of the Bush Doctrine, but zero reference to the sins we've committed (or, indeed anything about the war). And despite the disclaimer about God choosing as He wills, Bush turns right around and declares that "we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." Brooks should ask himself why the biggest cheers for the speech are coming not from the pious, but from self-described ex-Marxists. Well, dammit, I can’t find the smoking quote. I might have been in something I read off-line. It was in an interview and may have been a wry Brooksian reference to this article, where he describes himself as a “recovering secularist.” As usual, in lecturing lefties about religion he demonstrates he knows next to nothing about it. He thinks he’s discovered the Rosetta stone of Bushian rhetoric:
Many Americans have always sensed that we have a transcendent mission, although, fortunately, it is not a theological one. We instinctively feel, in ways that people from other places do not, that history is unfulfilled as long as there are nations in which people are not free. It is this instinctive belief that has led George W. Bush to respond so ambitiously to the events of September 11, and that has led most Americans to support him.
I can’t claim to be a theologian, either. But I remember enough about the Baptist sermons from my youth to know that messianic proclamations have to be tempered by contrition. Elsewise, you risk the heretical sin of pride. That’s why Noonan feels disturbed by the inaugural address. There’s a lot of religious symbolism in support of the Bush Doctrine, but zero reference to the sins we’ve committed (or, indeed anything about the war). And despite the disclaimer about God choosing as He wills, Bush turns right around and declares that “we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.” Brooks should ask himself why the biggest cheers for the speech are coming not from the pious, but from self-described ex-Marxists.

]]> By: Hieronymus Braintree http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58111 Hieronymus Braintree Sun, 23 Jan 2005 19:18:28 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58111 Am I getting senile or wasn't Jimmy Carter visciously ridiculed by conservatives for making human rights a centerpiece of American foreign polity? Or was the reason they hated him because he was sincere about it instead of just talking out of his ass like Tex Masculine - the regular-folk Andover pom-pom boy? Am I getting senile or wasn’t Jimmy Carter visciously ridiculed by conservatives for making human rights a centerpiece of American foreign polity? Or was the reason they hated him because he was sincere about it instead of just talking out of his ass like Tex Masculine – the regular-folk Andover pom-pom boy?

]]> By: Hieronymus Braintree http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58110 Hieronymus Braintree Sun, 23 Jan 2005 19:17:51 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58110 Am I getting senile or wasn't Jimmy Carter visciously ridiculed by conservatives for making human rights a centerpiece of American foreign polity? Or was the reason they hated him because he was sincere about it instead of just talking out of his ass like Tex Masculine - the regular-folk Andover pom-pom boy? Am I getting senile or wasn’t Jimmy Carter visciously ridiculed by conservatives for making human rights a centerpiece of American foreign polity? Or was the reason they hated him because he was sincere about it instead of just talking out of his ass like Tex Masculine – the regular-folk Andover pom-pom boy?

]]> By: pgl http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58109 pgl Sun, 23 Jan 2005 19:05:23 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58109 Kevin Drum notes that many Bush aids AND Bush41 are saying he was just talking smack. I guess David Brooks is implying Papa Bush lied? Kevin Drum notes that many Bush aids AND Bush41 are saying he was just talking smack. I guess David Brooks is implying Papa Bush lied?

]]> By: Clancy http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58108 Clancy Sun, 23 Jan 2005 18:08:43 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58108 Here's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/22/opinion/22patterson.1.html?pagewanted=1&incamp=article_popular_1&oref=login">the antidote</a> to Brooks' read of the speech. Here’s the antidote to Brooks’ read of the speech.

]]> By: L http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58107 L Sun, 23 Jan 2005 17:31:16 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58107 By Austin, she must mean Jane Austin -- rumored to be Bush's favorite author. I loved Winchester Park and The Persuader, but most of all that great Western novel about the rancher-farmer wars, Fence and Fencibility. Her home page: http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk/austin/ By Austin, she must mean Jane Austin—rumored to be Bush’s favorite author. I loved Winchester Park and The Persuader, but most of all that great Western novel about the rancher-farmer wars, Fence and Fencibility. Her home page: http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk/austin/

]]> By: Sven http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58106 Sven Sun, 23 Jan 2005 15:30:44 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58106 Gary, I working on finding you that cite. Brooks never said "born again," of course. That's my hyperbole. But really he did say he's gotten religion, and that it was a lot like quitting smoking. I think it's funny, because Brooks has no idea what a Pandora's box he's opening when he aligns himself with the religious right. Just like Bush has no idea what he's alluding to when he <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4515">references Dostoevsky's <i>The Possessed</i></a>. Gary, I working on finding you that cite. Brooks never said “born again,” of course. That’s my hyperbole. But really he did say he’s gotten religion, and that it was a lot like quitting smoking. I think it’s funny, because Brooks has no idea what a Pandora’s box he’s opening when he aligns himself with the religious right. Just like Bush has no idea what he’s alluding to when he references Dostoevsky’s The Possessed.

]]> By: John M http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58105 John M Sun, 23 Jan 2005 11:17:51 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58105 Bush's speech is yet another howl from his miserable heart, another dumb kid's plea to be taken seriously, like Fredo Corleone yelling at Michael "I'm smart too !" Bush’s speech is yet another howl from his miserable heart, another dumb kid’s plea to be taken seriously, like Fredo Corleone yelling at Michael “I’m smart too !”

]]> By: nick http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58104 nick Sun, 23 Jan 2005 02:12:43 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58104 As Jon Stewart <a href="http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002380.php#002380">put it</a>, in the fast, elided voice of the radio disclaimer man: 'Offer not valid in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, China...' As Jon Stewart put it, in the fast, elided voice of the radio disclaimer man: ‘Offer not valid in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, China…’

]]> By: Anders Widebrant http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58103 Anders Widebrant Sat, 22 Jan 2005 20:16:23 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58103 <em>"If Brooks is right, it means the immediate release of all the prisoners held in Guantanamo and every other islet in the shadowy archipelago of detention, doesn’t it?"</em> It sure does! Just listen to the speech: <em>"And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free. ...<strong>PSYCH!</strong>"</em> “If Brooks is right, it means the immediate release of all the prisoners held in Guantanamo and every other islet in the shadowy archipelago of detention, doesn’t it?” It sure does! Just listen to the speech: “And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free. …PSYCH!“

]]> By: Andrew Boucher http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58102 Andrew Boucher Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:44:31 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58102 http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-395230,0.html http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-395230,0.html

]]> By: Jon H http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58101 Jon H Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:41:26 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58101 "Brooks is born-again? I thought he was Jewish. Of course he could convert." Kind of like joining your boss' country club as a career move. “Brooks is born-again? I thought he was Jewish. Of course he could convert.” Kind of like joining your boss’ country club as a career move.

]]> By: Gary Farber http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/22/how-to-ascribe-super-powers-to-words/comment-page-1/#comment-58100 Gary Farber Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:05:52 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2780#comment-58100 "...what on earth is David Brooks talking about?" Yeah, high on wishful thinking. Sven says: "...Brooks, who recently announced he’s born again...." He did? Where? Cite, please? “…what on earth is David Brooks talking about?” Yeah, high on wishful thinking. Sven says: “…Brooks, who recently announced he’s born again….” He did? Where? Cite, please?

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