Say Anything Blog

I haven’t seen the video…was there anything in it that suggests Ware might have been heckling?

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ”

Arthur Schopenhauer

“I fail to see how this video is an exoneration of Ware”

In other words, guilty until proven innocent.  ‘Cept in this country it is supposed to be the other way around, in case you forgot.

Heckle - To harass a speaker or performer persistently as with questions, gibes, or objections; to badger.

We’ve all seen clips of politicians being heckled.  It’s not difficult to detect.  Typically it’s someone at the back of the room screaming loudly until they’re forcibly removed.  McCain was not heckled.

The videos of this press conference show a distinct lack of heckling.  The “heckling” is a fabrication, just part of another right-wing smear job.

Michael Ware made a joke about drinking a year ago and the wingers took it literally.  Now that offhand comment from a year ago is dredged up by the smear meisters and treated by them as proof that Ware is a drunk.

Meanwhile, McCain’s original comments, that “General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed humvee” or that “There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today” are misleading at best.  His photo op in a Baghdad market was no better, since he was “accompanied by over a hundred well-armed soldiers, covered by three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships.”

The problem here is that you’ve got a bunch of reporters who live in Baghdad, forced to listen to a pair of Senators who come in for a day, with far more security than a reporter could ever dream of, blithering on about how they know what’s happening in Iraq, and how the reporters are giving a false interpretation.  I guess that’s the life of a reporter in Baghdad, in Washington, at City Hall here in Chicago, at the state capital in Spfld.  Listen to pols blither about things they know nothing about.  I don’t know how they can stop themselves from heckling.  Constantly.

Why would McCain and Graham even try to pretend that anything they’re seeing with their enormous security detail is representative of life in Iraq?

I’m not criticizing them for having loads of security.  Yes, they’re entitled to safe passage.  But people who live in a bubble, for whatever good reasons, are required to acknowledge they’re living in a bubble if they want to maintain their credibility.

It’s nice that Lindsay could buy some rugs from a merchant whose normal customers had been kept away from the area by the security detail.  But it doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with life in Baghdad.

OK Rob, we know that you believe the anonymous ‘official’ over your lying eyes.  But now that even Reynolds is questioning your judgment (“Er, okay,...”) shouldn’t you be calling for Drudge to provide more evidence or burn his source or something?  I mean, your credibility is on the line.  Or does the original story just feel so truthy to you that you don’t need no stinkin evidence?

Heh, your site is called “Say Anything.”  How apropos. Indeed.

Hey man,
I just wanted to drop you a line and say how encouraging your blog has been for me to read. And it helped convince me to start a blog of my own.. I’m a little new to it and I want you to know that I have linked to your blog from mine;  and I was curious to know if it would be ok for you to link back to mine to help me get some views… Again I am kind of new to this but any help I could get would be an honor especially from someone like yourself.

Slugger
Dewayne H. Chandler
Manchester, New Hampshire
http://nhdog.blogspot.com

another right-wing smear job.

I knew Monica should have taken that blue dress to the dry cleaners!

Shrugging off the mindless, baseless attacks of Liberal hyenas and jackals since 2007

”(Proof) You’re, as we say in Hawaii, No Ka Oi!”

-unsolicited testimonial

Get the video from McCain’s team.

Mike, the video is available here.

You’ll probably consider it an exoneration of Ware as others do, but I don’t think it is for all the reasons I list above.

Drudge says one thing, Ware says another.  The video doesn’t prove either’s case.  My position is: Ware is a biased moron who does a poor job as a journalist, so I wouldn’t put heckling past him though I don’t have any evidence that it occurred.

I think that’s the most reasonable position to have.

The purpose of government shouldn’t be to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.

Miguel, Joe Falcone…I’m not sure how you guys see this video as conclusive.

I mean, it ends just as Ware raises his hand to ask a question.  Even if you’re a devoted Ware fan and have his picture hanging up on your bedroom wall you have to admit that the video is inconclusive, at best.

The purpose of government shouldn’t be to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.

Rob…I’ve seen it now and it certainly doesn’t confirm Drudge’s story which is the important thing. We disagree about Ware’s work which tells me that the universe is unfolding as it should.

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ”

Arthur Schopenhauer

It doesn’t confirm Drudge’s story, but nor does it disprove it which is what many on the left are saying.

We can at least agree that far, no?

The purpose of government shouldn’t be to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.

Yes we can and that leaves us with the word of an unnamed official versus the video.

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ”

Arthur Schopenhauer

No, the video is inconclusive.  So we’ve got the word of an unnamed official versus Ware’s word and anyone else who was in attendance and can offer testimony (I’ve yet to hear from anyone else).

Personally, I’m leaning toward Ware right now.  Not because I don’t think he’s capable of such behavior, but just because there’s nothing really to go on.  Which doesn’t make him any less of a douchenozzle, of course.

The purpose of government shouldn’t be to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.

Wow, amazing attitude on part of this Rob person here.

Drudge alleges that Ware heckled McCain, based on a report from an “unnamed official”. Ware goes on TV and denies the charge, providing video which shows him not saying a single word, far less heckling anyone. Drudge fails to back up his story, does not respond to the video, fails to name the “unnamed official”, totally ignores his own charge despite mounting evidence that he was wrong.

But this Rob fella prefers to hang on to his pathetic “video is inconclusive” defense because he hates Ware so much. How sad.

Oh well, I dunno who Rob is and I couldn’t care less what he believes. This story did help me see two more important things I didn’t know before, since I’m not that much into politics.

First, googling “Ware” and “McCain” turned up a YouTube video where McCain was talking about how much safer Baghdad is since Bush started sending in the extra troops. Video that showed that (1) McCain is senile, and has no understanding of what’s happening in Baghdad, and (2) McCain is a liar, denying that he said things previously when there’s video evidence proving that he did.

Second, I had no clue who this Ware guy was, but he seems to have done good work in uncovering what a fraud McCain is, and for that he has my thanks. There was a time when I somewhat liked McCain, but I know better now. I’ll be sure to watch for anything else Ware does.

As a mostly apolitical but somewhat conservative leaning voter, I am disappointed in the Republican candidates being put forward for the next election.

Drudge fails to back up his story, does not respond to the video, fails to name the “unnamed official”, totally ignores his own charge despite mounting evidence that he was wrong.

Just think, if Drudge graduated from the Seymour Hersh school of journalism, he could earn a Pulitzer with that kind of behavior.

Wow. This really points out how willingly delusional right wingers can be about the war. McCain makes blatantly false assertions about the ‘safety’ of Baghdad, gets called on it and the gop water haulers fall over themselves smearing Ware the messenger. McCain and that weasel Graham and whathisname scurry out of their spider hole and do a photo op in a cleared out market that gets attacked hours after they and their massive protection force leave.

All this happens and the right wingers don’t cal McCain on his bullsh!t but make up easily refuted lies about a reporter who does call McCain on his crap. Typical. Please keep it up. Not only is it quite entertaining to watch, it let’s everyone see just how ridiculous the neocons have made the gop.

No, georgie, this is an example of honest people admitting a mistake, unlike
Dan, ‘rather not” , Clinton, Clinton, Gore making up lies.
Let me know when and where you want to learn The Truth.  Start here.

Communism is evil

Chief,

Some are admitting a mistake, if frequently only halfway. My point was about how eagerly so many right wingers lapped this up uncritically and further, how some on the right, a la Rob above, are still pointedly refusing to even admit they were wrong on this.

“The Truth”? With a capital T? Here seems like a good place and, please, by all means, enlighten me now about the Truth you have apparently discovered oh righteous one.

>Miguel, Joe Falcone…I’m not sure how you guys see this video as conclusive.

Rob, go back and look at my post.  Did I pass judgment on whether Ware heckled?  No. 

What I said was “how could you not heckle? How could you not, if you lived, as these reporters do, in Baghdad, and some fool dropped in your midst for a day, with security you could only dream of, and then lectured you on how you’re always carping about the events of the Iraqi Civil War, and never mentioning that the sun still shines and water still flows downhill in Iraq.”

I also mentioned that the GOP counterattack—“McCain is a serious presidential candidate ... he deserves security”—is just silly.  No one is questioning his right to heavy, heavy security in a phenomenally dangerous setting.  We’re questioning his right to pontificate about normal life in a city whose normal life he cannot see, because its very violence requires him to live with such abnormal security measures.

As to whether I have a poster of Mr. Ware in my room, I had never heard of the guy. 

Along those lines, I’ll give you some advice.  As a rule, tv is only a useful source of information for people who read very slowly.  I urge you all to consider the implications of that for yourselves.  If you can read reasonably well, you shouldn’t watch tv news. 

In fact, if news were to sue tv news for false impersonation, they’d have a damn good case.

TV has taught us some strange things.  Many Americans “trust” actors who play their favorite tv roles.  They “trust” newspeople who fake laughs at stale jokes they’ve practiced prior to the newscast.

That has created an electorate that doesn’t any longer recognize the normal reactions of an honest human face.  Hence Reagan, Clinton and Bush.  McCain, an erstwhile straight-shooter, seems to have recognized this quality in the public, and decided he’d rather be president than right.  The crap that spews from his mouth these days, smells like it’s coming from someone’s Colin.  Er, excuse me, I meant someone’s colon.

PS—I gotta get my laptop screen cleaned.  I can hardly read the security letters on your comment form, and it’s tripped me up three times now.

georgie,
    Not righteous, merely The Truth, as in not afraid to say it AKA non-politicially correct.  But not telling The Truth for truth’s sake.  To steal a line, “some people can not handle the truth.”  I have seen first hand, report facts and back them up with pictures and/or mutliple witnesses.  I have interviewed people in foreign countries as was done by the journalists in The Bridge at Andau.  I await your straight questions.

Communism is evil

joe—do you not question some reporters ‘hunkering down’ in the green zone?
Have your read Michaey Yon?  He has roamed free for several years now.
georgie—waiting for your questions.

Communism is evil

georgie,

I doubt that someone as intellectually dysfunctional as you will actually grasp the concept, but there is a world of difference between righteousness, which should always be a primary aim in life, and self-righteousness, which is exactly the sort of moral disability so prominently displayed by those on the Left.

Perhaps when you’ve grown up a bit more the distinction won’t be so elusive to you.

“Capitalism is optimism monetized.”

I’m simply awesome at finding pissweak bloggers who’ll delete comments simply because they don’t like the civilized content they contain. Like a diving rod for the incredibally lame I am.

I’m simply awesome at finding pissweak bloggers who’ll delete comments simply because they don’t like the civilized content they contain.

What are you talking about?

So, does all this mean Michael Ware did not pay terrorists for the video footage of Coalition troops being shot by snipers?

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Bat one,

Your ad hominem attack belies your own intellectual weakness and emotional truncation. It seems you are projecting your own glaring weaknesses onto me. Why not attempt to refute my points rather than calling me silly names?

Chief,

Let’s, for the moment, leave debate about whether we flawed mortal are capable of discerning, let alone disseminating, the truth aside.

You are in Iraq?

If so, what part?

In what capacity do you do your reportage?

Do you think you see the complete picture?

Do you do strolls down Baghdad sidewalks unarmed and unaccompanied by a massive security force like McCain had?

Do you think it was worth it for McCain to shut down the market for his election photo op?

Do you think the lives of the more than 100 soldiers who protected him during this election stunt were worth so little that they could be gambled in an attempt to save McCain from his ridiculous assertions about the ability of Americans safely stroll through Baghdad streets?

I have many more questions I could ask you but this might be good for a start. Awaiting your reply…

Your ad hominem attack belies your own intellectual weakness and emotional truncation.

That’s some funny stuff!  Someone accusing Bat1 of intellectual weakness!!  FUNNY!!!!!

Your ad hominem (sic) attack belies your own intellectual weakness and emotional truncation. It seems you are projecting your own glaring weaknesses onto me. Why not attempt to refute my points rather than calling me silly names?

Georgie,

There’s little point in obtaining an impressive vocabulary if you don’t know the meanings of the words you use.  That only makes you look hopelessly foolish.

A more grammatically correct sentence would have been, “Your ad hominem attack betrays your own intellectual weakness and emotional truncation.”  Using the word “belies” as you did, suggests the exact opposite of what you clearly intended, complimenting me, rather than disparaging me, while offering yet another sign of that intellectual dysfunction I mentioned.

Look, when you show up here throwing about terms such as “delusional rightwingers” and the rest of your snarky pap, your subsequent indignation at having your own mental shortcomings held up for ridicule isn’t likely to generate much sympathy.

As for your “points,” if you will make one worthy of notice or refutation, I’ll be happy to accommodate you.  Thus far, you haven’t.

“Capitalism is optimism monetized.”

“emotional truncation”???

That’s a good one.  You can put words together, but that doesn’t confer any significant meaning to them.

If govt control of the economy were the way to go, the Soviet Union would be the richest, most powerful nation in the history of the world.

Thanks to Obama, America remains the only country where it is illegal to drill our own oil!

Bat one,

You’re quite right: in my haste I wrote the wrong word. You were able to see from the context that I meant “betray.” Dismissing my argument on the basis of an obvious typo is intellectually weak and you should know it.

I fail to see why you think my characterization of your attack as ad hominem is misplaced. You, and others, attack me but not my argument. Not a tactic that will bring you much credibility, at least outside echo chambers.

You say you cannot see my point? I find that hard to believe, but for the sake of debate, I’ll try to make it as clear as possible.

McCain’s statement that Baghdad is safe enough for Americans to stroll down many of its sidewalks and, further, that Patraeus drives around the city in an unarmed humveee, is ridiculous on its face and was refuted not just by media but by American military personnel as well.

That many right wingers jumped on the Drudge lies about Ware and still, incredibly, stand by the false accusations, is a sign of desperation and willing delusion.

georgie,

I accept your apology/acknowledgment, though I’m not sure your use of the word “typo” is any more defensible than that of the word “belie.”

That said, I must admit that I am unfamiliar and unconcerned with any of the controversy surrounding John McCain’s remarks.  As a Vietnam vet, I have unbounded respect for what he endured during his captivity (a captivity, by the way, which was totally unfettered by the restrictions of the Geneva Conventions).  But as I have noted before, I would support McCain’s bid for the presidency only if there was no alternative to a Democrat in the White House… especially Hillary.

If the McCain for President Express derails itself I’ll not lose any sleep over the occurrence.

What attracted me to your comments was your obvious confusion over the question of righteousness versus self-righteousness.  A question you have yet to address.

“Capitalism is optimism monetized.”

Will:

Michael Ware made a joke about drinking a year ago and the wingers took it literally.  Now that offhand comment from a year ago is dredged up by the smear meisters and treated by them as proof that Ware is a drunk.

You’re off your rocker.

Ware didn’t just make an “offhand remark”.  He was friggin’ smashed when he appeared on the show.

Enjoy.

Your link doesn’t work Carrick. Expose the Left AKA Ian the Political Teen is now with hotair.com.

Which is a shame because that kid was really building a name and audience for himself.

Towards the end; part 2.

Maybe he just naturally has that drunk aura. He does look a little tipsy.

Likwidshoe:

Your link doesn’t work Carrick. Expose the Left AKA Ian the Political Teen is now with hotair.com.

That’s pretty odd.  It was up this morning.  I downloaded the WMV onto my computer (no good way to upload it though).

He’s got a lot of slurring of words and trouble concentrating in the clip.  Looks to me like he was seriously imbibing before the show…

bat one,

It was an acknowledgment, most definitely not an apology. You yourself come off as quite self righteous so your accusation about me being so carries little weight. You don’t like the description “typo”? I suppose you’ve never said or typed a wrong word. It must be nice to be so perfect. You don’t need to bother addressing my point about right wingers; you embody it perfectly.

georgie,

I am getting tired of explaining this stuff to you, so PLEASE, pay attention.

I did not accuse you of being self-righteous.  I accused you of confusing righteousness and self-righteousness.  Which yyouclearly had done.

As for being perfect, that’s simple nonsense.  I am quick to acknowledge my mistakes, factual or inferential, and apologize accordingly… as should all adults.

“Capitalism is optimism monetized.”

bat one,

It is you who are confused. If you reread my post, you’ll see that I was satirizing Chief’s assertion that he had a direct line on The Truth; I called him “righteous one” because many people who claim to be righteous also claim to have access to The Truth. It was not a misapplication of the term.

Also, you haven’t answered my question about how your personal attacks on me were not ad hominem. It seems to me you’re wrong on both counts. I await your rebuttal or apology. And please try to hold the pomposity to a minimum.

...I was satirizing Chief’s assertion that he had a direct line on The Truth; I called him “righteous one” because many people who claim to be righteous also claim to have access to The Truth.

georgie,

By my count, that’s the 4th time you’ve felt compelled to explain yourself or what you intended.  Hardly auspicious.

As for the question of ad hominem attacks, I’ll offer that calling you intellectually dysfunctional was indeed a personal insult… I never suggested that it wasn’t.  But no more so than your initial remarks about “delusional rightwingers” and your further attacks on Rob and Chief, both of whose opinions I respect and admire.

Finally, as regards “pomposity,” I intend no such thing, but if you have inferred as much, perhaps it is at least as much a question of your internalized anxiety and sense of inferiority as any overbearing ego on my part.  I like words, and I strive to use them correctly and imaginatively.  If that discomforts you, that’s unfortunate, but I am unlikely to apologize in any case.

Look, if you have a pertinent point, one worth noting and answering, by all means make it… as I suggested above.  Again, I couldn’t care less about a John McCain press conference and who was or was not giggling.  Another subject, perhaps?

“Capitalism is optimism monetized.”

georgie,  again, I ask you to .... ask a question.  You seem to be oversimplifying based on some prior assumptions.

Communism is evil

Bat one,

You quoted my earlier post and added the ‘(sic)’:

“Your ad hominem (sic) attack belies your own intellectual weakness and emotional truncation. “

Did you seriously sic me because I didn’t italicize? Wow. That shows me.

I labeled your posts pompous because you were serially condescending and wrong.

I had to explain myself repeatedly because of your zealous self delusion and refusal to engage in a real exchange.

As to feeling anxious because of or inferior to you – thanks. It’s good to see we can at least make each other laugh.

Chief,

I’ll copy the questions I asked you from my earlier post. Are you saying these are not questions or that they are not questions you’re prepared to answer?

Let’s, for the moment, leave debate about whether we flawed mortal are capable of discerning, let alone disseminating, the truth aside.

You are in Iraq?

If so, what part?

In what capacity do you do your reportage?

Do you think you see the complete picture?

Do you do strolls down Baghdad sidewalks unarmed and unaccompanied by a massive security force like McCain had?

Do you think it was worth it for McCain to shut down the market for his election photo op?

Do you think the lives of the more than 100 soldiers who protected him during this election stunt were worth so little that they could be gambled in an attempt to save McCain from his ridiculous assertions about the ability of Americans safely stroll through Baghdad streets?

I’m new here, but one thing is clear.  Georgie isn’t up to the task.

Whatever the task may be.

I’m a Conservative.  No one I know who is Conservative likes John McCain.  Georgie is living an some other planet.  To say “right wingers” would in anyway back McCain is like saying Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Conservative.
Liberals like Georgie are so far out on the edge that anyone who isn’t howling at the moon is Ghengis Khan material.

Mickey,

Did you read the original post? Did you read my posts?

I asserted that right wingers were quick to believe Drudge’s lies about Ware and that some continue defending the demonstrably false accusations.

I then claimed that his was symptomatic of the desperation and enthusiastic self delusion in support of the claim that things are going swimmingly in Iraq displayed by so many on the right.

I know that most on the right see through McCain’s bullshit and both applaud and appreciate that insight.

If you’re going to insult me for what I say, please at least try to understand it.

Mickey,

Your comment reminds me that the old adage about alligators and draining a swamp, an adage about vertical perspective, is certainly just as true in the horizontal plane.  The farther one places oneself to the Left or the Right, the more skewed the linear political perspective as well.  To someone on the far Left, McCain might well look like a radical rightwing conservative.

Of course to someone on the far Left, anyone willing to defend the US (at home or abroad) is considered a far rightwing kook!

“Capitalism is optimism monetized.”

georgie, I just went through all of your comments above and have to admit, it is a pile of disjointed rambling stupidity. And you need some serious remedial spelling and grammar lessons, not to mention about 6 months of isolation de-programming before you can rise to the level of functional moron.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

2hotel9,

Your post is stunningly ignorant. Another pathetic personal attack from a moronic lemming who can’t even follow, let alone construct, a logical argument.

As soon as you construct a logical argument I’ll get that shipment of ice skates on its way to Hell.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

georgie.  I missed your earlier questions.  Just returned from a week long wedding.  Here are the answers:

You are in Iraq?  Not now.  I was.  Have pictures.  Talked with Iraqis.  Talked with contractors.  See my web page for more.

If so, what part?  Mosul.

In what capacity do you do your reportage?  As an intelligent, College educated, retired teacher.  I was on active duty at the time.  Have retired now and can report The Truth.

Do you think you see the complete picture?  Of course not.  No one does, but as a teacher, I was very observant.  I did identify two infiltrators posting as workers and turned them into the Iraqi and American intelligence service.  They were “fingering” locals working to better their lives and threatened their families.  Nice people!

Do you do strolls down Baghdad sidewalks unarmed and unaccompanied by a massive security force like McCain had?  Forget about McCain.  How about Clinton shipping thousands of our GIs from Tuzla to Taszár Hungary in 1996 for a “photo op”.  That is thousands (1,000)++

Do you think it was worth it for McCain to shut down the market for his election photo op?  Were you there to see the streets “shut down”?  I saw streets in Germany “shut down” so Clinton could go to a market there in 2000.  He also made a jaunt to several African Countries for personal business and “shut down” the planning center at Ramstein from a war effort.

Do you think the lives of the more than 100 soldiers who protected him during this election stunt were worth so little that they could be gambled in an attempt to save McCain from his ridiculous assertions about the ability of Americans safely stroll through Baghdad streets?  Yes.  I assume they were not killed or wounded???  Were you there?  Was it work the lives of 1,000s to ride several hours in unheated railroad cars so Bill could have them as a backdrop.  NO.

Now. How about some non-political questions.

Communism is evil