Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit, Is Wrong About Everything

June 14th, 2006 Politics 18 Comments


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18 Responses to “Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit, Is Wrong About Everything”

  1. SaveFarris says:
    June 14, 2006 at 4:06 pm

    Try as I might, I just couldn’t get past the first sentence without doubling over in uncontrolled laughter:

    One of the most destructive attributes in our political dialogue is the mindless embrace of notions of conventional wisdom, which just get repeated over and over by those who are too lazy to think critically about anything.

    Bush Lied!
    War for Oil!
    Rove’s Guilty!
    Global Warming!
    Spying on Americans!
    Florida Stolen!
    Ohio Stolen!
    Katrina Response!

  2. TomY says:
    June 14, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    On second thought, the most tired piece of false conventional wisdom about Bush is that he’s “decisive.” In fact, he is brittle, easily led astray, and weak-willed.

  3. Nimrod Gently says:
    June 14, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    That sure was a point you made.

  4. TomY says:
    June 14, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    The tired conventional wisdom is, of course, that he’s a “straight shooter.” In fact, he is a dishonest manipulator who has told many clear faslehoods and deceptions both big and small. The fact that conservatives are distancing themselves from him is an acknowledgement that they themselves recognize this fact on some level. And you guys lost the global warming debate a long time ago. Unfortunately, we may all have lost that battle already. Thank you, conservative conventional wisdom!

  5. cellulose says:
    June 14, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    Farris, I assume the author wasn’t referring only to Republicans.

  6. Dugger says:
    June 14, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    When I saw the header, I thought you had caught him in error. Instead you merely disagree, but in the interests of minimizing ” the most destructive attributes in our political dialogue” you indicated Instapundit is wrong about everything.

    (See anything a little ironic in that?)

    Dugger

  7. factcheck says:
    June 14, 2006 at 7:06 pm

    Greenwald brings up a great point when he asks what “far left” views Republican bogeymen Howard Dean and John Kerry have. Never gotten an answer to that one.

  8. Rounds77 says:
    June 14, 2006 at 7:06 pm

    Gee Farris, after reading your words, I now believe Bush didn’t lie and that Iraq WAS tied to 9/11 and that Saddam was getting all his weapons of mass destruction ready to strike us first, thereby making our invasion incredibly necessary. I, too, would have diverted all our resources out of Afghanistan where OBL was to get Saddam.

    How’s that for conventional wisdom? Or is that just conventional stupidity?

  9. william says:
    June 14, 2006 at 7:06 pm

    Pot meet kettle.

  10. Zython says:
    June 14, 2006 at 8:06 pm

    Bush Lied!
    Of coruse, only an idiot would think that there was no way in hell the fundamentalist Osama Bin-Laden would be an ally of the secular Saddam. It’s not like all the fundamentalist Islamic governments hated Iraq or anything.

    Global Warming!
    Pfft. Stupid egg-head scientists. What do climatologists know about climate? Everyone knows the only people we can trust are oil executives and frothing-mouthed right-wing pundits.

    Katrina Response!
    Good point. By that time, we shouldn’t have expected anyone appointed under Bush to actually do their goddamned job or anything.

  11. Repack Rider says:
    June 14, 2006 at 8:06 pm

    Instead you merely disagree, but in the interests of minimizing  the most destructive attributes in our political dialogue you indicated Instapundit is wrong about everything.

    I agree that there was a little hyperbole there, but not much. How dumb is Instahack? He says, “I think it shows that voters will not support the Howard Dean-Kos-fringe and it makes for interesting times as Democrats try to find a presidental (sic) candidate for 2008.”

    After Kos-endorsed candidate wins, Instahack says voters will not support the candidates endorsed by the likes of Kos. This is what happens when you are not part of the reality based community. You don’t recognize reality.

  12. frameone says:
    June 14, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    “I thought you had caught him in error. Instead you merely disagree …”

    Per Repack only I must add, Dugger you are a hack. Plain and simple. Reynolds and the emailer he approvingly sites were WRONG in their assessment of the results.

    The emailer wrote: “Don’t you think [Jim Webb's defeat of Harris Miller] also bad news for the left fringe of the Democrat party?”

    Reynolds answers, “Yes.”

    This even though one of the people that they most explicitly associate with the fringe left, Kos, endorsed Webb. When Reynolds is informed that Kos supported Webb, Reynolds adds in an update: “I guess Kos and I like the same guy, though I suspect we see different virtues in him … Upside for the Dems — they’ve got a Kos candidate with crossover appeal!”

    So his whole assessment of Webb’s win as a repudiation of “fringe left” politics was wrong. Straight up wrong.

  13. TomY says:
    June 14, 2006 at 11:06 pm

    When it comes to fringe, Kos isn’t the problem. Neither is Instapundit, though he is a jackass. Michelle Malkin is the problem. Republicans have a real moral cancer eating at their heart as long as she’s the most popular conservative on their side of the blogosphere.

  14. TomY says:
    June 15, 2006 at 8:06 am

    Republicans honestly comparing Santorum to Bin Laden! What’s the world coming to?

  15. SaveFarris says:
    June 15, 2006 at 8:06 am

    Of coruse, only an idiot would think that there was no way in hell the fundamentalist Osama Bin-Laden would be an ally of the secular Saddam.

    Weak. There’s no way in hell the fundamentalist Rick Santorum would be an ally of the secular Lincon Chafee.

  16. Dugger says:
    June 15, 2006 at 9:06 am

    Repack,

    Read more carefully. The quote you attribute to Instapundit was actually from the writer to Instapundit. While he said ‘yes’ thereafter, he then, same sentence, spoke in general about Democrats moving to the center being bad news for Rs. His interpretation then, is that Webb is more to the center, more conservative for a Democrat, than Miller. And you think that is wrong? Be careful. The very same Va Pilot article you guys use to sneer at Instapundit which talks about Miller’s origins, also states “Conventional wisdom holds that Webb would be the stronger candidate to make the Democratic case. That s because he has a national name, an intriguing biography and a more conservative record.” Is the Va Pilot also ‘wrong about everything’ or your ‘dumb’? Thats from YOUR source.

    Look whats going on here is two things: hypersensitivity and the ongoing jealousy of Instapundit from this site.

    Dugger

  17. frameone says:
    June 15, 2006 at 10:06 am

    Let’s keep simple, Dugger, how could Webb winning be bad for Kos if Kos supported Webb? Idiot.

  18. TomY says:
    June 15, 2006 at 10:06 am

    Instapundit is very resistant to having his David/Goliath analysis invaded by people he feels are the wrong davids and the wrong goliaths. Kos is, in his world, far-far left; and that’s all he’ll ever be, because once Kos becomes non-ideological, he wrecks Instapundit’s meticulously planned analytical constructs for the blogosphere and the political landscape.

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