Curtis Dahlgren
Defactualization, microaggressions, spinning badly, and a Time to Push Back
By Curtis Dahlgren
"Stuff happens." – Hillary Clinton, regarding Benghazi (roughly paraphrased)
"CLINTON CAN SLEEP EASIER AS SHE RIDES A CAMPAIGN HOT STREAK." HUH? The Pretorian media never said Reagan was on a "hot streak" during Iran-Contra. In fact, Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post said it was the most fun he'd had since Watergate. The line above was in YahooNews the morning after, morning after the 11-hour hearing on Benghazi. The headline on the story read:
"Hearing yields little new information and no major missteps by the Democratic front-runner."
That headline was probably written at least 24 hours in advance, as was the spin:
"The 'Get Hillary' Committee did not get Hillary."
The "Get Oliver North" Committee did not result in such headlines. Nor the Martha Mitchell Committee. Not that I want to take sides in something like this, but I think it ought to be put in context for history's sake. As Peggy Noonan wrote almost a year and a half ago:
"The Benghazi investigation should go forward but with knowledge that it will face heavy partisan and media pushback . . From day one White House management and leadership focused on spin and an apparent fiction. Did they deliberately mislead and misdirect? Why was there no military response? . . History needs to be told, by which I mean future White Houses need to be told, what really happened. People in politics, of whatever party or persuasion, will need to understand that the words, 'Don't – that's Benghazi' mean 'Don't lie and mislead' it will hurt us.'
"The Common Core people say our young are falling behind in math and science, and they are, but we're not exactly raising generations of moral and ethical deep thinkers either [and] those who are being trained up with a sense of right and wrong aren't likely to live lives whose main purpose is to get a good table at the White House Correspondents' Dinner."
OUCH. Peggy goes on to compare the 1985 scandal, and how it was handled, and the Benghazi one (the media can't bear using the word "scandal" even):
"Reagan waived executive privilege so his aides would testify . . There was a full housecleaning . . [though] the Iran-Contra affair did not spring from low motives. There was no hope of partisan gain, it wasn't a political play. All involved were trying . . to save lives . . They had good reasons, but the actions were bad, and everyone involved paid a price.
"Compare that with how the Obama White House has handled Benghazi. It's all been spin, close ranks . . [and] Nobody in the administration has paid a price . . No, Benghazi was no Iran-Contra, in terms of the nature of the crime or the handling of it.
"Dude, that was, like, almost 30 years ago. You can look it up. Dude, that's how patriots, not punks, deal with scandals." [WSJ, May 10, 2014]
I'm just saying – what she said! And that's about all I have to say. There are OTHER items in the news, for history's sake. For example, I heard an update of the death toll during the pilgrimage to Mecca last month. Between the stampede and the crane collapse on 9-11, about 2,111 Muslims died. As for the "Bin Laden Crane," one report said:
"'Extreme weather' is the likely cause of the collapse, authorities said, with heavy rain, lightning strikes and high winds hitting the Muslim holy city on Friday about 6:30 P.M. Saudi time, just before the start of Friday prayers."
We may have gone through the Looking Glass that week, but it's not the Age of Aquarius! May God bless us every one. OR, may He have mercy on the human Race. There is a time to laugh and a time to weep – even for our "enemies."
© Curtis Dahlgren
October 24, 2015
"Stuff happens." – Hillary Clinton, regarding Benghazi (roughly paraphrased)
"CLINTON CAN SLEEP EASIER AS SHE RIDES A CAMPAIGN HOT STREAK." HUH? The Pretorian media never said Reagan was on a "hot streak" during Iran-Contra. In fact, Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post said it was the most fun he'd had since Watergate. The line above was in YahooNews the morning after, morning after the 11-hour hearing on Benghazi. The headline on the story read:
"Hearing yields little new information and no major missteps by the Democratic front-runner."
That headline was probably written at least 24 hours in advance, as was the spin:
"The 'Get Hillary' Committee did not get Hillary."
The "Get Oliver North" Committee did not result in such headlines. Nor the Martha Mitchell Committee. Not that I want to take sides in something like this, but I think it ought to be put in context for history's sake. As Peggy Noonan wrote almost a year and a half ago:
"The Benghazi investigation should go forward but with knowledge that it will face heavy partisan and media pushback . . From day one White House management and leadership focused on spin and an apparent fiction. Did they deliberately mislead and misdirect? Why was there no military response? . . History needs to be told, by which I mean future White Houses need to be told, what really happened. People in politics, of whatever party or persuasion, will need to understand that the words, 'Don't – that's Benghazi' mean 'Don't lie and mislead' it will hurt us.'
"The Common Core people say our young are falling behind in math and science, and they are, but we're not exactly raising generations of moral and ethical deep thinkers either [and] those who are being trained up with a sense of right and wrong aren't likely to live lives whose main purpose is to get a good table at the White House Correspondents' Dinner."
OUCH. Peggy goes on to compare the 1985 scandal, and how it was handled, and the Benghazi one (the media can't bear using the word "scandal" even):
"Reagan waived executive privilege so his aides would testify . . There was a full housecleaning . . [though] the Iran-Contra affair did not spring from low motives. There was no hope of partisan gain, it wasn't a political play. All involved were trying . . to save lives . . They had good reasons, but the actions were bad, and everyone involved paid a price.
"Compare that with how the Obama White House has handled Benghazi. It's all been spin, close ranks . . [and] Nobody in the administration has paid a price . . No, Benghazi was no Iran-Contra, in terms of the nature of the crime or the handling of it.
"Dude, that was, like, almost 30 years ago. You can look it up. Dude, that's how patriots, not punks, deal with scandals." [WSJ, May 10, 2014]
I'm just saying – what she said! And that's about all I have to say. There are OTHER items in the news, for history's sake. For example, I heard an update of the death toll during the pilgrimage to Mecca last month. Between the stampede and the crane collapse on 9-11, about 2,111 Muslims died. As for the "Bin Laden Crane," one report said:
"'Extreme weather' is the likely cause of the collapse, authorities said, with heavy rain, lightning strikes and high winds hitting the Muslim holy city on Friday about 6:30 P.M. Saudi time, just before the start of Friday prayers."
We may have gone through the Looking Glass that week, but it's not the Age of Aquarius! May God bless us every one. OR, may He have mercy on the human Race. There is a time to laugh and a time to weep – even for our "enemies."
© Curtis Dahlgren
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