tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8114733480292395190.post330086891332490546..comments2023-08-26T07:39:14.787-06:00Comments on Schaffer v Udall: 2008 Colorado Senate Battle: Will Mark Udall Renounce Big Blue Lie Machine Smear of Ethnic Minority?Ben DeGrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13834102063921650816noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8114733480292395190.post-31832773486544824972008-05-16T10:29:00.000-06:002008-05-16T10:29:00.000-06:00Alan, you are to be commended for your rare and sp...Alan, you are to be commended for your rare and special breed of hubris. Or maybe a psychiatrist would diagnose it as projection. But very few can do what you do with a straight face. As one who looks for the flimsiest of excuses to attack Bob Schaffer, regardless of the implications, you clearly are prone to see shill behavior more readily than others.<BR/><BR/>Or maybe you now are a supporter of President Bush's policy in Iraq? Nah. Didn't think so. You won't even admit the implication of what you're trying to do with your cheap sophistry.<BR/><BR/>You can try to oversimplify the issues and shift the terms of the debate to distract from your group's initial smear. The burden is on you to connect the dots and prove whatever absurd case you are trying to make vis a vis Bob Schaffer. But you don't care about the truth.<BR/><BR/>This isn't about "defending Bob Schaffer no matter what he says or does." It's not even so much about defending Bob Schaffer no matter what you insinuate he says or does, which is often the case. It's about your attempts to use the radical playbook of Saul Alinsky and avoid serious questions by throwing them back at me as personal attacks. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for acknowledging your group's sleazy tactics and filling my Friday with laughter.Ben DeGrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13834102063921650816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8114733480292395190.post-48520750407753798542008-05-16T08:53:00.000-06:002008-05-16T08:53:00.000-06:00Absolute rubbish, Ben.I didn't "conflate" anything...Absolute rubbish, Ben.<BR/><BR/>I didn't "conflate" anything--all I said was that each time Turkey has launched military operations into northern Iraq, with the US's approval, the Kurdish government has angrily protested that action. Do you deny this?<BR/><BR/>Further, do you deny that it is American policy to encourage the finalization of a <I>national</I> Iraqi oil revenue distribution law? Since most analysis consider the consequences of failure in that regard to be continued civil war and a forcible breakup of the country into ethnic fiefdoms? Well, Ben? Speak carefully, now.<BR/><BR/>This is the problem with shills like yourself: you think that all of these issues are semantic games you can endlessly spin, as long as that spinning serves your overarching goal of <I>defending Bob Schaffer no matter what he says or does.</I> The problem is the camels you must increasingly swallow to do so.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18386237347480446823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8114733480292395190.post-722486798531441992008-05-14T16:42:00.000-06:002008-05-14T16:42:00.000-06:00Another page from the Saul Alinsky playbook, Alan....Another page from the Saul Alinsky playbook, Alan. Nice. Your group is the last to criticize anyone for "shallow analysis."<BR/><BR/>How can you be trusted when you conflate the Left-wing rebel terrorist group known as PKK with the entire Kurdish ethnic minority in Iraq? <BR/><BR/>The issue between the proposed Iraqi national oil law and the efforts of regional governments to propose their own deals is far more complex than you give it credit for. Are you blaming the Kurds for wanting to seek a better life for their people?<BR/><BR/>If your group really cared about nuance, Alan, you would have demonstrated some by refraining from smearing the Kurds as "local speculators." Now that's "shallow analysis."<BR/><BR/>Unless you are able to address the primary point raised in Mr. Carroll's column and in this post, I'll take the silence in your response as a confession of your group's sleazy tactics.Ben DeGrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13834102063921650816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8114733480292395190.post-54112070935696351722008-05-14T15:59:00.000-06:002008-05-14T15:59:00.000-06:00Wow, Ben. Amazing stuff.So when the United States ...Wow, Ben. Amazing stuff.<BR/><BR/>So when the United States gives Turkey permission to bomb Kurdish rebels (you know, that "oppressed minority"), as we have done for months now over the objections of their government, does that complicate your shallow analysis?<BR/><BR/>How about when the Iraqi government we're trying to hold together over there says the biggest obstacle to a badly-needed national oil law is the existence of inside deals between regional governments and speculators (like Schaffer's)?<BR/><BR/>Vince Carroll throws bombs hoping no one will examine any deeper--just like you, Ben. Unfortunately, facts are facts. And Schaffer owes Colorado answers.<BR/><BR/>And here I was really ready to believe that you weren't silly enough to engage on that ridiculous "PlagiarismNow" crack-pipe level like your intemperate buddy "watcher," whose job seems to be confirming every stereotype about bug-eyed nonsense spewing right wing bloggers. Too bad.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18386237347480446823noreply@blogger.com