tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5572744113321145124.post2184294951582750293..comments2023-07-12T08:49:11.109-05:00Comments on Radical Moderation: What Can You Say to a Creationist?TheRadicalModeratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04671143818738683349noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5572744113321145124.post-89218155012711503492009-09-11T10:22:44.077-05:002009-09-11T10:22:44.077-05:00Ooooo, a real comment.
Yeah, the difference betwe...Ooooo, a <i>real</i> comment.<br /><br />Yeah, the difference between a blog and "dear diary" is a pretty fine line for us unwashed masses, isn't it?<br /><br /><i>"...you are a repub atheist in a party that is completely controlled by creationists"</i><br /><br />Correct to a first-order approximation, but I'm more libertarian the most GOPers on a lot of things, and I'm not opposed to all forms of healthcare reform.<br /><br /><i>"Palin a good idea? The phrase suggests an incredibly cynical attitude toward democracy."</i><br /><br />No, just a cynical attitude to the office of Vice President. The odds of a President dying in office are sufficiently low that Palin would have been no more risky than any of the other three jokers we had to worry about. (Plus, remember the Harry Truman example: total idiot on paper, halfway decent president. Face it: it's a crapshoot.)<br /><br />Having said that, if I'd heard as much Palinese before the election as I did after, I'd have been somewhat less sympathetic (although I ultimately couldn't vote for McCain).<br /><br />A couple of Bush's good ideas:<br /><br />1) I think a foreign policy animated by the spread of democracy is an excellent idea. Democracy with democratic institutions is 100% in the US national interest. But you've got to have a pretty long, deep game to pull that one off. Bush's game was neither long nor deep.<br /><br />2) The Iraq war was a good idea. We got to:<br /><br />a) Build up a huge security infrastructure on top of the most strategically vital spot in the world.<br /><br />b) Generate a genuine meeting engagement with all of the terrorist organizations that were determined to attack the US homeland, which completely destroyed their logistical capability and most of their credibility.<br /><br />c) Take out a really bad regime that was going to be a continuing threat to the region.<br /><br />However, it sure would have been nice if all of this had taken three years instead of six.<br /><br />3) I was also a huge fan of allowing some private investment of social security witholding. The last year notwithstanding, outperforming T-bonds over actuarially significant time periods is a slam-dunk. However, again, legislative ineptitude trumped good intentions.TheRadicalModeratehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04671143818738683349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5572744113321145124.post-73505463540681347992009-09-08T08:58:18.901-05:002009-09-08T08:58:18.901-05:00You don't get a lot of comments here, despite ...You don't get a lot of comments here, despite your voluminous output. Is this what the vast majority of blogs on the internet tubes amount to? People like us talking to ourselves like alcoholic street people? I feel a certain sympathy, so I am going to break into your lonely world with a comment.<br /><br />Anyway, browsing your blog entries, you are a repub atheist in a party that is completely controlled by creationists. And then there's this comment (way back in Nov '08):<br /><br />"Palin: a good idea with extremely poor execution. Bush had a lot of good ideas, too..."<br /><br />Palin a good idea? The phrase suggests an incredibly cynical attitude toward democracy. Not 'a good candidate', but 'a good idea'. You mean as a good marketing strategy? Or what made her 'a good idea'? I am very curious. And how would you have executed that 'good idea' properly? You do know she is a flaming creationist, right, and, more generally, a blithering idiot?<br /><br />and... name a couple of bush's good ideas.<br /><br />Anyway, keep talking to yourself.<br />(I do too).<br /><br /> - johhqeniacjohnqeniacnoreply@blogger.com