INDCJournal: Reynolds Slaps Sullivan Hard, Again

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May 17, 2005

Reynolds Slaps Sullivan Hard, Again

Posted by Bill

Oh yes, that's the stuff. Every sweet word a righteous fix of calm, economical, brutal rejoinder punditry, a soothing antidote to Sullivansteria.

For those of you more in tune with the pro-wrestling rhetorical stylings of most blogs (including this one, obviously), a translation of understated Reynolds-speak: that was a bloody, screaming takedown, like performing a nephrectomy with fake anesthesia, a rusty saw and barbeque tongs, while wearing a pair of those oversized foam "We're Number One!" hands instead of rubber surgical gloves. The coup de grace:

As Mickey Kaus has noted, Andrew can be excitable. A while back he apologized to me for some of his criticisms during the election, and more recently he has apologized to his readers for his waffling and defeatism on the war last spring. Perhaps he'll apologize for this at some point in the future. But, I confess, I find the question of what Andrew thinks less pressing than I used to.

So much ... blood. It's in my shoes.

UPDATE: More reaction here and here.

UPDATE: Bill Quick piles on:

Let's start with abu-Ghraib: Anybody who places such an overwhelmingly high level of importance on a few isolated instances of abuse in a war we have fought more cleanly than any nation in history has not just lost his moral footing, he's lost his ability to make rational distinctions.
...
Sullivan knows I support gay marriage. That said, Andrew, perhaps you'd do better to write a bit less about that, and a bit more about the butchers who would cheerfully stand you up next to a wall for your sexual proclivities, and then push the damned wall over on you. Talk about misplaced priorities! We are fighting a cleaner war than has ever been imagined, against religious fanatics who would like nothing better than to slaughter us wholesale, and Sullivan tries to pretend that the rules are those of an A-list clog dance in P-town.

Indeed.

Posted by Bill at May 17, 2005 10:28 PM | TrackBack (2)

Comments

I'll say it again: Sully luvs it when Reynolds writes about him in any vein, because it means he's Important

Posted by: beautifulatrocities at May 18, 2005 10:45 AM

I'm still waiting for the real Andrew Sullivan to return. This fake guy who has been running the site for the past 18 months or so just doesn't cut it. I mean the old Sullivan was intellectual, the replacement is looney. This replacement guy is the poster child for why Bill Clinton was impeached .. he is obsessed with sex to the point that if you disagree with him you are .. less human.

Andy .. I can hear you now singing the old George Harrison song replacing "Bangladesh" with "abu-Ghraib"

abu-Ghraib, abu-Ghraib
Where so many people are dying fast
And it sure looks like a mess
I've never seen such distress
Now won't you lend your hand and understand
Relieve the people of abu-Ghraib

Posted by: Neo at May 18, 2005 02:15 PM

All this noise because Lynndie England is such a ho. Hate to say it but the all-volunteer forces do seem to attract a lot of trailer trash.

Posted by: cassandra at May 18, 2005 03:45 PM

What Bill Quick said touches on an interesting problem:

To what extent is the fact that this is one of the cleanest wars:

1. Lost on the larger population, much of which has little inkling/understanding of what war is like?
2. Leading to the desire for ever cleaner wars, w/o the recognition that, at some point, "cleanliness" is opposed to actually winning?

On the part of the Left, this was already visible in Desert Storm, where some on the Left felt that it was worse to kill Iraqi troops (b/c they were conscripts) than to kill American troops (b/c they are volunteers). That point has been echoed in parts of the Left blogosphere this time, too.

Posted by: Sun-Tzu at May 18, 2005 04:45 PM

I agree with Bill and all the comments, esp. Neo. I want my Sully back. It's kind of scary to see BDS claim so many fine minds.

I have one caveat, which is that Sullivan is trying to raise attention for actual real torture and killing that may have occured to people in US custody, some guilty of terrorism, some not. I still can't get a good bead on what really happened, though, because unfortunately Sullivan's shrillness gets in the way of any substantial points he is trying to make.

Posted by: Yehudit at May 19, 2005 12:43 AM

Cassandra,

Care to step outside & say that?

Posted by: Cybrludite at May 21, 2005 11:15 PM