April 03, 2004

YOU'LL NEVER GUESS

Michele at A Small Victory presents a fun DU quiz:

Guess which quote from Democratic Underground is not real ...

The selections, all to do with the murders of American civilians in Fallujah, ain’t pretty. Neither is this, from Daily Kos:

I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.

Here’s sweet little Kos with some of his friends.

UPDATE. And here are the people creepy Kos feels nothing for.

Posted by Tim Blair at April 3, 2004 02:22 AM
Comments

The Daily Kos post was the first time I saw the "contractors = mercenaries" meme, but now I'm seeing it pop up other places too. Damn, this thing is going to spread like plastic turkeys and "Bushitler". I expect to see it on somebody's protest banner eventually.

Posted by: Combustible Boy at April 3, 2004 at 02:25 AM

I'm listening to yesterdays Michael Medved show right now...a muslim caller was just on and made the same point as The Daily Kos...that the contractors were mercenaries..so the Daily Kos is only parroting Muslim talking points....which is, "It's bad, it's awful, BUT they were mercenaries don't ya know".

Posted by: KellyW. at April 3, 2004 at 02:31 AM

Why has he got Atrios' face blurred like that? What's he afraid of? - that big bad Republicans will come looking for him? He should only wish he were so important.

Posted by: Annalucia at April 3, 2004 at 02:33 AM

Also, the caller pointed out despite the fact that the crowd was chanting about blood and sacrifice and Allah..it had NOTHING to do with Islam..where have we heard that one before??? It is never the "true" Islam that is responsible for atrocities. Interesting there is always a "but" attached to the point in attempt to justify whatever new atrocity we are talking about.

Posted by: KellyW. at April 3, 2004 at 02:38 AM

And here I was hoping it was just the trolls that would spout the "they're just mercenaries" line. Disgusting.

Posted by: Matt Moore at April 3, 2004 at 02:41 AM

Kos served in the military, and so I have to give him credit for that.

However, someone should tell all his peurile posters that
MERCENARIES = NO DRAFT
and because of said "mercenaries," they are free to work on their puke-ins and protest puppets without any fear that they might actually be called to do something scary.

Posted by: Patricia at April 3, 2004 at 03:11 AM

Slime always show their character.

Posted by: Robin Roberts at April 3, 2004 at 03:30 AM

Aren't these mercs just basically providing site security for certain types of facilities, and also serving as armed bodyguards? The way the lefties are going on about "private armies doing the duty of the military," you'd think Wackenhut and Blackwater are out there in Apaches and Abrams tanks fighting set-piece battles with enemy armies or something.

By these standards of "doing the duty of the military," you might as well say any American city with a police force is under military occupation, and any industrial site with armed guards is under martial law.

Posted by: Combustible Boy at April 3, 2004 at 04:00 AM

Also, is my memory failing me, or didn't some of those aid workers who were bugging out of Iraq last fall say that they refused the protection that the military offered them because they didn't want to be seen as allying with the occupiers or some such? So why is providing personal and site security suddenly some kind of duty that only the military is allowed to provide?

Posted by: Combustible Boy at April 3, 2004 at 04:04 AM

i won't even click the link to give the bastard a hit.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 3, 2004 at 04:15 AM

Check out the diatribe on Arianna Huffington's website.

I wonder, during a war, at what point does dissent from one side that doesn't want to fight the war become wilfull support of the enemy?

Posted by: Dwayne at April 3, 2004 at 05:29 AM

Hit Kos where it hurts: in his pocketbook. Write the candidates advertising on site. Martin Frost has already removed his ad and $2,000/month from kos' pocket.

http://michael-friedman.com/archives/000311.html

Oh, be sure and cc kos on your e-mails!

Posted by: Blue at April 3, 2004 at 05:50 AM

Kos has modified his post, but I archived it for all to read.

Posted by: Dwayne at April 3, 2004 at 06:28 AM

Why is there a conspiracy to keep "Atrios" identity secret when he is openly attending high power cocktail parties with the DNC establishment? I think it's high time that someone do a little recon at one of these events and spill the beans about who this guy is. At least "Kos" has the balls not to hide his identity.

Posted by: goldsmith at April 3, 2004 at 06:51 AM

Also, is my memory failing me, or didn't some of those aid workers who were bugging out of Iraq last fall say that they refused the protection that the military offered them because they didn't want to be seen as allying with the occupiers or some such? So why is providing personal and site security suddenly some kind of duty that only the military is allowed to provide?

Because it's helping the groups that didn't bugout do their jobs, and some on the left believe that can't be allowed to happen.

Or basically the usual 'damned if you do damned if you don't' situation.

Posted by: Patrick Chester at April 3, 2004 at 06:58 AM

As Allah points out, Kos is actually to the left of the Arab News on this one. Amazing.

Posted by: Ian S. at April 3, 2004 at 07:25 AM

Since Kos was once, briefly -- one entry level course, a student of mine, and since I know him from back then on another, pretty personal level, let me ask that a bit of slack be cut. He is a thoughtful, caring individual, who, unfortunately, has come to believe in a ideology that many of us find to be somewhere between mildly distasteful and totally out of synch with reality. He should be a classic liberal, but that option doesn't really seem to exist any more. He should be a (non-party) libertarian, but that would probably go against the grain of his personal experience.

The most unfortunate part is his blog's enabling of some stuff that is just a bit more palatable than the DU. Believe it or not, in person I doubt that many of you would find him or his views to be that objectionable most of the time. I tend to grieve that the young man I knew and appreciated has not fulfilled, in my eyes, his promise. But, then, it's his life.

My question to those commenters on dailyKos (not the lost souls on DU) is, "would you, then, be willing to expand the US Defense budget to fund adequate troops at adequate pay and benefit levels to do what now is being done by 'mercernaries' and if not, how can you reconcile this?"

My guess is most of they would further gut the military and still complain about hiring others to do the job.

These people are no more mercenaries than was my brother, the 31-year policeman. He took a good, dangerous job at relatively good pay for many reasons, one of which was his love for his community.

I would prefer if at least the dictator's asskissers would at least admit their bias.

Posted by: JorgXMcKie at April 3, 2004 at 07:49 AM

Jorg, you may be biased because you knew him when, but we have to deal with him as he is now. Even the terrorists were once sweet little boys full of promise.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 3, 2004 at 12:03 PM

Kos may be a caring human being like the rest of us, that only means he should know better. I'm sure that the frothy dimbulbs at DU have good qualities that we don't get to see behind their non-stop moonbattery just like I'm sure many of the LOL LET'S NUKE 'EM dittoheads are probably not as stupid as they sound when they start posting various takes on LOL LET'S NUKE 'EM, but their comments deserve no slack.

Posted by: Sortelli at April 3, 2004 at 01:02 PM

Yeah, I am a little biased. I truly liked him. I'm hoping (possibly against all hope) that he opens what is really quite a good mind and looks at reality. It would be a shame to have what could have been a fine citizen wasted. When I knew him well, he showed no signs of becoming like this. Like I said, a waste.

Posted by: JorgXMcKie at April 3, 2004 at 03:39 PM

Jorg,

I hope your friend gets diagnosed with rectal cancer and it spreads to his armpit and he has to take off his shirt to shit during his final days.

Posted by: Arty at April 4, 2004 at 12:48 PM

Gee Arty, don't hold back -- tell us how you feel.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 4, 2004 at 02:47 PM

C'mon Andrea, I didn't suggest lighting Kos on fire and dragging his body through the streets. I'm wishing him a natural death (soon). Besides, judging by the pictures he posted of himself, he's kind of an ugly little troll and probably wouldn't burn well anyway.

Posted by: Arty at April 4, 2004 at 10:21 PM