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LIE PUBLISHED
Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker:
A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said ... that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.”
That quote reworked by Antony Loewenstein at crikey.com.au:
As Bush has said, “saving Iran is going to be [my] legacy”.
I suspect both stories are lies. Hersh is about as truthful as a plastic turkey.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 12 14 at 10:58 AM • permalinkSpeaking of “technical inexactitudes”, here’s a choice quote from the Mencken of Niagara Falls, Mike Hudson: “How can you want to be rich when your real sympathies lie with the mostly poor, mostly rural men and women serving in Iraq?” As the saying goes, read the whole thing.
Here’s another one…..
Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning.
He told Bush that Three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq .
To everyone’s amazement, all of the color ran from Bush’s face, then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost whimpering..
Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld, “Just exactly how many is a brazillion?”
Whenever you have Loewenstein reporting on something Hirsh reported it probably comes out true. Sort of like turning something upside-down twice.
Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2006 12 14 at 11:20 AM • permalinkMaybe Ant’s looking for a job with the Niagara Falls Reporter?
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 12 14 at 11:57 AM • permalinkOr any newspaper in the Niagara area:
http://tinyurl.com/ylys23
(Maybe there’s something in the water?)BTW, Eason Jordan has a new web site telling the “real” story about Iraq. Maybe Ant can get some work there, too?
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 12 14 at 12:09 PM • permalinkAngry Ant has been sniffing around the big dogs of the loony left for support a lot this week. Yesterday he downplayed the threat posed to Israel by the Iranians thus:
Ahmadinejad has made any number of inflammatory statements over the last year regarding Israel, the Jews and the Holocaust, though* University of Michigan’s History Professor Juan Cole claims that many of his comments, such as wanting to “wipe Israel off the map” have been badly translated.
Ant’s own translation of SeymourPatois convinces him that what a “government consultant” supposedly said is so accurate that he may take the liberty of manufacturing a direct quote where there isn’t one. But he counsels that we not be so hasty as to put words into the possibly misunderstood mouth of Ahmadinejad, currently playing Persian Oprah to a couch full of Holocaust denialists.**
* The new But for today’s elegant and evolving equivalence theory spokesliar.
** “No no no. The Iranian President said to David Duke ‘You Gargoyle’, not ‘You Go Girl’. He was badly translated.”***
*** Made-up quote attributed by me to Antony Lowenstein.****
**** However, it is one of those hoaxes that bespeaks a reality.O/T but there is now a chance that Republicans might retain control of the Senate: Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) has a serious illness-congenital arteriovenous malformation-and may have to step down. If that happens, Gov. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)will appoint a replacement.
Right now it is unclear exactly what will happen and I sincerely hope that Senator Johnson recovers, but it will be a major story over the next few weeks to see what unfolds.
However, it is one of those hoaxes that bespeaks a reality.
Methinks that Ant’s reality is comprised solely of hoaxes, C.L.!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 12 14 at 12:23 PM • permalinkAnt must have attended the Maureen Dowd school of quoting and journalistic integrity.
Posted by swassociates on 2006 12 14 at 12:29 PM • permalinkthough University of Michigan’s History Professor Juan Cole claims that many of his comments, such as wanting to “wipe Israel off the map” have been badly translated.
Oh, well, Juan Cole. That’s different. Everybody knows what an expert he is. But you don’t have to believe me; just ask Juan Cole. Although some people may differ.
As Bush has said, “saving Iran is going to be [my] legacy.”
Did Bush say the words, “saving Iran is going to be HIS legacy,” and Loewenstein had to insert the correct pronoun for the doltish Prez? Absurd.
Now, as for Loewenstein having said, “saving Iran is going to be [my] legacy,” that’s true. He did write that.
#3 Lowenstein, Lowenstein, didn’t he once write a cookbook? Or a musical arrangement?
He’s the subject of a favorite song about the truth of his pages
O Lowenstein, o Lowenstein,
Wie treu sind deine Blatter.
Du grunst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,
Nein, auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Lowenstein, o Lowenstein,
Wie treu sind deine Blatter.(``how faithful are your sheets’’ as google puts it)
I suspect both stories are lies. Hersh is about as truthful as a plastic turkey.
But, Rob, Seymour quotes a government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon . It doesn’t get any more authoritative than that.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 12 14 at 02:12 PM • permalinkI sat in the chair behind the desk, watching the smoke from my cigarette wind its serpentine way to the ceiling, when a guy burst into the office. He halted abruptly in his tracks, took a step back, glanced at the name on the door, and then marched to the desk and frowned at me. I could understand his being a little peeved; it was his office.
“Just who are you, and what are you doing here?”
“Paco’s the name, and I’m sitting in your office smoking a cigarette because it’s cold outside. These New York winters; pal, you can have ‘em! Oh, and here’s a newsflash for you: I’m a private detective.”
Mike Hudson, editor of a fish-wrapper called The Niagara Falls Reporter, mulled it over. He was thinking, maybe, that I had some dirt on a city councilman, or perhaps some pictures of the mayor jimmying the coin boxes on parking meters. If so, then it was time to disabuse him of his optimistic notions. I had some news for him, all right, but it wasn’t good.
“I’ve been retained by an Australian attorney to serve some legal papers on you. His clients are suing you in civil court for violation of the vilification law.”
Hudson’s frown came back, so severe this time that he probably could have looked down and seen his eyebrows.
“Wha . . .? What ‘vilification’ law? Who’s this Australian you’re talking about? And put out that cigarette! This building has a strict non-smoking policy!”
I tossed the butt in a cup of cold joe. The short hissing noise of the Camel being doused in coffee matched the one made by Hudson. But the dawning of recollection got him on another tack.
“Are you talking about that blogger, Tim Blair? He can’t sue me! My comment about him being a wallaby-eating sheepherder was just a whimsical gag. I didn’t vilify him.”
“You’ve got the kangaroo before the pouch, Mister. It isn’t Blair who’s suing. It’s a joint action being taken by the Friends of the Wallabies and the Australian Sheepherders’ Association. Seems they didn’t like the idea of their critters being linked to an editor.”
“That’s preposterous! Here, give me those papers!” He began reading. “ ‘ Preliminary Antipodal Court Order. Be it known to All Men by these Presents: Greetings. In the matter of . . .” His voice trailed off, as he read to himself. He finished and gave a groan of agony.
“This is absurd! It says here, they’re suing me for five million dollars, Australian! I don’t know what that is in real money, but do you have any idea how many ads we’d have to sell to make that kind of dough? The Totalitarian T-shirt Co-op is our biggest ad generator, and last month they had to pay us off in Ché t-shirts!”
I nodded sympathetically. I believed he was telling the truth. Beneath the front of his white dress shirt, I thought I could just make out a blurred image of the rodent-faced Cuban.
“Well, I’m authorized by the attorney to advise you that they’ll settle out of court. A published apology in The Niagara Falls Reporter will do. Er, and there’s one other thing.”
“What is it?”
“What size barrel do you take?”
So, lemme get this straight.
Hersh(1) says that some civilian contractor(2) with “ties” to Pentagon leadership(3) says the President(4) thinks something.
Why, he’s only got two complete levels of anonymous source between himself and the original person, which makes his report only third-hand to everyone else. One wonders if he even thought about asking the President about his actual thoughts on Iran.
I mean, the President’s a busy man, but he does occasionally respond to reporters, and might do so for famous ones at big papers who are pretending to know his thoughts based on what two layers of anonymous source assert.
No need to comment on Lowenstein, of course.
(Maybe Hersh knows who the Rumsfeld Strangler is, too?)
(wronwright sits placidly in the barber shop, waiting for his favorite barber, the deaf mute one, to be free. He casually looks over at the magazine rack, noticing the December issue of The Strand)
Aiiiyyyyyye. Not another Detective paco story. Why, why do they publish that muck? No one can possibly want to read it, right?
(Joe, the deaf mute barber, looks quizzically at wronwright)
Never mind Joe. You know, just go on cutting that goomer’s hair. Oh god Joe, I sure hope you wake up by the time I come up. That guy looks like Moe of the Three Stooges.
(Joe gives wronwright another look. wronwright smiles back).
Just ... keep ... cutting. Yes.
(wronwright thumbs through the magazine, looking for the story. he stops breathing while quickly scanning the paragraphs)
Oh thank god. I wasn’t mentioned once. No bees, no caves, no unannounced visits to my offices. He got Hudson this time, eh? Hah! Couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Let’s see how well he bears the jokes, the onslaught of ridicule and dirision when this story gets read during the next few days. Especially if Hugh Hewitt reads excerpts to Steyn like he did last month.
(eye twitches)
Come one Joe, hurry up. I got to see Karl in a couple hours. I have to look good. My competition, Xena the Warrior Princess, is trying to take over. I have to look professional. I’ll show her how we Ohioans take competition.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 12 14 at 03:15 PM • permalink#31,
I’m sure Tim can be argued down to… a booting.
Posted by Brian Tiemann on 2006 12 14 at 03:26 PM • permalink#32: Thanks, RC, very kind of you. But I don’t have the faintest idea of how to run a blog. In any event, when it comes to the important things - terrorism, elections, culture, chili - there are so many people who are better informed than I am, I don’t think I could make any original contributions. And, frankly, I doubt that a steady diet of infomercials from Paco Enterprises and pulp fiction spoofs would hold anybody’s interest for very long. But thanks. Just consider my humble offerings as the widow’s mite at the altar of a great blog.
#33: Wronwright: You’re the one who ought to be running a blog. And wherever did you find a deaf mute barber? I’ve been looking for one for years, who would let me read my magazine in peace.
I too like rhhardin, have been inspired by post #3.
(To the tune of Matchmaker, Matchmaker:)
Lowenstein, Lowenstein, you’re such a prat!
Crikey’s your home,
No doubt about that!
Stop spreading bullshit and peddling those lies
And open your far-king eyes!And I haven’t even had my first coffee of the day yet.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 12 14 at 03:57 PM • permalinkWell, I would be more inspired if it was Ocscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers.
Or did I(as per usual, it seems) fail to grasp some whimsical nuance in the thread.
If that is the case I will simply slip into the blue languid waters of the Pacific that has enchanted some many of us in the evening here in the South of Tucson.
no no no no no, no paco. You should be running the blog, not me. I’m just a lowly but humble servant for Karl.
(adopts Stoop Davy Dave’s humble pie expression)
Posted by wronwright on 2006 12 14 at 04:15 PM • permalinkSomeone trying to take over your blog? Then try our Personal Anti-Coup Ordnance: PACO stops them dead in their tracks. Every time.
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 12 14 at 04:49 PM • permalinkThanks Paco. A great giggle over breakfast.
Posted by walterplinge on 2006 12 14 at 04:53 PM • permalinkSay what you like about Ant, but he is a Good Jew
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 12 14 at 05:04 PM • permalinkHas the intellectual butter knife, Loewenstein, actually ever had a real job?
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2006 12 14 at 05:22 PM • permalinkIn the same piece Ant says this :
Local Zionist lobby AIJAC urges military action against Iran, despite urging similar behaviour against Iraq for the same reasons in 2003 and not stopping to ponder the consequences of that cheerleading.
The AIJAC article on North Korea, Iran and Iraq is here.
AIJAC says this:
The Cold War dynamic of deterrence between the US and USSR rested upon the proposition that both protagonists operated on a similar wavelength of rationality. But it should be obvious from the above that any attempt to bridge the cultural chasm through the application of similar assumptions to the thought process of the Iranian mullahs appears extremely problematic. How do you deter someone who may actively seek a military conflagration in pursuit of his religious doctrine, or who believes he is divinely protected from any counter-measure you may take? Answer: it is impossible. Thus, we had better be ready to do whatever is necessary to make sure that any bombs that the Iranians might launch are conventional, and not nuclear.
An important point well made. But this is not “urging military action against Iran”.
Not that troubles the Ant at all reporting that it does. What the hell? Only the supine and unthinking could be bothered with all that “truth” stuff.
OT but for those of you who haven’t already voted for Sam de Brito time to get cracking!
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 12 14 at 05:33 PM • permalinkBy my figuring 1.618 you’re asking just under $1000 per keystroke.
Who do you think you’re dealing with here? The Victorian Arts Ministry?Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 12 14 at 06:27 PM • permalinkHard to believe that something like this could get past both the crikey and loewenstein fact checkers
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 12 14 at 07:21 PM • permalinkPaco: having a blog is a lot like commenting. You just make an account on any free blog site log onto a site with an entry form, type your piece, and hit “submit.” Or if you succumb to a fit of insanity you buy your own domain name, get some server space, set up some blogging software on your server space, and then start blogging.
But I think what you really should do is write a book featuring the adventures of Detective Paco. I know lots of people on this blog will buy!
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 12 14 at 07:27 PM • permalinkPaco, Wronwright - even I have a blog. One with well over 100 readers a day, about 2000 regular readers total who read it at least monthly.
Now if a formerly Transsexual Rocket Scientist Geek Girl with a penchant for writing articles on Cthulhu, Politics, Genetics, and Neurobiology can keep 2000 people amused, either of you two could do far better.
So Blog Away. You owe it to your public.
Brilliant, Paco. Too bad you didn’t deck the ignoramous. But brilliant, all the same. You’ve been working on THAT one since Tim first posted this, haven’t you?
Much as I’d love to read The Paco and Wronwright Show, it would mean I wouldn’t have time for this one & I wouldn’t like having to choose…
That’s enough snivelling from me for today, I think.
Now if a formerly Transsexual Rocket Scientist Geek Girl with a penchant for writing articles on Cthulhu, Politics, Genetics, and Neurobiology
Where do miniatures fit in there? Or do you play Full Thrust with counters?
(And the people who have no idea what I’m talking about—get your minds out of the gutter!)
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 12 14 at 08:33 PM • permalink#8 Paco, the Ashes, or Coupe aux Cendres as we say here, are rubbing off on you old man. What! And how about the first day. A corker, I say.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2006 12 14 at 08:59 PM • permalinkPraise. From Andrea. My life is complete. I can now die with a sense of fulfillment and happiness. *Gaaack*
No, no, I’m still here. Just swallowed my chewing gum.
#57: “a formerly Transsexual Rocket Scientist Geek Girl with a penchant for writing articles on Cthulhu, Politics, Genetics, and Neurobiology”
Stop. Right. There. Zoe, any two of those categories would give you enough material to write about for a lifetime. You need to write a book. Which, if you haven’t yet, darn well ought to be in the works.
#58: Auntie, I was kicking around a few ideas as soon as Mighty Mike got unbanned. I figured there was a chance he’d come in here, dispensing death and damnation with both hands, and I wanted to be ready for him. So far, though, he’s “the man who wasn’t there”. And Detective Paco had to catch a train, so I just went ahead and bunged down the story.
#56: Dave, I’m not yet confident that the PACO 3500 has few enough explosions for me to use it (key man of the company, and all; can’t take chances. But I certainly recommend it for the general public).#23 Shouldn’t that be Clouseau, Paceau ?
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2006 12 14 at 09:09 PM • permalinkLoewenstein’s an amateur. Check out how the professionals lie:
STALE SCORSESE IN L.A. TIMES
IF yesterday’s “interview” with Martin Scorsese in the Los Angeles Times seemed familiar, it’s because the quotes were nearly 2 years old. Reporter Paul Lieberman couldn’t get “The Departed” director to talk to him. “Marty is giving no interviews. He is hard at work on the documentary about the Rolling Stones, and doesn’t have time,” said a pal. So, for yesterday’s piece in “The Envelope” section of the paper, Lieberman recycled quotes from his interview with Scorsese that ran on Feb. 27, 2005, when “The Aviator” was nominated for Best Picture.Posted by Art Vandelay on 2006 12 14 at 09:12 PM • permalink#32 Shut up Dean old man! We wouldn’t then have the paco man to enjoy. And besides, he’d lose the inspiration we provide
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2006 12 14 at 09:16 PM • permalink91B30—Between Byrd, Kennedy and Kerry, what’s one more mentally incapable Senator to the Democrats?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 12 14 at 09:30 PM • permalinkPaco
Shouldn’t “the rodent-faced Cuban” read” the rodent-faced Arggie”? He’s definitely no cigar ...Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2006 12 14 at 09:41 PM • permalinkAAP reports: The son of a ALP staff member was caught embezzling more than $16,000 in public funds in 2003, but police were not informed, the Nine Network reported yesterday. AL did not mention this did he? Wrong party?
Posted by stackja1945 on 2006 12 14 at 09:58 PM • permalinkAnd if anyone actually started a blog called
‘Braindead Moron’, I’d probably read it out of sheer respect for their honesty.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 12 15 at 12:20 AM • permalink#67, Wimpy
I was just indicating that it was Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein instead of Richard Hammerstein. Then I thought I may have missed some subtle nuanced meaning that everyone else got that simply flew over my head. Then I made the failed attempt to try and work in “South Pacific” and “Some Enchanted Evening” into some sort of retreat.
Your not getting it means you passed the basic sanity test.
I’m going to wash that Ant right out of my hair!
;^)Posted by andycanuck on 2006 12 15 at 02:23 AM • permalinkUpdate: Crikey has issued a correction. Loewenstein hasn’t.
Is it possible to actually have less than zero credibility?
#80
Tell me about it Dminor!
And how about all those “anti-Semitic” letters I write as well? My friends will stop speaking to me! You know, some of my best friends are Jewish..
Irfan Yusuf has since deleted the comments (which he initially let through). Loewenstein has a more efficient approach to comments, deleting them before publishing, rather than the other way around.
#79 im sure lowenstein will issue an apology. he’s just a little busy at the moment,as soon as he gets back from the big shindig in tehran he’ll get to it.
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2006 12 15 at 07:30 AM • permalink#82
Not quite. Actually, it is:
Dan Lewis
c/o Buckingham Palace
Rushcutters Bay.
London, England
Planet of the Anti-Semites.Various gun-toting American friends, kindly email me regarding which shift you’d like to cover out the front of my place. I quake in fear…
#73
#
#79 im sure lowenstein will issue an apology. he’s just a little busy at the moment,as soon as he gets back from the big shindig in tehran he’ll get to it.
Don’t kid yourself. They haven’t heard of him, even though they clearly have plenty to talk about.
#84- sorry- heard there was an aussie over there and for some reason lowenstein came to mind.
he really should be there flying the flag for the ‘good’ jews
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2006 12 15 at 09:34 AM • permalinkyoure not going to tell me loonig missed it too?
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2006 12 15 at 09:35 AM • permalink#48, thanks for that link, Margos Maid.
Satire will forever be redefined for me now…#31, Paco. Thanks for that tale - satire has been rescued for me!
Don’t worry about the blog - just do a yearly Best of Paco: Tales that Might have Been.Posted by carpefraise on 2006 12 16 at 07:49 PM • permalink
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Well jounalistic talent or integrity has never been this w@nker’s strong point has it….
Anyway i thought saving Iraq was something that interested George, but how exactly does Iran need saving??? Except from the nutjobs running the place???
Sorry i couldn’t be bothered reading either link to these two dullards if the answer is supplied…