Wednesday morning digest
- Is Charlie Sheen drinking again?
- Continuing the theme of Hollywood types who moonlight as decorated public policy scholars, here's part IV of Bernard Chapin's series on "Oprah".
I love it when reporters get put in their place. Like Bernard Goldberg said, when it comes to arrogance, laziness and lack of accountability, journos hold a candle to no one.
- You mean maybe he didn't lie? As this column argues, the intel pointed to a more than reasonably certain conclusion. (I will blog about the Foreign Affairs article later.)
- According to the Toronto Star, apparently we all have the right to a bank near our places of residence. And if you're non-white and lower-middle class WITHOUT a bank near you, it's racism.
Seriously.
posted by Road Hammer @ 7:25 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Helen Thomas posed a brilliant question to the President yesterday. Rather than being "snubbed" she and her question led ever major networks news coverage yesterday evening.
"Q I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?"
"The Shrub was handed a golden opportunity (yesterday) morning to level with the American People about his real reasons for attacking Iraq, reasons that Helen Thomas would be more than happy to explain to him if he’d just open his ears and listen."
- From www.blamebush.typepad.com
Road Hammer, I'm confused by a couple of apparant contradictions -- hopefully you can clear them up for me.
I have read your continuous rants against Hollywood types who have the nerve to express their political opinions. You have suggested that Charlie Sheen, George Clooney and Sean Penn (to name a few), should keep their pie-holes shut on all matters political, since they aren't "well versed in public policy issues."
This suggests that only people with a certain level of expertise and/or education should be allowed to express their opinions on politics. And it also begs the question, "who is qualified to voice an opinion." This is a very elitist idea, even if in this instance it deals with millionaire actors.
I also suggest it might be a touch hypocritical, considering you host a blog which deals with many political matters. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure that you and most of your "regulars" aren't public policy experts.
So what and who is it exactly that gives some the right to voice their political beleifs, but not others? Why do actors not have the right to speak out on certain matters, as you do on a daily basis?
Following your line of reasoning, you should have absolutely no time or respect for any of the ideas of politicians such as Govenor Schwarzenegger or President Reagan. After all, at one time, they were merely ill-informed actors with no public policy background.
Well, first, I don't mean to pay myself on the back or anything, but I have a graduate degree in public policy and have worked in the offices of two Canadian cabinet ministers. I've also been published. Not that gives me any special entitlement to having an opinion over anyone else ... I certainly don't purport to know everything there is to know, that's for sure.
Secondly, Reagan and Schwarzenegger put their names on a ballot. Participating in the electoral process forces someone to become more than just a talking head because you are asking the public to cast judgment on your political beliefs. This confers upon them a little more legitimacy than Penn, Sheen, Clooney or whoever, at least in my little ol' opinion.
Finally, of course, we are all entitled to our opinion. We are also entitled to take the piss out of each other as well. That's what makes the blogosphere so much frickin' fun.
Thanks for stopping by.
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