Legal Commentary

The Voices Of Reason: Where Were They The Past Decade?

By Big Tent Democrat

Digby writes about Ben Smith's piece about Andrew Sullivan and George Packer lamenting the demise of reason in our discourse. Digby asks where these people have been for the past decade. Let me answer -- Sullivan and Packer were two of the most irrational voices in the country is where they were. They fullthroatedly advocated for the most insane policy in the recent history of the United States - the Iraq Debacle.

Excuse me, but reading about Packer and Sullivan lamenting the triumph of "unreason" is just too rich. Who are they kidding? They were part of the problem. Sullivan especially - his irrational hatred of Bill Clinton and Al Gore (and Paul Krugman) should disqualify him from ever writing about anyone being unhinged. As for Packer, let me refer to a piece I wrote about his Iraq Debacle advocacy in 2005. Read this passage from Packer:

Sam Rosenfeld and Matthew Yglesias have written thoughtfully about the limits of liberal interventionism. They are right to say that it needs to be rescued from the tragedy of Iraq; over a year ago I said the same thing in The New Yorker when I wrote that it will take years to rescue Vaclav Havel from Paul Wolfowitz. They are also correct that some self-scrutiny among those who seem destined to go to our graves with the name "liberal hawks" is in order. Again, I would recommend a look at "The Assassins' Gate." Rosenfeld and Yglesias show no sign that they read it before they accused me of supporting the war to avoid the taint of dovishness and then employing the artful dodge. But something in their eagerness to prove that Iraq was doomed to fail tells me that they have another agenda than the salvation of liberal interventionism. They want to win an argument--like some others who contributed to this discussion (it seems to be the default mode of bloggers and commenters on blogs). The inevitability argument has the feel of a very cerebral game played late at night by people who are extremely removed from the real field of play.

(Emphasis supplied.) The voice of reason? You won't find it in George Packer. Obviously you won't find it Fifth Column Andrew Sullivan. "Reason" lost the battle long before Barack Obama became President. Two of the movers in this loss were Andrew Sullivan and George Packer.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 14, 2010 (boomark / email).