McCain Derangement Syndrome
Jeff Weintraub has been posting fascinating material on the various "derangement syndromes" that plague American politics, including Clinton Derangement Syndrome, Bush Derangement Syndrome and, more recently, McCain Derangement Syndrome. I sent this piece on Ann Coulter's symptoms of the latter to Jogo, and this is what came back:
Yes, it's true what that writer says. If you listen to American talk-radio you hear a milder (or less crazy) version of McCain Derangement Syndrome. MDS is all over the dial and it's passionate. One can understand it, in a way. Conservatives want a conservative, goddammit, and in so many ways McCain is offering such a soft version of it that he might as well be a Democrat. They want a principled conservative, like Reagan was. Someone who -- it is clear to see -- operates on conservative principles. That McCain has ascended so high in this race is, for many rightwing conservatives, a very dismal prospect.
I am a well-known Ann Coulter fan. I think she is an ironist, to the point where she seems nutty. As jogo seems nutty sometimes. But really, you have to filter so much of what she says through an ironic filter; for example, when she says that we should invade all the Moslem countries and convert them to Christianity. It's totally absurd and impossible, and I am amused when liberals ltake her as a serious Nazi (which she surely isn't; not in ANY way). Liberals did the same thing when she said that Jews needed to be "perfected" -- which is not ironic, of course, but is merely an unabashed statement of what almost all Christians actually do believe.
Plus -- if you think for five minutes about converting all the Moslems to Christianity, it's not really totally crazy, is it? I mean ... if we could actually DO THAT, wouldn't it be a good thing? It WOULD be a good thing, but no one except Ann Coulter has the balls to say it.
However, when Ann Coulter says "McCain has no honor," well, this is going much too far. It's not irony. It's insulting. Maybe she is actually a nut. Still, I like her. I think people should take the stick out of their asses.
Speaking of the "imperfection" of the Jews, Pope Benedict, in response to Jewish protests, just revised the Good Friday prayers of the Tritentine Mass, removing references to our people's "blindness" and "darkness." But don't all people, to an extent, walk in blindness and darkness?
Amazing how even an intelligent friend, if talkative enough, can become tedious, even unwelcome. I recently cruised Christopher Hitchens' site, looking at all the columns, interviews and debates I had missed in recent months. Many are about religion. Who cares? Bo-rrrr-ing. I feel sorry for Hitch -- over and over again he pounds his points home. Not long ago I read everything Hitch wrote. I was so interested to know: what he thinks about this, what he thinks about that.
All posts on: Ann Coulter, Pope Benedict, John McCain
Yes, it's true what that writer says. If you listen to American talk-radio you hear a milder (or less crazy) version of McCain Derangement Syndrome. MDS is all over the dial and it's passionate. One can understand it, in a way. Conservatives want a conservative, goddammit, and in so many ways McCain is offering such a soft version of it that he might as well be a Democrat. They want a principled conservative, like Reagan was. Someone who -- it is clear to see -- operates on conservative principles. That McCain has ascended so high in this race is, for many rightwing conservatives, a very dismal prospect.
I am a well-known Ann Coulter fan. I think she is an ironist, to the point where she seems nutty. As jogo seems nutty sometimes. But really, you have to filter so much of what she says through an ironic filter; for example, when she says that we should invade all the Moslem countries and convert them to Christianity. It's totally absurd and impossible, and I am amused when liberals ltake her as a serious Nazi (which she surely isn't; not in ANY way). Liberals did the same thing when she said that Jews needed to be "perfected" -- which is not ironic, of course, but is merely an unabashed statement of what almost all Christians actually do believe.
Plus -- if you think for five minutes about converting all the Moslems to Christianity, it's not really totally crazy, is it? I mean ... if we could actually DO THAT, wouldn't it be a good thing? It WOULD be a good thing, but no one except Ann Coulter has the balls to say it.
However, when Ann Coulter says "McCain has no honor," well, this is going much too far. It's not irony. It's insulting. Maybe she is actually a nut. Still, I like her. I think people should take the stick out of their asses.
******
Speaking of the "imperfection" of the Jews, Pope Benedict, in response to Jewish protests, just revised the Good Friday prayers of the Tritentine Mass, removing references to our people's "blindness" and "darkness." But don't all people, to an extent, walk in blindness and darkness?
******
Amazing how even an intelligent friend, if talkative enough, can become tedious, even unwelcome. I recently cruised Christopher Hitchens' site, looking at all the columns, interviews and debates I had missed in recent months. Many are about religion. Who cares? Bo-rrrr-ing. I feel sorry for Hitch -- over and over again he pounds his points home. Not long ago I read everything Hitch wrote. I was so interested to know: what he thinks about this, what he thinks about that.
All posts on: Ann Coulter, Pope Benedict, John McCain
Comments
"Horowitz observes that there is an “inexhaustible fertile market of Clinton hostility,” but that “the search for a unifying theory of what drives Hillary’s most fanatical opponents is a futile one.” The reason is that nothing drives it; it is that most sought-after thing, a self-replenishing, perpetual-energy machine.
The closest analogy is to anti-Semitism. But before you hit the comment button, I don’t mean that the two are alike either in their significance or in the damage they do. It’s just that they both feed on air and flourish independently of anything external to their obsessions. Anti-Semitism doesn’t need Jews and anti-Hillaryism doesn’t need Hillary, except as a figment of its collective imagination. However this campaign turns out"
http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/all-you-need-is-hate/?8ty&emc=ty
1) Who cares? Well, looking at the Bestseller lists -- plenty do.
2) "I recently cruised Christopher Hitchens' site" -- you're looking at the wrong one -- that place has been moribund for ages. Try looking here for most of Hitchens latest stuff:
http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.com/
or here:
http://www.buildupthatwall.com/
3)"many are about religion"...and many aren't about religion. Lo and behold...
Look here and follow the links (and that's just yesterday's selection).
Agree with jogo, that she talks non nonsensical crap... I mean according to her the helicoptors over iraq and Afghanistan should bomb Christianing blessed water instead...
Anyway re McCain. I don't want to be ageist but why bother. Much easier to go for Obama, a real democrat straight!
Thanks too, Will, for those two superb pieces of Hitchness, the letter to George and the piece on Lefkowitz. Vintage.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/page.cfm?objectid=20309523&method=full&siteid=89520
On Yanquee non-'lections