Indeedy. Gout upon gout of hot jism, as John Cooper Clarke so memorably put it, splattering the drawing-room ceilings of Cohen and his neocon fellow travellers. But I do think this lucrative form of masturbation is a highly damaging distraction.
Excellent stuff as ever mate
may I shamelessly plug my 2c here?
http://christopherhitchenswatch....h-part-
127.html
David Aaronovitch was up to his usual cock-tugging on Saturday Review the other night:
"Well, it seems to me, fnrr fnrr, that people like Brian Haw (he was discussing the Tate's new anti-war exhibit) have much to say about Tony Blair, fnrr fnnr, but nothing about Saddam Hussein... ugh, oh fuck yeah..."
Plug away, Sonic.
I still wonder what screeds like Cohen's are intended to achieve. If a bloke came up to you in a pub and spent five minutes calling you a quasi-nazi and an apologist for fascism, would you feel more inclined to debate the fine nuances of geopolitics, or would you just clatter him round the chops with a barstool?
I suppose the niceties of discussion must be cast aside when one is speaking truth to power.
After all, who knows when George Galloway and the Socialist Worker's Party will rise up in a violent coup and seize control of the state apparatus.
Thank God that relatively powerless figures such as the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the President of the USA have brave dissidents such as Nick to fight their corner. Otherwise one would never hear the pro-war argument in the media.
And as always, the Curious Hamster puts it far more succinctly than I ever could.
http://bsscworld.blogspot.com/
20...dedication.html
Some people reckon that Christopher Lee was chewing the scenery to the point of demolishing several major mountain ranges, but I felt that his histrionics were perfectly appropriate for the Nick Cohen character. As for Edward Woodward, playing the obtuse policeman Sergeant Hitchens,...
Why are people looking at me like that? We are discussing classic horror movie The Straw Man, aren't we?
I read both parts of Nick Cohen's self-aggrandising whinge, and I must confess that the part about the anti-war marches made me want to burn myself alive.
Incidentally, I once read that in Celtic mythology, the wicker man was a fertility symbol - rather than a man, they'd pack sacrificial animals and people into a large set of wicker male genitals.
Interesting, but sadly the author was incorrect, and his argument was based upon a phallussy.
Ah, the 'decent left'; that is, the ones who support torture.
Mind you, Nick Cohen has just about persuaded me that such extreme measures may be justified in certain cases.
Now, that is one of my favourites. When exactly was it that us liberals lost our way again?
I'm starting to think the the Decents may not only condone torture, but may be its chief practitioners in the UK.
Niall Ferguson looks most credible (not to mention most attracive) while screaming with a mixture of pain and need, his face buried in a pillow...
You think?
I think he'd look better being whipped through the streets of Washington with his trousers on fire, but that's just me.
I'm always skeptical of historians who seek to influence contemporary debate by analogy to WWII - see also, Andrew Roberts.
Hell, seeking to influence contemporary debate by analogy to WWII always works for me. We may be arguing, for instance, about whose turn it is to clean the dishes... I start ranting about Marshall Zhukov's overall strategy at the Battle of Kursk... Penny usually gives up when I get onto the subject of T-34 tanks, and washes the dishes herself.
I'm always skeptical of historians who seek to influence contemporary debate by analogy to WWII - see also, Andrew Roberts.
By "also" I trust you mean "as well as being sceptical of historians who do this, I am sceptical of Andrew Roberts"?
If Cohen had published this book 3 years ago, it would have been annoying and deserving of a good kicking. But now, it's just embarrassing.
Iraq's a blood-bath and support for the war has gone through the floor - does he really think that wheeling out the same old straw men yet again is going to achieve anything other than convincing everyone that he's mildly loopy and incapable of telling when he's lost?
Ta for the link anyhow. Since we're having a shameless-plug-athon, I've got another relevant post here.
It would be rather depressing ... if, of course, Cohen hadn't irrevocably sullied his reputation with that torture-tastic piece about deporting terrorism suspects that Not Saussure linked to above.
Commenting by HaloScan
