The Brawler will say this much about Patrick McIlheran: Despite his handwringing over the sensitivities of people who think homosexuality is "morally problematic," he is unashamed to express his mancrush for the nuttiest blogger in the Badger State.
We refer to, of course, dad29.
In a Friday post titled "It's a thought," Mac shares dad29's insight that the reason the "left" is bothered by things like global warming or a war crime in Haditha is because the left has a guilt complex and is projecting.
Then he treats his readers to dad29's prose. One imagines dad29 stroking a shotgun as he hunts and pecks at this keyboard.
"Think about it. In the last 40 years, the Left's major victories have been victories against life--Roe v. Wade, ‘assisted suicide,’ and the murder of Terri Schiavo. There have been other similar ‘victories’ in Western Europe. Related, directly or indirectly, are such things as the Left’s whitewash/defense of the Empire of Evil, (beginning with the NYTimes’ unforgivable lying about the Stalin regime), and Margaret Sanger's open adoration of Hitler’s ‘eugenics’ program. ...
“The successful assault on natural law’s first right (the right to life,) has evidently produced a backlash guilt complex. While using positive-law machinations and perversions to achieve victories over life, the Left’s inborn still, small voice has not been vanquished.”
If this were parody of a rightwing idiot from Brookfield it would be hilarious. The fact it's the actual thinking of a rightwing idiot from Brookfield is nothing less than sidesplitting.
Personally, the Brawler has always thought the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and the feminist and environmental movements were the left's major victories over the past 40 years. If the dad29 wants to go back 70 years, I suppose we could point the New Deal (which, contra conservative critics, did significantly ameliorate unemployment even before World War II solved it thanks to even more government spending), a Democratic president winning World War II and a Democratic president committed to containing the spread of the U.S.S.R.'s sphere of influence as victories as well.
I'll take that track record.
As for the things dad29 cited, we won't go into our disagreements on the ethical issues. But to attribute them solely to the left is disingenuous. Most Americans support abortion rights. The Brawler does not recall leftists demanding Terri Schiavo be executed. He does recall a bunch of yahoos making shit up about Terri Schiavo's vegetative state and assailing the rule of law.
This marks at least the fifth time McIlheran has invoked dad29 since March. He recruited dad29 earlier this month to protect him from the big bad folkbum. He reeled him in to beat up on Ron Howard for denouncing as "militant" anyone who urged people not to see "The Da Vinci Code." (We stayed away because we figured it sucked.) He brought daddy-o to bash some OSU professors who filed for harassment charges after a campus librarian recommended freshmen read the gay-bashing book "The Marketing of Evil" by wackjob David Kupelian (The Brawler thinks filing charges, found meritless, was unwise. A better way to attack this waste of trees would have been to create poster-sized cards highlighting such gems as: "In truth, there is something wrong with homosexuality. Simply put, it is unnatural and self-destructive -- just as Western civilization has long understood it." And, charmingly, dad29 refers to one of the professors as a "creature." One wonders if McIlheran shares that sentiment.)
One of the great things about blogs is it gives people like McIlheran an opportunity to share the material that shapes their thinking. The fact McIlheran turns to a maroon like dad29 -- seriously who would hire this guy as a consultant? -- is hilarious.
The fact McIlheran calls this gas bomb of a post a "thought" should raise questions in the minds of his paymasters.
Well said. Don't forget that McIlheran has also turned to the likes of Peter DiGaudio at Texas Hold 'em Blogger who indicted every single Mexican who had come to the US because of the murderous actions of one on Memorial Day.
I'm sure that use of Chris, at spotted horse2 (along with his tortured grammar skills) is just around the corner.
Posted by: Tim | June 18, 2006 at 12:52 PM
Remember that Patrick was not a reporter at the paper: he was a graphic artist/copy editor who won an in-house contest for conservative columnist. Skill and perception were not criteria for winning: the winner had to be rightwing enough to get Sykes off the paper's back.
The further irony is that Sykes is paid by the Journal Company to diminish the paper's credibility. Talk about corporate suicidal tendencies.
Posted by: jacksprat | June 18, 2006 at 08:48 PM