.. I let Bray do one more more on speech by Rep Stark. D Calif

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

The end of thread   djf

------ Forwarded Message
From: Hiawatha Bray <watha () monitortan com>
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2002 20:46:46 -0400
To: "'Dave Farber'" <dave () farber net>
Subject: RE: <[IP]> more on speech by Rep Stark. D Calif

For perfectly understandable reasons, Dave wants to wrap this thread up.
So let me quickly reply to the replies.  It won't take long, because few
respondents had anything to say worth arguing about.  Indeed, they
merely copied the vulgar tone of Stark's speech.  One of them even
mocked my last name, a sure sign of someone with not a lot to say.

To be sure, I think the president has made a very strong case in favor
of stopping Iraq now, while it can be done with relative ease, instead
of confronting the maniac at some future date when he's got a few nukes
in his basement.  But my criticism of Stark's speech goes beyond my
disagreement with his views.  After all, any number of very smart people
have warned against war--former Navy Secretary James Webb had an
excellent anti-war piece in the Washington Post a couple weeks back. It
was sober, logical, without a hint of vulgar posturing.  It was, in
short, the work of a thinking adult.

The same was true of the speech Bush gave in Cincinnati on Monday.  It's
on the White House Web site.  By all means read it, then compare it with
Stark's rant.  

Stark, remember, is an American Congressman, engaged in one of the most
important debates of our young century.  Like everyone else in Congress,
Stark bears a grave responsibility to decide on issues of war and peace.
One would expect a legislator in the world's oldest and strongest
democracy to rise to the occasion.  One would expect his dissent from
the administration to feature sober, thoughtful criticism that would
rise to the same level Bush reached in Cincinnati.  And one would be
wrong.  

Instead you get snide insults that would shame a fifth-rate lounge act,
combined with what can only be willful ignorance of the perils we face.
"Not a shred of evidence" that Iraq poses a threat?  No "specific act of
provocation?"  Never mind reading Bush's speech.  Has this fellow ever
read a newspaper?

In short, Stark's speech is a remarkable blend of ignorance and crudity,
one which ought to shame even the staunchest opponent of war with Iraq.


Hiawatha Bray
Boston Globe 



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