Dulce Bellum Inexpertis

by hilzoy

N.Z. reporting on the milbloggers' meeting with George W. Bush:

"Responding to one of the bloggers in Iraq he expressed envy that they could be there, and said he'd like to be there but "One, I'm too old to be out there, and two, they would notice me.""

Such a pity he missed his chance to serve the first time around, when all he had to do was not avoid the draft:

"Like many young men of his generation, he wanted to avoid Vietnam. He told one reporter, "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes.""

***

(On the milbloggers' meeting: Dan Froomkin says: "Mrs. Greyhawk added another highlight: "I tinkled in the Whitehouse." Apparently, Mrs. Greyhawk thought better of it: this quote is now gone from her post. Good move, Mrs. Greyhawk.)

Comments

[Gary Farber]

"N.Z. reporting on the milbloggers' meeting with George W. Bush"

It's interesting stuff.

I can't entirely fault these guys for swooning at Presidential flattery. It's always worked, and on men who were most powerful and prepared.

And I'm quite sure that if a President I admired had me in to the White House, or even a meeting anywhere, and slapped my hand, and called me a friendly name, and solicited my opinion, and appeared to treat it with respect, that my head would be spinning like mad, as well, and that I'd be positively near swooning, frankly. It's hard to resist that kind of nearness to to history, fame, and power, particularly for those even less experienced with it than the trivial experiences I've had, or even for those with far more proximity and experience, most of the time, history strongly suggests.

And nothing is more obvious than that the next Democratic President will be having supportive Democratic bloggers to sessions at the White House. Woo and hoo.

(I think a seniority system is clearly in order, myself. It works for Congress and unions, so clearly blogger priority for interviews, and all other privileges, should stem from who started blogging first. Who could doubt it? I am utterly unbiased in suggesting this.)

Oh, and bite me if I don't expect you, Hilzoy, to be inteviewing the next Democratic President of United States, or at least getting to ask questions in person, sooner or later. Remember, I predicted it first! :-)

[The Mechanical Eye]

I can't entirely fault these guys for swooning at Presidential flattery. It's always worked, and on men who were most powerful and prepared.

Gee, I wonder if these fearless Citizen Journalists at the Victory Caucus, realizing this, will hold the dreaded Emm Ess Emm in more respect for, at least lately, trying to counteract these Sun King-like effects in order to get the truth and inform the American People of said Sun King's incompetence.

I wonder...

DU