Try law school

Had (and I assume that he hasn't) David Postman gone to law school then he might have written differently this post about how Daniel Schorr of NPR answered

Lynn Neary's question, "How is the rest of the world reacting to the news of this election?"

I suspect that the insurgents are probably sitting around drinking champagne, and saying, 'Hey look, we drove a cabinet secretary out of office, we got the president all upset' and so on. This must look very good in terms of the rebels in Iraq.

Postman suggests that

If Bush, Cheney, Rush or O'Reilly had said that I bet there would be outrage from Democrats.

Certainly there would have been a different reaction and rightfully so because the intention of the speakers would have been very different. The basis of law turns of two big factors -- what they did (their "manifestation") and what they meant to do (their "intention."

Here,  Bush, Cheney, Rush or O'Reillly would be intending to show that Democrats are friends of the bad guys and essentially in their camp. Schorr was merely making an observation (which may or may not be true) about how certain mentalities -- mentalities for which we have little respect -- might interpret American actions as "giving in." A more rational interpretation is that Americans are fed up with failure.

 

Comments

[Hal O'Brien]

Huh. And here I was, thinking the terrorists' reaction would be, "Damn... After five years of an administration that pays only lip service to fighting us, and does everything they possibly can to whip up more support for us in the region, we might finally have a real fight on our hands."

But then, I'm the guy who says, "So... Why is it we regard everything the terrorists say is to be greeted with suspicion, except when they ever so conveniently proclaim Iraq to be the 'central front' in the struggle against them? Why is it no one ever asks in public, "Hey -- do you think terrorists may have a vested interest in spreading disinformation about where a 'central front' might be? Or in having us commit our troops nowhere near where they actually are?""

Nahhhhhhhhh...