I Know You Are But What Am Hippies?
In addition to everything Greenwald says (do not adjust your newsreader! this is not a Mona post!) about "New Republic Syndrome," one passage of Jonathan Chait’s 2006 imprecation against the "Dump Lieberman" movement:
These are exactly the sorts of fanatics who tore the party apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They think in simple slogans and refuse to tolerate any ideological dissent.
To which I say, Hold on a minute, Hoss. Who was it who won the 1972 nomination fair and square? That would be George McGovern and "the left." Those awful peacenik lefties "tore the party apart" that year by participating in the nominating process and . . . beating the other candidates. At that point, the forerunners of Jonathan Chait began trashing their own nominee and forming groups like "Democrats for Nixon." Which constitutes tearing a political party apart, then? Winning its primaries or torpedo-ing the candidate who won the primaries? It doesn’t seem like much of a conundrum.
Comment by Mona —
June 23, 2008 @ 11:58 pm
Yeah, but I agree with it, so same difference.
Comment by Barry —
June 24, 2008 @ 9:08 am
I read Chait back when he wrote for the Michigan Independent (IIRC – an actual independent newspaper on the UM campus).
Basically, working for Peretz was an incredibly warping experience for a young journalist.
Comment by joel hanes —
June 24, 2008 @ 9:45 am
You didn’t think that the Democratic Party belonged to the demos, the people who vote Democratic, did you ?
No no. It belongs to Johathan Chait and other Villagers, and they allow the voters to come in once every couple years to admire the chandeliers, as long as they promise not to get rowdy or get the mud of democracy on the carpet.
Comment by Phil —
June 24, 2008 @ 10:11 am
I dunno. I just finished reading Nixonland. It wasn’t all that fair and square.
Comment by Doctor Slack —
June 24, 2008 @ 11:25 am
“It wasn’t all that fair and square.”
This a reference to the McGovern Commission?
Comment by Phil —
June 24, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
Pretty much, yes.
Comment by Doctor Slack —
June 24, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
Well, calling the McGovern Commission “unfair” is a bit of a stretch, albeit to be expected from the people whose unfair influence was curtailed thereby.