Where I Make Prof. Fedler Proud

Fill-in blogger and Princeton student Asheesh Siddique on Tom DeLay and Thomas Jefferson:

I have no desire to portray Jefferson as a flawless deity- because he was not one. But for DeLay to compare himself to Jefferson is absurd- the third President did the most to lay the groundwork for republican government in the service of the American people, while the former House leader has spent his career trying to exterminate our democracy.

And my lowly contribution:

First, do you really think DeLay’s rhetoric matches his own beliefs – that he values his own contributions similarly to Jefferson, Lincoln, et al.? It’s pure political BS, the man could rob a liquor store and declare it a victor for liberty.

More substantively, Jefferson’s political dirty tricks included his financing of “The National Gazette” after Washington became president. The Anti-Federalist directly subsizized the paper and gave the publisher Philip Freneau governmental work as a reward, hiring him as a translator for the State Department concurrently with his publishing duties. The party paper used vicious means of attack, debasing the craft of journalism. The controversy began to embarrass Washington, which was an extension of personal animosity between Jefferson and Hamilton. The party also hired Benjamin Boche, who was the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and a radical Anti-Federalist. He published the �General Advertiser� which was renamed the �Aurora�, in which he savagely attacked both Hamilton and Washington. His goal was to drive Washington from office because he favored an Anti-Federalist president. He started a failed campaign to impeach Washington, and pestered him by sending three copies of the paper to his home everyday.

He responded, so as they say, go read the whole thing.

Ouch

via Brad DeLong

There’s editing for content, editing for style/grammar/syntax/etc., and then there’s ripping someone a new asshole:

Returning to the post above, “As the election season continues to play out, expect to see more antiestablishment candidates rise to the surface and watch for the diminishing importance of entrenched endorsements” could practically have been lifted from the pamphlet-speak Orwell anatomized in “Politics and the English Language.” In which field of human endeavor do seasons play out while watching things rise to the surface and simultaneously worrying about things that are entrenched? Water-polo World War One re-enactments, perhaps? You are stringing together hackneyed figures of speech without pausing a moment to consider their actual meaning. This is a basic mark of bad writing. You’re an educated man who can do better, so knock it off.

And the beat down continues:

Webb, though, is in an advantageous position since he has both the grassroots and D.C. Democratic establishment firmly behind him.

If the grassroots are firmly behind him, does that mean Webb is flat on his back?

And goes on, and on, and on, and on….