I guess that Ryan Blethen had to use his family pull so that he could get his “Orwell Wrote Bush’s Script” article onto the Common Delusions (oops, I mean Common Dreams) website.
You see, Ryan is the son of Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen. Daddy gave him a cushy little job of ‘Regional Editor’ of daddy’s paper in Portland, Maine, I guess, so that the poor paranoid sap wouldn’t wind up homeless and always begging for money.
You see, Common Delusions used the reputation of the Seattle Times and their printing of little Ryan’s blathering to give creedence to it when they reposted it on their site. Not only that, but it seems that Ryan got a promotion of sorts, as he was titled as a ‘Times Editorial Columnist’ at the top of his article. I found that odd as I do not recall hearing from him before.
At the bottom of his article, it says “Ryan Blethen’s column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times.” Regularly, huh? I guess not regularly enough for him to be included on the “Columnists” list or even the page reserved for them. I don’t read the entire Times every single day, but I’m pretty sure that I would remember someone as unhinged as little Ryan.
Try this on for instance; Ryan tries to use ‘Newspeak’ comparisons with words from Bush’s speeches:
War is peace
“There is no peace in retreat.”
Freedom is slavery
“The terrorist surveillance program has helped prevent terrorist attacks. It remains essential to the security of America.”
Ignorance is strength
“… We have benefited from responsible criticism and counsel offered by members of Congress of both parties … Yet, there is a difference between responsible criticism that aims for success, and defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure.”
Political doublespeak is nothing new, but has become a real threat to democracy in the hands of this administration. Bush has taken communication strategy to new heights, said David Domke, associate professor of communications at the University of Washington.
Sorry Ryan, first of all, those are all bad analogies. Secondly, there is no peace in retreat. This is a known fact. Retreat means that you are running away from an enemy. I don’t know of a time when an attacking Army that could have didn’t chase down and kill those who were retreating. I don’t call that peace.
Also, the terrorist surveillance program, while not my favorite thing to have heard that my government did, is credited in netting the terror cell members in Oregon. Look it up. Get informed. Stop ignoring news you don’t like.
And to comment on your last example, the people you cheer as they criticize the war in Iraq are only focusing on any and all of even the slightest failures. Their entre ‘Plan’, if you want to call it that, is a swift and complete withdrawl, also known as ‘Retreat’.
And there is that word again that Ryan finds so peaceful. He doesn’t care what actually happens to the people of Iraq. He doesn’t even care what happens to our soldiers afterwards, just so long as he can get his way after stamping his impotent feet.
Which again, if his powers of deduction, reason and analogy are any indications, is probably how he got the job in Maine as well as his crap printed in the Times.
While this has been pointed out elsewhere in the blogosphere, I would just like to give an example of left-wing ‘Newspeak’:
The Dems call the listening in on calls to or originating from known terrorist connections outside the country as a “Domestic Spying Program”. In fact, Ryan uses it multiple times in his screed.
But this just shows their lack of understanding of the english language. To have a “Domestic Spying Program”, one would have to listen to ‘Domestic Calls’, which is not what is happneing.
Now please explain to me again who it is that is using “Fear and contorted language” as their weapons of choice, Ryan?
But hey, anything for a headline, right?