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Some Call It A Bonfire/Carnival Of Classiness...

We call it "Classiness, All Around Us."


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In no particular order, WILLisms.com presents classiness from the blogosphere (now with 50% more classy!):

1.

President Bush Slept Here-

The neo-neocon blog makes the post I have been meaning to make for months (no, really), noting that people are severely mistaken when they assert that Bush was born into a life of extreme privilege:

It also should be noted that GW's father's personal political power and influence (as opposed to family power and influence) did not begin until GW was grown. If you do the math, Bush the elder's first term in Congress began in 1966, when Dubya was twenty years old.

Many critics of the President make the assumption that George W. was a spoiled rich kid, when in actuality his upbringing was decidedly middle-class.

2.

Gerhard Schröder-

Q and O blog examines the German Chancellor's visit to the White House:

Schröder can read the handwriting on the wall as well as anyone. Barring Jesus coming down from heaven, patting him on the back, and saying, "That's my boy!", Schröder's done for, politically. Indeed, in Post-Christian Germany, even J.C.'s approval probably wouldn't be enough to help him.

Mer-kel, Mer-kel, Mer-kel!

3.

Moonbat Attack-

The Right Place blog believes you might be a moonbat if....

If you have ever used an asterisk in place of the President's name, or are incapable of saying it without using some combination of the terms "Hitler," "Shrub," or "Chimp" - you just might be a Moonbat!

A moonbaterrific list, to be sure.

4.

Hillary Clinton, college radical-

The Cassandra Page wonders just what in Hillary Clinton's college thesis could be so incriminating as to take such pains to keep it under wraps:

I don't know what this thesis says, but there appears to be much more to the story. I imagine a blueprint for leftist social, political and economic change that would place the last 40 years in perspective. This document would place into perspective Hillary's own attempts to take over the nation's health care industry. I suggest that this document reveals the real Hillary [which we have always suspected, argued and documented by more than circumstantial evidence]. We would finally see it in her own words. Those who would annoint her President cannot legitimately object to revealing a document that would show her true plans and ambitions.

On the other hand, everyone knows Hillary had left-wing activist tendencies while in college, so the thesis might seem relatively ho-hum. But it would still be great to learn more about Clinton's worldview.

5.

Burning the flag-

Captain's Quarters looks at a neat story of patriotism from 1976, adding his own wrinkle to the story:

Watching Monday rescue the flag from two lunatics who tried to hijack a baseball game for their protest, which would have provided the perfect nadir of American morale at that time, the crowd did something no one expected. Lasorda recalled in his book that starting softly, the crowd started singing "God Bless America", completely unprompted, until all of the tens of thousands of Dodger fans had joined together to sing it.

Spontaneous moments of American pride are the greatest moments in patriotism.


6.

Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln-

Gateway Pundit (via PoliPundit) believes Barack Obama's self-comparison to Abraham Lincoln is way off base; Obama is closer to Steven Douglas:

Before Obama takes anything away from Lincoln and the huge, courageous step he took for this country and the world, it would be nice if he had a better understanding of the day and age of Lincoln and not just poo-poo his accomplishments.

Can you imagine Obama on Mt. Rushmore?

7.

Paul Krugman-

Economist Alex Tabarrok of Marginal Revolution blog calls out Paul Krugman for the illiberal demagogue that he is:

Nothing can harm the prospects for world peace more than the vicious idea that we do better when they do worse. The Chinese and Americans people already have enough mercantilists, imperialists and “national greatness” warriors pushing them towards conflict...

Paul Krugman, economist outcast.

8.

Our Greatest American-

John Hawkins makes the case for George Washington as America's Greatest:

If a stray bullet had sent Washington to an early grave -- let's say before Saratoga in late 1777, I believe we would have lost the war. Although a people as independent and rebellious as our ancestors would have shaken off the British yoke eventually -- our nation's freedom could have been delayed a decade or two -- perhaps more -- without Washington to lead the way.

Reading 1776 right now, so, at the moment, at least, I tend to concur, although the choice of Ronald Reagan was not too shabby.

9.

American Anti-Americanism-

The Jawa Report points out left-wing rejoicing about the disastrous Iranian election, because of the liberal belief that it hurts President Bush:

I was willing to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but is there anything more damning to be said about an intelligence analyst like Larry Johnson than that he's eager to take "elections" in a totalitarian society at face value just to "prove" the neocons wrong?

Conveying Iranian regime propaganda so enthusiastically, for the purpose of scoring cheap political points against the President, is very not classy.

10.

John Kerry's Bad Advice-

The Belgravia Dispatch disassembles John Kerry's poor advice to President Bush:

There is an obsession with "deadlines," isn't there, among the Democrat camp of late? As I've said, and I agree with Rumsfeld on this, talk of deadlines and timetables provides a "lifeline to terrorists". It's a huge incentive to the bad guys to simply wait us out. It's simply bad policy, and it's sad that whoever is advising Kerry on such opinion pieces behind the scenes (Jamie Rubin? Susan Rice? Ivo Daalder?) continues to go on about artificial drop-dead deadines and such.

Kerry lost precisely because of his worldview on national security. Why should or would the President do what Kerry wants?

11.

Cuckooism-

Hoystory looks at the Democrats' delusions of grandeur:

In fact, this never happens in free societies -- one party winning everything. Does anyone really doubt that no matter what they do or how hard they try, Republicans will never win San Francisco? Does anyone believe that Democrats could ever possibly win the electoral votes in Utah?

The Democrats, aiming for a fifty state strategy, may leave vulnerable their flank in the Midwest.

12.

Anti-war political strategy-

Irish Pennants blog wonders what the Democrats are trying to accomplish, going so concertedly anti-war, so early:

Democrats seem mesmerized by the past, but continue to draw the wrong lessons from it. Iraq is like Vietnam because, for Democrats, every war is like Vietnam.

When bad news for America is good news for your political party, you know you are in trouble.

13.

Iraq's Oil Terminals-

Michael Yon hits the beat with some original reporting and looks at an Iraqi oil terminal:

If the multi-national force guarding the terminals is successful, we will never know the names and faces of the people on watch. But if our people fail their mission, the world will soon know the magnitude of that failure. The finest Navies in the world are there: the UK, the Australians and the US. Iraqis are also sharing in the defense.

Bloggers breaking through, offering in-depth news from Iraq, is really a revolutionary moment in media history.

14.

Quagmire in the Senate-

Belmont Club picks apart the exchanges between Ted Kennedy and Donald Rumsfeld, and between Carl Levin and John Abizaid:

Levin's (D-Mich.) question accidentally suggested that there was a causal relationship between an American presence and a future Iraqi constitution and national elections, which would in turn imply that without OIF there would be no constitution and no elections. Well, you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Internal consistency of an argument does not matter much in an age of 4-second soundbites.

15.

Bush = Hitler = Trotsky-

Classical Values looks at the latest flavor of poor-analogied name-calling, this time by Seymour Hersch:

....Bush is truly a Trotskyite, a believer in permanent revolution. We have never had one as a president before. He wouldn't understand that, but Wolfowitz would. He truly is. And he's doing it -- what he thinks he has to do, the revolutions he has to create, without any information, without any -- without an ability to absorb information that's counter to what he wants to hear. And so, I don't know where you are when you have a man with as much power as he controls and as much ability to do something. I don't know how we can get at him.

Bush as Trotsky. How far off the deep end has this guy gone?

Also, don't forget to check out all the old Trivia Tidbits Of the Day, the Reform Thursday series, the Quotational Therapy sessions, and the Wednesday Caption Contest (entries are due each Tuesday at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time).

Last Week's Classiness Certification from WILLisms.com:

*June 21, 2005.

WILLisms.com offers a weekly classiness roundup as a weekly feature, every Tuesday, with 15 blog posts deemed classy. The criteria for submissions: incisive original analysis, quirky topics nobody else is covering, fantastic graphics, or other posts that took a lot of work. We love to spread the word on upcoming blogs, being that WILLisms.com also fits that description. If you would like to nominate a post on your blog or another blog for inclusion, email us at WILLisms@gmail.com. Write "Classy Nomination" in the subject. You can also utilize this page to make your submissions. The deadline is each Monday at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Classy.

UPDATE:

The Bonfire of the Vanities, Two Year Anniversary is worth a read-through.

Posted by Will Franklin · 28 June 2005 01:02 PM

Comments

Posted by: Mick Wright at June 28, 2005 02:08 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at June 28, 2005 03:49 PM

Posted by: Cindy T. at June 29, 2005 02:18 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at June 29, 2005 03:23 PM

Posted by: Jules at June 29, 2005 09:34 PM

Posted by: Robert Mayer at July 1, 2005 04:15 AM