Response to Dan and Megan

As I said in the earlier post, I watched the whole Drezner-McArdle blogginghead thingie. (I refuse to call it a diavlog.) I found myself wanting to interrupt them several times. Good thing I have one of these blog gadgets. Otherwise I would have to wait until I saw Dan next week and tell him what I thought.

Dan says that political scientists have improved their wardrobe in recent years. We're now anti-dowdy. Mental note - pack the pointy sling backs for the conference.

Then Dan and Megan discuss the recent eruption in the political and academic blogosphere about whether or not that the foreign policy punditry has to accept some responsibility for the War in Iraq. If you've missed it, Megan and Dan summarize it pretty well and they have links on the sidebar.

I opposed the war though I didn't have a blog at the time. My opposition mostly took the form of my brother and I fighting with my dad over the the dining room table. So, I sympathize with Greenwald in his frustration. However, I..um.. er... how do i say this... "the netroots" is a little too... um... er... quick to use words like imperialism and ... em ...er... quick to find plots and conspiracies ... Alright. I have just blown my liberal credentials. I better shut up.

Well, one more word. I think we got into this war not because of Haliburton or oil or hegemonic American culture. We got into because good, old fashioned hubris. George and his cronies thought they could do it.  And even if George had better cronies who managed things better, we still would be losing this war.

Dan wants to know why every New Yorker who lived through the Guiliani era thinks he's crackers. After all, crime dropped while he was mayor. (Raising her hand.) In addition to the points that Megan made about not being able to really pinpoint the drop in crime to his policies, we think he's crackers, because of how he dealt with criticism while he was Mayor. If the press mentioned that he was sleeping with secretary for communication, ugly, vindictive Rudy showed his face. Public temper tantrums were regular features of the Rudy administration. We can deal with a little craziness in the city, but that kind of insanity does not play well elsewhere.

Wall Street. How bad is it? Well, hubby comes home with horror stories but the damage is contained. It is hitting the mortgage industries and the hedge funds that invested in them, but your 401 plan isn't gone yet. One buddy who works at subprime mortgage hedge fund will be collecting unemployment next week. Bonuses aren't going to be fantastic this year. He has a lot of extra work dealing with the clean up of these messes. The general mood isn't dismal, but concerned.

Comments

[Amy P]

I forget if I've mentioned it here or not, but thehousingbubbleblog.com is a very good resource, despite the occasional gold-hoarding conspiracy theorist commenter. You won't like what you see there, but the blog has been three steps ahead of the conventional media. There's a bubble blog (or two or three) for every region of the country.

[Barry]

""the netroots" is a little too... um... er... quick to use words like imperialism and ... em ...er... quick to find plots and conspiracies ..."

Aren't those very accurate words? There has been a plot from the late 1990's to conquer Iraq (see PNAC for starters). The administration's first reaction to 9/11 was to prep for an Iraq invasion - going after Osama 'killed 3,000 Americans' Bin Laden was only done because it was politically necessary.

The invasion and occupation was conducted in a way which made little sense for a liberation, but much sense for an imperialistic looting spree.