I was so going to leave this alone. I had watched the first few seconds of Ann Althouse going into a meltdown screaming "I am a victim!" and pretty much lost interest. Then I watched the whole thing. Something caught my eye. It was Althouse's eyes. Shifty. Her mission was to bring up her unsubstantiated attack on Jessica Valenti at Feministing. She could have ended it quickly, but she pursued it. What we got was an attempt to consolidate her position by claiming a second moral plateau.
Much has been written on this little exchange and I don't blame readers if they have no interest, but I'll put it out there anyway because of a couple of posts which deserve attention.
TRex goes back to the origins of all of this when Althouse found it necessary to criticize a picture of a group of bloggers in a photograph with Bill Clinton. Her bone of contention? Jessica Valenti, who Althouse could not identify at the time, was in the front row and, although fully clothed, she has obvious breasts. And if you have breasts, and you're in the presence of Bill Clinton, and you are in a photograph, well, Althouse reaches the only possible conclusion. Valenti isn't really a feminist at all! Valenti is a slut... and the war began.
Althouse started it as surely as George W Bush ordered the unprovoked invasion of Iraq.
In the exchange with Garance Franke-Ruta, Althouse makes every effort to turn it into a war against her. Of course. She is, disregarding her initiation of hostilities, being beaten up for her original position. She's losing and the only way to win is to dispense with enough history to force people to forget what actually happened.
Thinking it was typical Althouse crap, I was ready to dismiss it until I realized that her form of argument is not unique. It's typical of her ilk.
Althouse: I am a feminist.
GW Bush: I am a compassionate conservative.
Althouse: I'm not judging you by your looks. (Don't flatter yourself.) I'm judging you by your apparent behavior. It's not about the smiling, but the three-quarter pose and related posturing...
GW Bush: Saddam is a bad man. He is the type of leader that would consort with terrorists. He therefore harbors terrorists.
Althouse: I don't accept your saying that Jessica Valenti breast controversy. I consider that an insult…you know..I, I'm on the verge of hanging up with you, for, for bringing it up that way…it was nasty and character assassinating to talk about it that way…
GW Bush: Ignore the fact that we invaded Iraq and the reasons were absolute bullshit. Ignore the fact that we destroyed the country. I'm right. I'm the Decider. I'm the Commander-In-Chief. The Iraqis have to start standing up for themselves. We are the vicitims of terrorism in Iraq.
Althouse, just like Bush, wants to cut off the historical memory where it most suits her argument. Her apparent freak out was an attempt to force the line further to the right.
And nobody is buying it. Althouse is flat-out lying in an attempt to make herself a victim.
Pretty Shaved Ape has put together a great explanation of Althouse in "cat". And TBogg simply spreads the love.
Enough of Althouse. We now return you to the enduring story of Anna Nicole Smith and one of several evolving conspiracy theories surrounding her continued death. (No. That rumour is false. Elvis isn't into blondes.)
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