Pointer to CIP

So much cynicism just has to be correct. From CIP. Mind you, I think he is too kind to Petraeus.

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I'm tired of hearing people with usually progressive views (like Mark Shields or John Kerry) complain the latest MoveOn ad in the New York Times asking if General Petraeus has Betrayed Us is counter-productive, "alienating those who would otherwise agree with us." It's the same bogus argument we…
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Have you seen the pictures of this Petraeus? If you can get past the distraction of the ribbon signboard on the uniform and look at the face you are seeing a kid in about grade 6. Teacher's pet, I do remember the type so well. Just pleased as punch that he is being patted on the back, the little dear just lives for that. No wonder the crusty old Admiral spat on him. I can see now his job was to please those who had vetted him, counseled him, eased out the leash a bit, and received his report in due course. Of course it said what he understood was wanted. What else could a face like that possibly deliver. They are pleased and he is fairly bursting with good feelings as a result.

Trouble is, since it seems the American public will accept just any excuse of a delay at all so that they do not have to face or deal with Iraq in any way that amounts to a challenge of their incredibly stupid and endlessly bloody minded rulers, it does not matter. They are so deep in their own bullshit they are taking showers in it. I begin to understand the phrase: shit eating grin.

Thanks for the link - I noticed a big jump in my traffic today.

About Petraeus - hey, he has a Ph.D. from Princeton, that's almost as prestigious as being a professor at Harvard, so he's got to be smart, right?

[I'm sure you wouldn't mistake "smart" for "wise". As near as I can tell, not having looked closely, Petraeus is just there for delaying purposes - the review held things up for a while, and the vague result will hold things up for longer, probably long enough for Bush to drag out. ps: you'd get more traffic if you got your URL right :-)) -W]

I'm not sure how smart a Princeton Ph.D. would be nowadays. Last week USA Today reported the results of a nationwide American history/government/international relations/economics test given to about 15,000 freshmen and seniors at 50 universities. Freshmen at Yale, Princeton and Cornell scored higher than the seniors, so it appears that after 4 years and $160K they graduate dumber than when they entered. If we analyze these trends in the same way we look at Arctic sea ice, my assertion is that a Princeton Ph.D. should have less civics knowledge than he did in the 8th grade. To be fair to the Ivies, their students are still the best of a bad lot, with Harvard students finishing #1 in the test, Yale at #4 and my own dear alma mater Brown at #5.