I think this is an example of the double standard. You're indulgent towards the ultraleft.
On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 11:32 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't get this. I can't claim to have read every word of his piece > in CNS, but Patrick never called Robin any bad names, but Robert's > leaning heavily toward doing so against Patrick (digging up the > epithet "Trotskyist"). > > Patrick wrote: >>this is what we academics do: comment on each other's work. > << > > Robert Naiman wrote: >> Patrick, I doubt that you are representative of "academics" in this >> regard. I don't think that "academics" regularly engage in polemics >> against individuals of this sort, unless they are Trotskyist >> academics. > > Note that Patrick's "polemic" was against Robin's opinions on one > specific issue and not against Robin personally. And Patrick's > "polemic" was much more substantive than polemical. It's only on pen-l > that he says "Robin's brain has been infiltrated by a neo-classical > economic virus," which _is_ polemical and aimed against Robin > personally. > >> I strongly doubt that Obama will bring back cap and trade legislation. >> He'd have to overcome opposition from House Republicans representing >> the fossil fuel industries. I doubt that Trotskyist opposition would >> be much of a factor in his calculations. > > So here's the name-calling: Patrick is part of the "Trotskyist > opposition"? (BTW, are all people who disagree with the content of > Robert's political program "Trotskyist"? Well, I guess that's a better > epithet than "Stalinist.") > > BTW, I don't think that Obama really wants to bring back cap and trade > legislation. It's not just a matter of House Republicans; it's also a > matter of Obama's lack of backbone. I don't mean his own personal > backbone, but instead the political backbone: he needs to see large > numbers people pushing against his current policies (marching on > Washington, etc.) In fact, if people in the US are actually waking up > to the crime of drone-based warfare, he might swerve to the left on > ecological issues in hopes of buying off the opposition. (Nixon's > creation of the EPA was at least in part a response to the anti-war > movement.) > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your > own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
