On Wednesday, August 31, 2005 6:45 AM [PDT], Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> As they contemplated how much more the Hummer drivers were paying in >> tolls, devout environmentalists would experience the "joyful sense" >> that Jonathan Edwards predicted for Judgment Day: "When the saints >> in glory, therefore, shall see the doleful state of the damned, how >> will this heighten their sense of the blessedness of their own >> state, so exceedingly different from it!" > > John Tierny is a first-class prick. He has basically replaced William > Safire as the house conservative on the NY Times op-ed page. Tierny > is a libertarian with much more of a focus on removing obstacles to > capitalist development than Safire, who was much more interested in > foreign policy initiatives. Safire is also concerned with the state of language as a vehicle for the communication of concepts, and more. I really don't believe there's an intellectual equivalence between these two people. This must be what the pundits mean by the dumbing down of conservative intellectual thought. Not really conservative, just self-centric. It makes for a larger potential following. The typical apolitical "redneck" would have a problem following Bill Safire's train of thought, not so John Tierney's. Leigh www.leighm.net
