Even Peggy Noonan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, knows a conspiracy when she sees one: “We know we haven’t gotten near the bottom of the political corruption of that agency. We do not know who ordered the targeting of conservative groups and individuals, or why, or exactly when it began. We don’t know who executed the orders or directives. We do not know the full scope or extent of the scandal.”
Noonan is being too modest. In her heart — as her prose clearly reveals — she does know where the source of this corruption can be found: sitting in the Oval Office.
Against Overheated Metaphors: Nazis, Lynching and Obamacare
We’re awash these days in metaphors as overworked as our political debate is overwrought, and it’s impossible not to wonder how much one contributes to the other. When nuance and perspective exit the language, do they exit the conversation as well? When you speak in ludicrous extremes, do you think that way, too?
..The hyperbole and hysteria make any constructive debate impossible, and they insult the past, robbing important events of the specific meaning and individual detail they deserve. Consider our recurring “-gate” mania.
The Soviet-Era Strategy That Explains What Russia Is Doing With Snowden
Whataboutistm: a rhetorical defense that alleges hypocrisy from the accuser. And it’s going to make it a lot harder to criticize Moscow on human rights.