Dolt - From the excellent

Dolt - From the excellent "California Republic", my discovery of the week Carol Platt-Liebau tackles the foreign-policy doltishness of Barbara Boxer:

"Senator Boxer seized one final chance to wax indignant – this time about the proposed Pentagon program to create a market to predict future events in the Middle East. Her opposition isn’t too surprising – she’s apparently never been an ardent fan of free markets of any kind (remember her statement that Communism in Cuba was dead? “I hate to say it, it’s dead.”). But last week, she went over the top in her condemnation, telling Wolfowitz “There is something very sick about [the program] . . . terrorists knowing they were planning an attack could have bet on the attack and collected a lot of money.”

Well, yes, they could – and inform us about the nature and plan of attack at the same time. In the end, it would amount to little more than paying terrorists for information about upcoming attacks . . . not a bad deal, even from Boxer’s perspective. Given her floridly stated concern about “low-intensity” conflict, it’s hardly likely that she’d welcome millions of deaths in a terrorist assault that could have been revealed and prevented – but, then again, it’s so much easier simply to denounce the program (and enjoy that frisson of self-righteousness) than to make the effort to understand its logic. Boxer rounded out her attack by calling for the dismissal of those responsible for proposing the futures market program – a fitting punishment, indeed, for any government employee who makes the mistake of trying to be creative and effective all at the same time.

But I can't feel superior. My congressional district is "represented" by Betty MacCollum - a woman who combines Boxer's dim-bulbitude with, if possible, an even more galloping sense of entitlement.

More to come. Read it all, OK?

Posted by Mitch at August 5, 2003 05:33 AM