Nathan Newman on conservatives’ union bashing:
I guess the problem is that the big money folks have so much power that people feel powerless to attack them. So conservatives like Galt take advantage of that to funnel that frustration at an easier, weaker target like the transit unions, who are just trying, as New Yorkers, to take care of their families. As I said, it’s class warfare of the meanest kind, pitting the powerless against those fighting for just a scrap for themselves, while leaving those with real power untouched and undenounced.
Union-bashing and race-baiting by conservatives are linked by this strategy, seeking to distract white workers by finding scapegoats, so working class voters are divided and don’t work together to go where the real money is– the wealthy who pigged out at the economic casino in the last decades. Attack the unions, bash the minorities, pit people against each other, ignore the rich folks behind the curtain– it’s standard conservative rhetoric.
Shadow of the Hegemon writes about what Osama wants, in the process of demolishing Instapundit’s “objectively pro-Saddam” silliness:
So what does Osama really want? He wants LGF. Specifically, he wants xenophobic, anti-Islamic rhetoric designed to give westerners the impression that all Muslims are bloodthirsty sub-human zealots, so that those who are not become afraid. He wants people to say that the religion is anti-modernity, anti-science, and anti- reason, so that all those Muslims who are all three will become afraid. He wants people to say that “we should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to christianity” so that those who live in those countries and are devout enough to consider forcible conversion forcible damnation to become afraid. He wants the United States to invade Iraq on the flimsiest of excuses, so that they’ll know that the rule of international law is meaningless and therefore everything is fair game. He wants all of them to become afraid, and decide that before the west gets them, they’ll get the west.