Posted under Conservatism & Media & Political Philosophy
Prototype cosmoterian Dave Weigel has been forced to resign after a storm of controversy over some leaked “private” e-mails in which he savages the conservatives he is supposed to be covering.
Some conservatives who must be unaware of Weigel’s work have called him a “standard issue liberal,” but he is not. What he is is a standard issue cosmoterian.
Weigel could be a snarky ass, and he was definitely a purveyor of cosmo opinion, but he was smart, and he seemed to understand intricacies of the conservative movement that truly outsider liberals never could. I am surprised he let himself be so stupid. E-mails to a listserv are not private.
(A related thought to ponder: why is snark and outright ridicule the main weapon of cosmos left, right and center? Is making a real argument that difficult?)
Sean Scallon on 26 Jun 2010 at 11:22 am #
Ahh Dave, we hardly knew ye.
Snark sells Red, plus it’s much shorter to write than an argument.
Cicero on 27 Jun 2010 at 4:19 am #
Snark is a kind of argument. It is a form of rhetoric, like satire.
Political debates aren’t subject to legal, mathematic, or any standard of logical rigor.
Conservatives need to understand and respond to the fact that most liberals “think” with their emotions, not rationally.
Sean Scallon on 28 Jun 2010 at 3:08 pm #
While I’m sorry Dave was betrayed by one of so-called friends on the listserv email server, given the way he would saddle up to the Paul’s before sticking the knife into their backs with another “newsletter” article, all one can say is what goes around, comes around.
Don’t cry for him though, MSNBC beckons more than likely. He has plenty of Cosmo friends to help him out. But what this whole brouhaha shows is that the Beltway is no better than your average high school and the behavior of some of the “student” is no better than juvenile.