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October 19, 2004

Andrew Sullivan Can Contribute Something

Alas, his role in the contribution is to simply cut and paste a letter from his reader, who deserves all the credit:

...
It is an old military maxim that blunders can be forgiven, but a lack of boldness cannot. There will always be blunders. The simple becomes difficult in war. Take for example the following question: what is 2+2 equal too? An easy question right? Now imagine I gave you 15 such questions and you had 2 seconds to answer them. Most likely you would answer some and leave the rest. Looking at those questions you missed in isolation I might say, "What kind of blathering idiot are you? You can't even answer simple questions like 2+2=4". That is why Armchair Generals are so annoying. They look at one thing in isolation with all the time in the world to think about it and say confidently "the answers obvious". But when you are out in the fight everything looks different. Nothing is ever seen in isolation. You never have enough time. You never know more than 1/10 what you need to know. There will always be blunders.

But the job has to get done anyway. And to get this kind of job done boldness is essential. A leader who never blunders, but who doesn't take the fight to the enemy is worthless. A leader who sets about to win - win ugly if needs be - is priceless.

One thing the Marine Corps taught me is that a 70% solution acted on immediately and violently is better than a perfect solution acted on later. My experience has proven this true time and again. The sad fact is however, that a 70% solution is a 30% mistake. And those mistakes can be hard to take. In WWII for example, 700 soldiers drowned in a training accident in preparation for D-Day (that is about how many combat deaths we've experienced so far in Iraq).

There is a scene in the movie "We were Soldiers" that says it better than I can. In the scene a young soldier on the ground is giving directions on enemy positions to aircraft flying overhead. The aircraft then dropped Napalm on the enemy. At one point the soldier gets the directions wrong and stares horrified as the Napalm is dropped on his own unit. The soldier is shaken beyond belief. He sat there doing nothing - paralyzed by his mistake. Then his Commanding Officer gave him the confidence to carry on. The CO told him to "forget about that last one" and "you're keeping us alive here". And so the soldier swallowed his guilt and kept doing his job and thereby saved the unit. That is what a 70% solution looks like in real life. And those are the 70% solutions that win wars.

Most people and events are beyond your control. Most questions you don't have time to answer. Most facts you will never know. But you have to press the attack anyway. No matter how ugly it gets, you keep going until you win.

Kerry doesn't understand that. Everything he did during the Cold War and everything he says about this one states as much. He represents those who would never blunder, but who would not take the fight to the enemy. He would just sit there - like the soldier in the movie - paralyzed by America's mistakes."

posted by Ace at 08:40 PM

Comments

I think people are too hard on Andrew Sullivan. At least he posts great stuff like that. And he saw the humor in the song "Everyone Has AIDS". I got his back. Oh shut up, you know what I meant by that....

Posted by: Knievel on October 19, 2004 08:49 PM

John Kerry: Monday Morning Quarterback

Posted by: Terry Notus on October 19, 2004 08:56 PM

Terry.... no, it's more like Thursday afternoon quarterbacking... you have to give him time to flip-flop several times before the next game.

Posted by: Gary Lewis on October 19, 2004 10:00 PM

That was a good letter, although Sullivan is a douche-bag.

Everytime someone mentions problems in Iraq, I remind them that we lost over 9,000 American fighting men at Normandy on D-Day and 29,000 within the next 3 months. You can find countless examples of blunders associated with Operation Overlord such as mistaken bombings resulting in the deaths of 600 Americans including LtGen Leslie McNair.

In fact, a good parallel is Operation Market Garder as it relates to what is now referred to as "catastrophic success" on D-Day (http://www.marketgarden.com/new/page1a.html).

Oh yeah, it wasn't Hitler that attacked us, Japan did. And some of FDR's detractors thought he was a war-mongering dictator, and he was diverting resources from Japan to fight in Europe.

Some things never change.

Posted by: Dear Johns on October 19, 2004 10:12 PM

It's not just Kerry -- the Left in general, the Democrats, the MSM, the UN, academia, all suffer from a common malady:

The Perfect is the enemy of the Good.

It's why they hate GWB -- he's a man of action, while their currency is talk, lots of talk.

BTW, that is a terrific letter -- good on Andy. I take back half the awful things I've said about him.

Posted by: capitano on October 19, 2004 10:19 PM

Exactly. And "I have a plan" simply doesn't cut it when action (not summit meetings and negotiations)is needed.

Posted by: RKA on October 19, 2004 10:24 PM

Kerry isn't a Monday (or even Thursday) Morning Quarterback. MMQ's watch the game. Considering operational security generally, and how much time Kerry's spent campaigning this year specifically, he doesn't have 1/10th the information he needs to have the slightest second-guessing authority.

MMQ's that watch the game. MMQ's that barely catch the ESPN high-lights are 10 times worse.

And that letter kicked ass; like a Viking.

Posted by: Brock on October 19, 2004 10:40 PM

One of the worst mistakes in US military history was committed by one of America's greatest generals--MacArthur in the winter of 1950. But it didn't bother the 1st Marines, they "advanced" in a different direction. Lucky for the South Korean's that leftist defeatists didn't have much influence in those days.

Posted by: Ricard L. on October 19, 2004 11:24 PM

Maybe Sullivan will pull his own October surprise (not the one that Knievel might like) (them's jus jokes, K), say "forget gay marriage," and go back to GWB for the election.

BOOOP, BOOOP, BOOOOP zzzz... Whazzat?

Oh, sorry, just dreaming again.

Posted by: hobgoblin on October 19, 2004 11:49 PM

Hell, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Good letter, though.

Posted by: Sean M. on October 20, 2004 12:12 AM

Sully has always been generous and fair with the dissenting email he gets. In the true spirit of the blogosphere, he knows that good writing brings readers back, no matter if the writer is tearing into him.

Posted by: The Sanity Inspector on October 20, 2004 12:27 AM

Capitano wrote:
It's not just Kerry -- the Left in general, the Democrats, the MSM, the UN, academia, all suffer from a common malady:
The Perfect is the enemy of the Good.

No! No! No! A thousand times NO! The problem with all those groups is they believe perfect is possible. And, they believe they know what it is. They're not comfortable knowing the world is an imperfect place so they've created a religion devoted solely to themselves. They call themselves secular but are religious zealots of the first order. And nothing has killed more people in human history than some form of religion or another.**

Their vision of what they want to be true endangers all of us in literally thousands of small ways every day. Theirs is tyranny by a thousand pin pricks instead of the guillotine but no less deadly.

They are busybodies who make life more dangerous by imposing FDA regulations that drive drug manufacturers from the vaccine market.

/rant

**No offense intended to religious-minded individuals. It's just an historical fact.

Posted by: Birkel on October 20, 2004 01:24 AM

Kerry 2004 = McClellan 1864. The General who wouldn't fight. They called Lincoln a monkey, too.

Posted by: Johnny Walker Red on October 20, 2004 03:29 AM

Could someone "take one for the team" and drill Andrew in the ass real hard?

He is in gay "high dungeon" ever since Bush didn't come out supporting Gay Marriage.

Posted by: Cedarford on October 20, 2004 10:05 PM

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Mayor Karen is so stung by fan-made AI ads that she's resorting to the shitlibs' go-to demand for an end to criticism -- these ads are "violent" and "hateful" and making me feel unsafe because one video showed AI cartoons throwing tomatoes at me and the tomatoes looked like blood when they squished
This was her actual complaint. The mushed-up tomato looked like blood so it's a death threat and these violent attacks on me must stop. What is dis bitch, CNN?

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Funniest thing I've read about the Virginia mess. Back when they were hustling the referendum through the assembly both Senators, Warner and Kaine, advised them to go slow and play by the rules. Louise Lucas said she respected them but didn't need advice from the "cuck chair" in the corner. The gerrymandering was overturned and Louise is heading for the big house. Edward G. Robinson voice "where's your cuck now?"
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I posted his post on twitter and it's gotten 25K views so far. Thanks, Smell the Glove

Chris
@chriswithans

"Ahhhhh ahh I put my career on the line for Louise Lucas and Jay Jones thinking they'd vault me into presidential contention and we ended up costing Democrats 20 House seats and unleashing a Reverse Dobbs ahhhhh ahhh"

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click That Sums Up the Democrat Communist Party Today
Something is wrong as I hold you near
Somebody else holds your heart, yeah
You turn to me with your icy tears
And then it's raining, feels like it's raining

TJM wonders about world building in stories, mostly The Hunger Games

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
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Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

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[Hat Tip: TC] [CBD]

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