The War In Iraq Outlasted The Weekly Standard
December 20, 2018 12:06 PM   Subscribe

“From the Weekly Standard’s April 28, 2003, issue — that is, a month after the U.S. invasion of Iraq — this may simultaneously be the worst, funniest, and most terrifying writing ever published in the English language. For instance, its opening paragraph includes the phrase, “Now that the war in Iraq is over.” You must read it for yourself; it cannot be explained, only experienced.” The 10 Most Appalling Articles In The Weekly Standard’s Short and Dreadful Life.
posted by The Whelk (8 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
The aide* said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' [...] 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do'.

*Karl Rove
posted by lalochezia at 12:32 PM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


“Put another way, Fox was the conservative movement’s amygdala, while the Weekly Standard was its cerebrum, both driving it forward until Donald Trump’s election proved that the movement no longer needed any higher brain functions.”

I’d say good riddance, but all this means is that I won’t know where the idiocy is coming from now.
posted by q*ben at 12:44 PM on December 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


On the bright side, reading David Brooks's contempt for people like me has made my contempt for him seem much healthier.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 12:49 PM on December 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


Looking back through this article, it's amazing just how long the same names have been out there pushing this drivel. I could easily name a couple dozen people from my undistinguished university career more qualified for and deserving of a national pulpit.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:49 PM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


I was going to type something about where the Kristols, Brooks and Podhoretzsesses of the world would write if the "meritocracy" they so firmly believe in would actually exist (since TWS, like a lot of similar printed garbage all around the world, is little more than a IV of primo think tank bullshit direct into top politicians' veins, funded by kajillionaires who see sinking a few millions every year there an investment), but I'd bet by January most of these ghouls will already be employed by someone who thinks both sides need to be heard (while mostly shutting down everyone left of center) etc etc etc.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:46 PM on December 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Wow. I think I read that David Brooks article back in the day, but its utter insanity is just so much clearer now. The Iraq War was the single worst foreign policy decision in American history. We have yet to fully come to terms with the size of the catastrophe, or experience all of the consequences. We're just getting started with the consequences!

I remember reading a comment back around the same time as Brooks' "Dream Palaces" article, to the effect of "Twenty years from now, American kids will be dying in a ditch in the desert because of what Bush has done in Iraq."
posted by vibrotronica at 3:05 PM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Wow, I'm so angry! I didn't think I could get angry at things from 15 years ago, but look at me! Kudos to the Intercept for the fresh infusion of rage. I'm very glad The Weekly Standard has taken its "elevated" status to the grave, and I regret that the publication's former writers are going to be much longer-lived.
posted by grandiloquiet at 3:11 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Summary: Demanding obedience and gratitude toward violent men.
posted by clawsoon at 5:00 PM on December 20, 2018


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