You all know the story - ABC reads on air the names of the U.S. servicemen and women killed in Iraq. It's a move widely seen as an anti-war statement. Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of several ABC affiliates, refuses to air the show, citing the anti-war politics. Sinclair's move is widely seen as an attempt to protect the Bush administration.
All that is fine with me. I hold hold both Bush and the leftist anti-war activists with roughly equal disdain. I try to keep up with the arguments on all sides and judge them on their merits.
So it's somewhat distressing to see this. That's a link to an Atrios post detailing the arrest in 1996 of one David D. Smith on a charge of a misdemeanor sex offense. A trivial event, except that Smith is the CEO of Sinclair Broadcasting Group.
Atrios' contribution to the war debate in this case is to demonstrate that if you oppose his anti-war stance you risk personal humiliation. How that helps the debate is beyond me. All it says is our side must win at any cost!
Twenty lashes for the first person to say, 'Yeah, but the Republicans do worse.'
Posted by Walter at May 2, 2004 10:11 PMTu quoque.
Posted by: Jeff G at May 2, 2004 11:12 PMAtrios is no longer someone that I would consider a reasonable voice from the left, though. He's entered the cartoonish realm of Moore, Morford, and Savage. None of which will I ever take seriously.
Posted by: zombyboy at May 2, 2004 11:55 PMGreat observation Walter. There are plenty of good arguments against the war without resorting to name-calling and blackmail type tactics.
Posted by: severin at May 3, 2004 05:22 PM