Through rose-colored glasses, darkly

"During these past few years, I have heard it said again and again that liberals’ ineffectiveness derives from their inability to see the world in the simple blacks and whites of the Limbaughs and Hannitys and Bushes," writes Kurt Anderson in New York Metro [via Arts & Letters Daily] re the the intellectual Democrats' dilemma:

Like “radical chic,” a related New York specialty, “liberal guilt” once meant feeling discomfort over one’s good fortune in an unjust world. As this last U.S. election cycle began, however, a new subspecies of liberal guilt arose -- over the pleasure liberals took in bad news from Iraq, which seemed sure to hurt the administration. But with Bush reelected, any shred of tacit moral rationale is gone.

New Yorkers think we are smarter than other Americans, that the richness and difficulty of life here give our intelligence a kind of hard-won depth and nuance and sensitivity to contradictions and ambiguity. We feel we are practically French. Most New Yorkers are also liberals. And most liberals, wherever they live, believe that they are smarter than most conservatives (particularly George W. Bush).

But now our heroic and tragic liberal-intellectual capaciousness is facing its sharpest test since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Back then, most of us were forced, against our wills, to give Ronald Reagan a large share of credit for winning the Cold War. Now the people of this Bush-hating city are being forced to grant the merest possibility that Bush, despite his annoying manner and his administration’s awful hubris and dissembling and incompetence concerning Iraq, just might -- might, possibly -- have been correct to invade, to occupy, and to try to enable a democratically elected government in Iraq.

Forget about liberals' inability to see the world in "simple blacks and whites." It's their rose-colored glasses that blind them to the dual nature of our human nature that's right before their eyes. Check out David Limbaugh's column this morning for a telling contrast between WaPo reporter Dana Milbank's mewling liberal "nuance" and the straight-shooting words of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during a House Armed Services Committee hearing earlier this week ('caught the great man on C-Span in the wee hours yesterday:  Vintage Rummy):

While Old Media agents like Milbank are indignant about Rumsfeld's refusal to grovel, I savor his politically incorrect answers and his unwillingness to manufacture phony responses to accommodate their childish insistence on his divulging the unknowable. There is no substitute for such Rumsfeld gems as, "There's never been a war that was predictable as to length, casualty or cost in the history of mankind."

If that's black and white, who needs la vie en rose?

Comments

[goomp]

We must face that what people generally understand to be liberals neither have nor want an understanding of human nature.They want to feel that they are so smart that they the can program how people will feel, act and react. Hence "Intellectual Moron" ie: high IQ and no understanding of human nature.

[Teresa]

My sister has lived in NY city for many years... to the point where she could now be called a New Yorker. The attitude being you can't get anything outside of NYC. (from food to entertainment - for her NYC is the only place to find anything) She is a liberal... but couldn't bring herself to vote for Kerry.

As for the rose colored glasses. I've always been amused that liberals will expect other countries to always "play nice" and "tell the truth". These are attributes they would never expect from a personal adversary, but from a foreign government... sure.

[Michael]

Haven't been by in some time, but couldn't resist LOL at your putback of the "black & white" meme with the "rose colored glasses" line. Brilliant!

Oh those nuanced liberals, so wordly, knowledgeable, and benevolent. Until you ask them some hard questions, ask for some real diversity, or question their absolute superiority. Then you get the comments section of Daily Kos, which is none of the above!

Perfect call on this one Sissy!