world war 3

* wolcott:

"I think one of the reasons our world warriors are so eager to hang a new Roman numeral on the current turmoil is because it enables the U.S. to work off a a clean won-loss slate. Our winning record in world wars is immaculate. Now there are those carpers and nitpickers who will say the US took its sweet time entering the First World War, never suffering the monstrous casualties of the European countries involved, and has hogged much of the credit for defeating Nazi Germany that rightfully belongs to the Russians, but in the popular imagination, the US and freedom unambiguously triumphed, and in the Cold War too. If you throw Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq into the mix, you get a much more muddled picture, which is why the pundits of steely resolve prefer to stick to the big chalkboard.

But it until Newt Gingrich weighs in that something becomes Official Bullshit, and sure enough:

"'This is World War III,' Gingrich said. And once that's accepted, he said calls for restraint would fall away"
[]
Gingrich of course is thinking tactically--he probably flosses tactically, imagining the most ingenious angle a vanguard thinker like himself should employ in a flossing opportunity--but there's also a strong component of nostalgia in this world war talk. You see in the writings of Victor Davis Hanson, the constant references to Neville Chamberlain and Patton, the primping of Blair and Bush for the role of Churchillian stalwart. It's as if Gingrich, Bill Kristol, Max Boot, and the whole gang have fallen for their own romantic bluster and fantasize that the Winds of War are going to sweep them through History like Robert Mitchum in Herman Wouk's epic, where they will feel the spray of the North Atlantic, the stinging sands of North Africa, and enjoy the passionate embrace of a USO entertainer after a heavy night in the canteen. They want to believe that inspired and educated with the right words--their words--Americans will once again rise and meet the mortal challenge. Let the learning curve begin, advises Jonah Goldberg, taking a break from playing with his action figures: "...the advantage of calling all this World War Three is that it's easier to understand and takes less explanation. Most people don't think of the Cold War as a war so much as an effort to avoid one."

i dont think i can take much more stupidity.