The Northern Valley Beacon has again turned its sputtering, yellowed beam to us. Or at least I think its us. Consider the following:
The Thune Goons are reproducing his press releases extolling what John Thune is doing for South Dakota highway construction.
Since we have been reporting on such press accounts, I suspect its us they are talking about. I take this as an occasion to compare our blog with theirs.
1. We blog in our own names. Consequently, each of us has to take personal responsibility for what he posts. NVB blogs are signed either by pseudonyms, or "David Newquist." But the latter are said to represent the contributions of unnamed participants. So when they slander us, they do so anonymously. Any informed reader will understand what kind of device the anonymous accusation is.
2. When we criticize their content, we clearly identify them, quote liberally, and provide links to their blog. Initially I went to the trouble of notifying them to make certain they had the opportunity to respond. They do not return the favor, leaving their readers no easy way to find out whether their accusations are well founded or not.
3. We attack their writings, and indeed the writings and speeches of other Democrats locally and nationally. We are conservative Republicans, what are we supposed to do? But we never question their motives. We assume they are honestly expressing their own opinions. They attack our persons. We are "goons."
4. They accuse us of ad hominem attacks, but (oddly for a blog run by a retired professor) they do not seem to know what the term means. We never try to undermine their arguments by reference to their person (how could we, since we don't know who they are?) or by associating them with unsavory persons. But consider the following:
South Dakota yearns for the nostalgic days of Larry Pressler. The difference is that the Bush Kremlin is supplying the words and the tactics. Notice that the same posts that praise Thune spend so much time mao-mauing the Democrats in the Dakotas. They howl in wounded rage and get indignant when someone points out that they are using the same propaganda techniques used by the less savory regimes of recent history.
This is a textbook ad hominem: our arguments are discredited because we are communist infiltrators serving the "Bush Kremlin," and because they are like those of " less savory regimes."
5. We do not consider South Dakota Democrats to be bad people. I have in the last week attended a dinner party and the next day a Sunday School class with folk who had Daschle and Kerry signs on their property. These folk are salt of the earth. Once a month I attend a small gathering of gentlemen (if I may include myself) that is about evenly divided, party wise. Our friendship is based precisely on the disagreements we have. That, in my book, is America. But the NVB thinks that the Dakotans who voted for Thune, and the Americans who voted for Bush, are so stupid and corrupt that they don't want to share the same country with them anymore. The NVB frequently talks about going somewhere else (Canada?) to refound America. I implore them to reconsider. As long as they are around, we are bound to look sober and moderate by comparison.
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