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February 01, 2005
Why the left needs Iraq to be Vietnam
Wizbang gives a little pixel-ink to Kos' nostalgic Vietnam comparisons.
Hitchens ain't having any, thanks.
I suppose it's obvious that I was not a supporter of the Vietnam War. Indeed, the principles of the antiwar movement of that epoch still mean a good deal to me. That's why I retch every time I hear these principles recycled, by narrow minds or in a shallow manner, in order to pass off third-rate excuses for Baathism or jihadism. But one must also be capable of being offended objectively.
Hitch valiantly attempts to nail the coffin lid shut with the paragraph that's been crying out to be written:
The Vietnam/Iraq babble is, from any point of view, a busted flush. It's no good. It's a stiff. It's passed on. It has ceased to be. It's joined the choir invisible. It's turned up its toes. It's gone. It's an ex-analogy.
Jolly good try, Christopher. But I'm afraid the Vietnam analogy is just resting, pining for the Mekong Delta.
Lefties need Iraq to be Vietnam. No matter how obvious the mismatch, they'll just hammer Iraq into the Vietnam-shaped hole in their cause until it fits. They need Vietnam back because it was the shining hour when they held the moral high ground and all the media reflected their glory back at them. Even Uncle Walter — even Mom and Dad's most trusted newsman — said the war was an unwinnable debacle! Take that, Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeois White Picket Fence!
Vietnam was that golden moment just before the “progressive” left jumped the shark, when it seemed that America was crumbling and total cultural and political victory lay before them.
They appear to be unaware that their magic talisman of Vietnam holds very little sway over the American public's imagination today. The laughable histrionics of John Kerry were wasted on most of us, I'm afraid. You know, the “Reporting for Duty,” “band of brothers” crap for the bible-belt rubes, the “sobbing as he tosses his medals away” story for the enlightened antiwar Left — all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Isn't it ironic that those who protested it the most are the ones who desperately want their beloved Vietnam back?
Posted by EtherPundit at February 1, 2005 08:36 AM Category: Current Affairs , Moonbats