The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.
Remember when the left claimed that pathetic attention whores like Cindy Sheehan had ‘moral authority’ and were beyond any criticism of their motivation or tactics because a loved one had been killed? And especially when that suited the left’s political agenda?
This week’s winner, Rhymes With Right for – Don’t Ken And Josephine Terry Have “Absolute Moral Authority”?, examines how that neat little sophistry works and wonders why it doesn’t apply across the board. Here’s a slice:
One of the things that is true of the Left is that it is generally guilty of great selectivity when applying those things it claims are absolute.
I could note their selective absolutism on discrimination (except for affirmative action), the right to keep medical care between patient and doctor (but only for abortion — ObamaCare will bring government into every other medical decision), free speech (except for speech the Left dislikes) and freedom of religion (you WILL buy birth control for your employees and do gay marriages or lose your tax exemption!).
And apparently that selective application of absolute principles applies to the parents of public servants who are killed in the line of duty.
Back in 2005, Maureen Dowd declared, regarding Cindy Sheehan, that “the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute.” Of course, the mere fact that Ms. Sheehan did not speak for the overwhelming majority of mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, or sisters and brothers of those who have died fighting the various terrorist groups seeking to impose radical Islam on the rest of the world didn’t detract from Sheehan’s “absolute moral authority” — the White House was obliged to accommodate her and tailor policy to her demands.
Of course, Sheehan’s “absolute moral authority” was conceded by the Left only until the Democrats took control of Congress and Sheehan began applying the same standards to emocrats that she did to Republicans — and she was dismissed as a crazy old auntie in the attic once she began to criticize Barack Obama. After all, “absolute” is a relative term to the Left.
I need to warn you about our non-Council winner, Natasha Smith’s “Please God. Please make it stop.”, submitted by Joshuapundit. It’s not for the faint hearted or the weak of stomach. It was written by a young British female independent journalist making a documentary on women’s rights in Egypt… who got caught by a mob in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and what happened to her there.
Apparently the ‘Arab Spring’ doesn’t apply to women, especially not foreign ones. Do read it if you can stand it.. the comments are especially instructive.
Well okay then! Here are this week’s full results:
Council Winners
- *First place with 3 2/3 votes! – Rhymes With Right – Don’t Ken And Josephine Terry Have “Absolute Moral Authority”?
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Joshuapundit – The Muslim Brotherhood Takes Over Egypt – With The Obama Administration’s Direct Help
- Third place with 1 2/3 votes – The Mellow Jihadi – The Ugly Americans: the Post I Did Not Want to Write
- Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes – The Noisy Room – Egyptian Zombie Apocalypse
- Fifth place with 1 vote – The Right Planet – Mark Levin: Conservatism Is Not an Ideology
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Independent Sentinel – His Imperiousness, Barack Obama, Cancels Federal Immigration Enforcement In Arizona
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor – One Family’s Escape from Poverty – No Gov’t $ Spent
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – The reaction of a “boss”
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – Tea Party and Republicans Uniting After Rough Primary
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The Outreach Year 3
- Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Bookroom Room – Bumper sticker polling
- Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews – Alice Walker’s hidden dichotomy
Non-Council Winners
- *First place with 4 votes! – Natasha Smith – “Please God. Please make it stop.” submitted by Joshuapundit
- Second place with 3 votes – Mark Steyn – Obama, the first Invented American president submitted by The Watcher
- Third place with 1 2/3 votes – Sultan Knish/FrontPageMag – A Dark And Vengeful God submitted by The Noisy Room
- Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Caroline Glick – The Muslim Brotherhood’s Useful Idiots submitted by The Political Commentator
- Fifth place *t* with 1 vote – Allergic To Bull – What Happened Tonight submitted by Rhymes With Right
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 votes – Jewish Daily Forward – Jews Failed to Spot Hitler’s Menace submitted by Bookworm Room
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rantings of a Sandmonkey – Chapter’s End submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Danger Room Wired – Putin Wants a Darpa of His Own submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Via Meadia – Time to Occupy State Pensions? submitted by The Razor
See you next week! Remember to tune in next Monday for the Watcher’s Forum question, where the Council and invited guests provide pithy short takes as a roundtable on a major issue… don’t you DARE MISS IT!
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Aw, this was a very good post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a superb article… but
what can I say… I put things off a whole lot and never seem
to get anything done.
Good response in return of this question with
real arguments and telling the whole thing about that.