Whatever happened to Instapunditwatch, anyway?

The thing about Instapundit, sometimes, is how obvious the counters to his positions are. Here's a couple from the last 24 hours:

IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE: Al Franken won his publicity victory lawsuit with Fox. No surprise. He was right; they were wrong.

Now if he were just funny. . . .

Like that "publicity victory" crack? Makes you think for a second that getting sued by one the world's media powerhouses had been Franken's sneaky idea, which it wasn't. Also, Glenn, when you sigh that the people satirizing your side just aren't funny, dammit, it's not very convincing. Yes, I'm sure you're the soul of impartial humor judgement.

Moving along: this one isn't his own, but quoted approvingly:

A cement truck laden with explosives plows into the Baghdad headquarters of the United Nations and, presto-chango, there are "terrorists" in Iraq. That's right, not "guerrillas," not "resistance fighters," but "terrorists." And the press is appalled at their wickedness. Suddenly journalists and pundits who could scarcely bring themselves to utter the T-word now find themselves compelled to use it. Strange how when a U.S. serviceman is killed while guarding a hospital or when Israeli women and children are obliterated on a city bus, the perpetrators are often referred to as "militants," "extremists," or simply "bombers" and "gunmen." But when U.N. officials are the victims... Pardon me. Considering who does the talking, it isn't strange at all.

Oh, horse doody. First of all, if anyone thinks that "bombers", "gunmen", or even "extremists" are neutral terms, they're not good at reading nuance. Second, if we're talking about if there are terrorists in Iraq, dragging in coverage of suicide bombings in Israel isn't relevant, but gosh it's a powerful example, isn't it? Third, since we're supposedly talking about terrorism in Iraq, then, yes, servicemen getting shot isn't terrorism; blowing up a civilian office building is. Fourth, to play this game, you're supposed to give us links: saying that some people called something guerilla warfare last week, and some (other?) people called something else terrorism this week, doesn't wash.
- posted by Don Porges @ 8/23/2003 03:11:00 PM |