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Christopher Hitchens Endorses Obama

KingMerv00 said:
I admit, I'm a little surprised. Hitchens is certainly not a full blown Republican, but his hawkish nature is more common on that side of the aisle.
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Hitchens was a communist in the seventies, I believe he still agrees with some of the fundamentals, so I don't know where you get that.

Anyway, he's mostly a free thinker.
 
Hitchens arguments hold no more sway for me, even if I agree with his conclusion.

I didn't see McCain as frail in the town hall debate at all. He was extremely personable and worked the audience extremely well. He does well exciting people. ANd he has a history of reaching out to others of different ideologies. (E.g., many Daily show appearances). Certainly he said "My friends" a lot, but Obama "umm"-ed his way through the entire thing as well.

Although, I do agree with Hitchens on how McCain derides Obama Insults, when it's his second in command who is stoking the flames.
 
I'm not too surprised about this. And I'm not certain that his support for Bush was "rabid."
His support for the Iraq war was, but that is now mostly moot, as it seems that all that remains is to gradually withdraw.

I liked this passage:
The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.

It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.
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Pardalis said:
Hitchens was a communist in the seventies, I believe he still agrees with some of the fundamentals, so I don't know where you get that.
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Yes he was a communist but I have never heard him support "the fundamentals" like state ownership of property. In fact, if I one can say anything about the man, he fears a government that is too powerful. I cite his absolute man-crush on Orwell as evidence.

Cleon: Hitchens was in favor of the Iraq War from the start but I've heard him insult Bush many times over the last 8 years. Not really a "rabid" supporter. Hitchens doesn't fit neatly into any one party.
 
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Cleon said:
So was David Horowitz.
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Can you show me anything that makes Hitchens a Republican?

...Probably from Hitchens' rabid support of George W. Bush over the past eight years.
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He supported the removal of Saddam Hussein, and the war on Islamic extremism, this doesn't make him a supporter of Bush.

He hates fascism and tyrants, is that a Republican trait?
 
I wish Christopher Hitchins would shut the :rule10 up. He is undoubtedly brilliant, but he comes across as so annoying and arrogant that he is bound to hurt Obama more than help him. Plus, it's rumored he's an atheist.
 
Pardalis said:
Can you show me anything that makes Hitchens a Republican?
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Other than his support for George Bush? No, I guess not. :rolleyes:

He supported the removal of Saddam Hussein, and the war on Islamic extremism, this doesn't make him a supporter of Bush.
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Just the main aspects of Bush's foreign policy, the main issues Bush campaigned on, and, oh yeah, endorsed his re-election in 2004.

But no, not a Bush supporter at all. :rolleyes:

He hates fascism and tyrants, is that a Republican trait?
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Still hitting those talking points, I see.
 
KingMerv00 said:
Yes he was a communist but I have never heard him support "the fundamentals" like state ownership of property. In fact, if I one can say anything about the man, he fears a government that is too powerful. I cite his absolute man-crush on Orwell as evidence.
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Again, I said some of the fundamentals, and I didn't say he endorsed them wholeheartedly. He points out that Marx was an anti-statist. It's not black and white.

Cleon said:
Other than his support for George Bush? No, I guess not. :rolleyes:
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False understated premise, you haven't established that he supports Bush.

ETA: I just noticed also that you moved the goal post. It started about him being a Republican, and now we're on to Bush. I see what you did there.

Just the main aspects of Bush's foreign policy, the main issues Bush campaigned on, and, oh yeah, endorsed his re-election in 2004.
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Doesn't make him de facto a Bush supporter.

Read his own words, it's not black and white, the fact that you want to label him this way shows that you want to create a strawman of him in order to justify hating him. Of course, free thinking and skepticism doesn't work that way.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20041108/hitchens

Still hitting those talking points, I see.
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So the answer is?

You can't have it both ways, either you dislike tyrants and want them removed, or apologize for them and let them remain in power.
 
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Pardalis said:
You got that from a 5 second clip off Youtube?
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Jeez, give me some credit.

He briefly touched on abortion in "God is Not Great." Strangely, it didn't have a whole lot of specificity. It boiled down to something like "I oppose abortion on moral grounds." but he doesn't say at which stages or if he would make it illegal.

A bit of googling gives me this (he is speaking of Mother Teresa...duh):

Not perhaps to push my analysis too far, but it could also explain some of the things that alarmed even her defenders: the accepting of stolen money from the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti, for example, or the compromises she made with the tyrannical Indira Gandhi or the shady Charles Keating of savings-and-loan notoriety. Who cares about ignoble surrenders to the things of this impure world if they will fuel the endless drive to abolish misgiving through overwork? The same goes for the alarming doctrinal excesses. Every Catholic is supposed to regard abortion as an abomination (and, if it matters, I concur). But surely it takes someone both insecure and fanatical to exceed the official teaching and to tell the Nobel Prize audience, as she did, that abortion is the greatest threat to world peace?
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Bolding mine.

He agrees abortion is "an abomination". This, of course, doesn't not make him a Republican but abortion opposition common in that party.
 
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Slate did its round-up in 2004 and Hitchens came down as "no choice." He also says he no longer describes himself as a socialist. He's a member of the cruise-missile left, and focuses almost all of his columns on boosting the dumb war in Iraq and trying to make excuses for its right-wing proponents (such as describing Wolfowitz as a bleeding heart type). In this column he takes back what he had written earlier about Palin. His opinion is a curiosity, much like learning who an actor supports for president (because you enjoyed him in "that one movie.")
 
KingMerv00 said:
He briefly touched on abortion in "God is Not Great." Strangely, it didn't have a whole lot of specificity. It boiled down to something like "I oppose abortion on moral grounds." but he doesn't say at which stages or if he would make it illegal.
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And how does that make him a Republican? Alot of people such as myself can be uncomfortable with the idea of killing fetuses without wanting to make abortion illegal.

Sorry to have edited your post, I just wanted to answer this specific part.
 
Cleon said:
Just the main aspects of Bush's foreign policy, the main issues Bush campaigned on, and, oh yeah, endorsed his re-election in 2004.

But no, not a Bush supporter at all. :rolleyes:
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Oh yeah, "Snipery" Hillary and "Say it ain't so Joe" also voted for the Iraq war. William Jefferson also tried to remove Saddam from power during his administration. I guess since they didn't endorse Bush in 04, they are exempt from your broad brush?

Amazing how when David Brock wrote for the "American Spectator" he was the scourge of liberals, but when he founded Media Matters, he became their darling. Now that Hitchens has endorsed Obama, doesn't he qualify for the liberal imprimatur of approval? Or does Hitchens have to repudiate his support for the removal of Saddam, ala Brock's repudiation of his support for SCJ Thomas, in order to be accepted back into the good graces of libs?
 
Everybody is against abortion. It is a terribly traumatic procedure with possibly dangerous complications. Nobody in their right mind would seek an abortion UNLESS the alternatives were worse.

I'm against abortion. I'm against gall bladder surgery too. I wouldn't want anybody I know to go through either one. Still, I think they should be available if necessary.
 
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KingMerv00 said:
He agrees abortion is "an abomination". This, of course, doesn't not make him a Republican but abortion opposition common in that party.
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So in order to be a full fledged liberal, referring to abortion as an "abomination" is verboten, tacit approval for abortions is not sufficient, only full throated endorsement of abortion on demand can be accepted for confirmation of an authentic Democrat?
 
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