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LANE THE LOSER MISQUOTES GEORGE THE SMALLER
Melbourne Age columnist Terry Lane:
As George the Smaller told an audience at the West Point and Virginia Military Institute, America is “the single surviving model of human progress”.
Terry shares his understanding of Bush’s three-year-old speech with Islam Online (“As President Bush said: ‘America is the single surviving model of human progress.’”) Here’s what was actually said by Bush in 2002:
The 20th century ended with a single surviving model of human progress, based on non-negotiable demands of human dignity, the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women and private property and free speech and equal justice and religious tolerance. America cannot impose this vision—yet we can support and reward governments that make the right choices for their own people.
Seems to me Bush was speaking of Western democracy in general rather than the US in particular. Either way, Lane clearly didn’t source the original text, otherwise “the model” wouldn’t be in place of “a model”. Just another example of poor research for Media Watch to investigate, I guess, along with former host David Marr’s weird and incorrect assumption that two Christians facing jail in Victoria are white. “We try to be balanced and we’re more than happy to come down on some lefty columnists if we catch them stuffing up,” wrote Media Watch executive producer Peter McEvoy some years ago; well, here’s your chance to prove it, Pete. Yet again.
UPDATE. Several readers point out Lane’s blundering merger of West Point (in New York state) with the Virginia Military Institute (in Lexington, VA). This mistake points us to Lewis Lapham, Lane’s likely source:
President Bush meanwhile mounted flag-draped rostra at West Point and Virginia Military Institute to proclaim America “the single surviving model of human progress” …
It was a HUGE audience, apparently, with standing room only, extending from Virginia all the way to New York state. Boy, Bush can really draw a crowd, can’t he?
Say, The Age is offering the chance of a “Margaret River escape” - whatever that is - to new subscribers. I’m sure subscription to The Age is too high a price to pay for a trip to the Margaret River, however nice the place may be. Maybe the “escape” part means The Age isn’t delivered there, although that would seem to undercut the whole marketing plan.
Islam Online is quite a treat in itself. Every article seems to be dedicated to defending Islam (apparently we in the West are murdering or otherwise oppressing Muslims by the millions daily), and blaming the West for being rich and successful, while Muslims are not (It isn’t fair because Muslims are The True Believers, and it’s sinful besides).
I’m beginning to think that Western journalists, like Lane, get all their information from Islam Online.
RebeccaH,
Islam Online, thin air, their own ass, all the same.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2005 07 31 at 05:04 PM • permalinkTerry Lane
Graduate of the Dan Rather school of fact checking.
Posted by swassociates on 2005 07 31 at 07:36 PM • permalinkWest Point is the United States Military Academy and you graduate as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. VMI is a state military academy. Graduation results in a degree, but one only serves in the military afterwards if you choose to. There is no service obligation incurred, as there is with any of the United States service academies. The other difference? West Point is free (your tax dollars at work) but you will pay handsomely to attend VMI.
Posted by tree hugging sister on 2005 07 31 at 08:07 PM • permalinkI wonder if the mix-up didn’t come from this passage:
You know this, but many in America don’t—George C. Marshall, a VMI graduate, is said to have given this order: “I want an officer for a secret and dangerous mission. I want a West Point football player.” (Applause.)
You can see how this could lead an ignorant writer to believe that the two organisations had formal links. And we are talking about ignorant writers here.
Lapham may not know his military academies, but he does have psychic powers.
Tim, have you officially notified the Media Watch people, through their notification system, of the Terry Lane and David Marr ‘errors’ above?
We can’t lodge an offical complaint about their ignoring these if we’re not sure they knew about them….
Posted by Secret Squirrel on 2005 07 31 at 11:24 PM • permalinkMounting a flag draped rostra sounds pretty kinky to me. Maybe that’s the real story within the story?
Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2005 07 31 at 11:45 PM • permalinkTree hugging sister…
Actually West Point is NOT free - there is an eight year commitment after graduation. When I graduated in 1987, we were required to serve five years active duty. If you left after five, you remained on reserve rolls for another three years and could be called up as needed.
The cost of the education was (back then) valued @250K to produce an officer. Interestingly enough, West Point was the only commissioning source that could generate “Regular Army” commissions. There are a LOT of other good sources of officers, including VMI, Texas A&M, The Citadel, etc…
Cheers - DC
I think if you scratch a lot of the conspicuous errata produced by newspaper columnists you’ll find the fabrications of Lewis Lapham - the guy they read when they’re in a mood to hear big words from someone they (secretly, when no one is around) consider their self-evident better. He once wrote a pretty decent book on class in America - well, it was really about the upper classes, one subject he can speak about with authority - but he’s turning into the best-dressed running joke in periodical history, and he’s running a venerable magazine into the ground in the process.
Harper’s is, need I add, very popular up here in Canada - much more so than its more levelheaded competitor, The Atlantic, for reasons that will be sickeningly obvious if you’re from ‘round these parts. A simple case of giving the people what they want…
Posted by rick mcginnis on 2005 08 01 at 12:30 AM • permalinkIf Mr. Lane ever shows up at VMI, he’ll be laughed out of the state of Virgina. The folks at Hudson High would be more polite about it, but the effect would be the same.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 08 01 at 12:45 AM • permalinkjic: #3: “Teleconferencing?”
and
#13: “Lapham may not know his military academies, but he does have psychic powers.”
LOL! I was about to respond to #3 with, “No, it was telepathy” then saw number #13.
My POV was coming from the direction of all of the US critics expecting the US to be psychic at all times and in all situations… after all, we should have KNOWN that annoying OBL would cause him to sucker 20 of his flunkies into flying passenger planes into the WTC, Pentagon, and where ever Flt 93 was heading, even though nothing remotely similar had ever happened before, you know.
Glad you pointed out that article on the RNC convention last year :D.
Posted by mamapajamas on 2005 08 01 at 12:46 AM • permalink#18: “He once wrote a pretty decent book on class in America”
But nowhere near as good, in terms of insight, breadth, wit and readability (not to mention the illustrations), as Paul Fussel’s classic book on the same subject
Posted by Consuela Potez on 2005 08 01 at 01:35 AM • permalinkWhile I agree that Tim has picked the clear factual error here he probably got exhausted before pointing out the errors in logic. While numerous the overwhelming one to me is to make statements that are by his own words “unaudited” and then to move on as if these were fact and snowball these into a point. Not sure what that point is other than Bush/Halliburton are bad. Sad, very sad.
Speaking of Media Watch, are they going after Mark Steyn next?
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2005 08 01 at 02:08 AM • permalinkmedia watch has a copy but i wouldnt hold my breath because it doesnt reflect poorly on the ‘proper’ people
Posted by Astonished on 2005 08 01 at 05:06 AM • permalinkTerry, Phillip, Fran, Liz:
maintaining the standard of propaganda, we have come to expect from the National Shitcaster.
Perhps the Charter needs to be explained - clearly - and standards of reporting brushed up - vigorously.
It would be nice to turn on AM or PM and find an agendum made up of items other than the following:
1. Iraq has made us a bigger target and less safe, but at the same time any move to be more stringent in dealing with terrorism is suspect;
2. Howard Lied and noble Boat People Died;
3. Hicks will not get a Fair Trial;
4. Costello is still waiting to be PM when that clapped out old guy has the grace to retuire;
5. Australia is not in the Asian in-crowd and must sign the non-aligned USA haters Treaty of Amity;
6. Shame on Australia for not signing Kyoto;
7. Whatever Bush has just done requires very close examination because he cannot be trusted;
and on it goes.The Internet provides a delivery system for pathological states of mind - Phillip Adams.
Nicky and I share our pathological distaste for Media Watch here.
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2005 08 01 at 09:09 AM • permalinkD.C. ~ I know West Point’s not ‘free’ in that manner, which is why I noted…
“There is no service obligation incurred, as there is with any of the United States service academies”
...in the comparison to VMI. My point was there is no ‘tuition’ per se; At VMI you pay tuition to attend ~ at the Point you pay with years.
Sometimes I clearly think I’m clearer than I am.
Posted by tree hugging sister on 2005 08 01 at 10:07 AM • permalinkTHS -
True enough - some people pay for abuse, while others get it for free.
What piqued my interest about your original comment was when you said “your tax dollars at work”. There are many groups that would like nothing more than to shut the service academies down because they consider them a waste of time and money. I’m not sure what service academy opponents would do with the “largesse”...
Graduating students from other institutions must compete for limited active duty slots and most of them end up in the reserves or their state National Guard. There isn’t even a requirement to compete for a slot or go into the reserves - - a good friend of mine went through the entire program at Texas A&M and never intended to serve on active duty - - now THAT boggles me - to sign up and pay for the abuse and not go that final step. He must have liked the boots and sword an awful lot. They were pretty cool, I must admit.
Cheers - DC
When I attended USAFA, we got paid (as fourth classmen) $151,28 per month. From this we paid for our uniforms, weekly laundry and drycleaning service, haircuts (once a week sweep with the clippers for, I think, $.90) a 20 in log/log slide rule, etc, etc, etc.
We got $15 a month from this to blow any way we wished. Anything left over was saved by our old Uncle and returned at the beginning of our first-class (senior) year to buy a car.
In return, I had signed up, raised my right hand, and sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic . . . ” and agreed to give Uncle five years of my life in service, plus reserve duties.
Didn’t seem like a bad deal at the time for a poor hillbilly boy.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2005 08 01 at 10:15 PM • permalinkOh, yeah. We figured USAFA stood for “You Squats Are F**ked Again.” That was about right, too.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2005 08 01 at 10:16 PM • permalinklingus 4—YOU FORGOT 4corners payback to the Hillsong church,including footage of Costello and Carr(now resigned from office of course).
Because they were featured before the election as supportive of the government they are now suspected of defrauding their parishioners.aunty takes no prisoners-on taxpayers money.
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Mr. Lane also doesn’t realize that West Point and the Virginia Military Institute are two different places. Very different places.