A little bird just alerted the Stiftung that some idiot at NRO named John J. Miller created a crapfest list of the 50 best conservative songs about 18 months ago. The Stiftung missed it at the time; more astute bloggers like Roxanne and Berube were probably all over it.
The problem living in a bunker is, to quote Dr. Evil, “we need the info.”
So if you don’t mind a little lighthearted flashback and change from recent tone here, we’ll just sit and mock NRO for their abysmal understanding of pop culture. The songs on their list are taken mostly out of context and the composer’s concept. And to top off insult to injury, NRO thinks “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is the No. 1 conservative rock song of all time.
We don’t have time here to delve into the Lifehouse project Townshend intended as follow-up after Tommy and the communal, semi-socialist basis for the plot. Or the band’s experiment living with fans in the Young Vic Theater to create ‘there once was a note, pure and easy’. These Lifehouse Project failures are the origins of the ‘Who’s Next’ album.
In fact, Townshend has said the proper performance of WGFA is elegiac and sorrowful, as made clear on the Townshend ‘Secret Policeman’s Ball ’79 acoustic performance — not the riotous celebration as The Who’s live stage show closer.
BUT, here are three clips of The Who in their hey day. You tell us if this is Derbyshire/KLO et al. material. We can just see all of them at NRO cowering under the Pepsi-stained arena seats, beaten down by volume from HiWatt stacks and ecstatic energy. How would they react literally surrounded by the Enemy — as they also would have been on any Bruce tour (especially the 79-85 ones) or even U2 today on a good night.
Of course, many at NRO such as Jonah Goldberg may not have been a zygote at the time (we didn’t bother looking the d.o.b. up but you get out point).
Granted, this is a jarring departure from recent blog enteries. One just got riled up thinking of Rich Lowry hitting on some naive intern at a holiday party with his best Dennis Haysbert “Go behind the lines” innuendo.
It’s hard to see this song and the Lifehouse story as the anthem of tax cuts, Nativism, plutocratic disdain for the middle class and the Baby Jesus, all in the name of nomenklatura surveillance . . .
Aldershot says
And I KNOW you do to!
Aldershot says
“Blog after blog describing it as a blowout.”
I think people, to a degree, see what they want to see. I thought Chris handled it well, and it was very funny when he slammed the book on the table and said something like, ‘This is the worst book interview ever!’ Or did he say ‘from hell?’
My confession: I get a little rush when he says, ‘Let’s play hardball.’ (Don’t get me wrong, I know he’s a goof, to a certain extent.)
Comment says
Maybe we are over exaggerating the moment – but not so near as much as elsewhere online – Blog after blog describing it as a blowout. Comment thought we were being restrained. In any event – Tweety’s house is a decayed house.
Aldershot says
Thanks, Comment. After I posted that I remembered I could probably see it online. I just watched it and thought it was pretty funny. I think you guys are being a little hard on Chris…he rolled with the punches in a good humored way. I think Stewart actually ended up piquing interest in the book. I’m much more inclined to take a look at it now.
Comment says
Aldershot – it was on Youtube, but wa removed – But you can go to the Comedy Central site and watch it.
Stewart did not scalp him like he did with Carlson on Carlson’s own show, but he fittingly described Tweety’s book as a “recipe for sadness.”
The more we think about it – the more we think Stewart got it right – After all, if you define “success” the way Tweety does, why not skip his book and just read O’Reilly. Afterall – O’Reilley is more successfull.
Tweety’sobsession/envy of Clinton re women was what he decided to lead with – And he looked foolish beause he totally misjudged the audience.
Aldershot says
Re MC, too cool. I coulda been a contenda!
Re Matthews, I missed the Stewart interview. Was Stewart pissed off, unsympathetic, or something?
Comment says
Cue Drums/Space into ‘Not fade away’ as Newt fades into the small crowd scoping the scene for ladies who are easily impressed and grooving to the second set.
Dr Leo Strauss says
This Newt clip is hilarious. It is the exact same speech with some new nouns in from 1994/1995. He’s speaking to 25 bored housewives/husbands, 10 twenty year college dorm shut-ins and probably a dog or two. Second Life is the hot place to be for those who’ve never been. Their retention rate is abysmal — i.e., people who sign up rarely use it after three months. All this talk about explosive opportunity and new “countries” was that Grateful Dead John Parry Barlow use to dream up in 1994 after some whip its and Thai stick.
Too bad the Griefers didn’t show up.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5387867190768022577
Aldershot says
O brave new world, that has such people in’t!
Comment says
That Daily Show takedown of Tweety is making big waves on the web – All to the good – But one complaint – Stewart should not have compared Tweety to Machiavelli. Niccolo deserved better.
Anon says
Newt’s second life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOpOZ3Y9eD0
Anon says
So they were “consulting” Egyptians and Saudis – copying “soviets.” Disgusting – so goes voluntary moral equivalence.
The Bush admin copies torture techniques from the Arab world the way the Japanese once copied American manufacturing methods
DrLeoStrauss says
Millenium Challenge/MC
Can’t say much about the Red Cell we were asked to play but suffice to say it was in the grandiose days of “draining the swamp” and U.S. armed forces as global “systems admins” and all that now clearly *insane* folie a deux (except this was folie a OSD) thinking.
Aldershot says
“Ripper forced a Do Over lol. We were asked to lead a Red Cell in a post MC exercise and am glad we passed…”
What is ‘post MC,’ please? (I hope it’s not something obvious!)
DrLeoStrauss says
re methods — all too true, and hence one reason Cambone sent Miller from Gitmo to Iraq/AbuGhraib, despite Cambone’s denial.
Anon says
Disgusting and shameful – but notice the NY Times is mau maued into using the euphemism “severe” instead of saying torture and war crimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/washington/04interrogate.html?_r=1&ei=5090&en=8d75a80eddaf32b7&ex=1349150400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1191513645-ujoZd7Zz0wz0AE9dK1G4NA
“With virtually no experience in interrogations, the C.I.A. had constructed its program in a few harried months by consulting Egyptian and Saudi intelligence officials and copying Soviet interrogation methods long used in training American servicemen to withstand capture.”
Anon says
Another gem from that Tweety takedown was Tweety revealing his chick technique – Beer and bragging, etc. Total artifice – a totally hollow man , deracinated, and spent. Tweety is one of the walking wounded in our late post modern era.
DrLeoStrauss says
However will the senior citizens (and we all will be there, God willing) make it to the top for the 4:00 PM Blue Plate Special?
ttp://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/10/03/s3b_tent_1003.html?imw=Y
Anon says
Jon Stewart at his best – exposing hollow Tweety for all the world to see. Take note of the part when Tweety references , in passing, a candidates “fear” of “appearing” “socialist” in his health care plan – Even Stewart missed this part – pointing out to Tweety that Tweety should have focused more on why that fake accusation works and how to combat it, rather than fear it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkPGZQzFZxk
Anon says
re McNamara and that Baltimore Sun article – McNamamara says he doesn’t recall – He’s started to come clean re Tonkin – why won’the come clean about this? Anyway – regarding the attack on Iran, Stiftung makes perfect sense when laying out the logical unlikelyhood – but Dubya has fuzzy logic.
SolidPhil says
My sister’s HS graduating class – 1973 – wrote in huge letters on the outside of the building: “We won’t get fooled again.”
Dr Leo Strauss says
Ripper forced a Do Over lol. We were asked to lead a Red Cell in a post MC exercise and am glad we passed (it was being by hacks on contract at SAIC). Also recall, the Japanese wargames before Midway foretold Japanese defeat much like Ripper and the rules were simply changed
Aldershot says
A comment from TPMCafe:
“…In the pentagon’s Millennium Challenge 2002 war games the ‘red forces,’ commanded by General Paul van Ripper, and representing Iran, sank an aircraft carrier, two Marine Corps helicopter carriers and thirteen other warships – in the first 48 hours of the conflict.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/020906- iraq1.htm
Not likely in real life? Well, anti-ship missiles haven’t been used a lot, but when used, have been absolutely lethal:
On October 21,1967, the Israeli destroyer Eilat was sunk by four SS-N-2 “Styx ” missiles fired from two Egyptian missile boats
In the Falklands War the Argentines had five exocets. With these they sank two British warships, and damaged a third.
In 1987 USS Stark was heavily damaged by two exocets.
Last summer Hizbullah fired two anti-ship missiles, badly damaging an Israeli warship and an Egyptian freighter.
It has been nearly twenty years since the end of the Iran-Iraq war. It seems reasonable to assume that the Iranians have spent that time digging in to their very long and rugged Persian Gulf coast.
Note that the IDF failed utterly to suppress rocket fire in South Lebanon, and that the US failed in the first Gulf War to eliminate Iraq’s scuds. How exactly do we intend to destroy Iran’s defenses?
Russian anti-ship doctrine calls for flooding the target vessel with missiles, to overwhelm any defensive measures that might be deployed. See page six of:
http://www.ausairpower.net/ascms.pdf
The Iranians manufacture the “Noor” missile, a possibly enhanced version of the Chinese C-802, and may have it in very large numbers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-802
And they may have the truly fearsome Moskit/Yakhonts class of missile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-270_Moskit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhont
Now in the 2002 war games US forces lost thousands dead in the first two days of the conflict. The totals in a real conflict might very quickly reach the losses in Iraq to date. And what would be the psychological effect on the American people of images of numbers of US warships in flames, or an aircraft carrier sinking?
Will this be the next ‘New Pearl Harbor,’ uncomfortably like the original?
Can we think this through, please?”
http://coffeehouse.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/oct/02/iran_at_the_brink#comment
So, Class, the purpose of bombing Iran would be to:
A)start Armageddon
B)further enrich arms manufacturers and private contractors
C)create a pretext for a draft with which to transform us into a warlike nation
D)cement an authoritarian government into place
E)all of the above
Aldershot says
“No – this was before our time.”
My bad.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Unfortunately, the Stiftung knows people and familes who were torn apart by the murderous attack on the Liberty. Beyond that we sayeth not.
Anon says
No – this was before our time.
Aldershot says
Gee, Mister, you must be really old.
Anon says
Hey Doktor – what do you think about this? A cover up? It sounds like it – maybe NRO will do an expose – Just to note – we were in college when we first heard about this and it just seemed too incredible. But guess not:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-liberty1002,0,3053738.story?page=7
Anon says
This is all part of piece – consider the absurd revisionism of Shakespeare that Cakewalk Adelman and Co. do – Sure Shakespeare is no longer pop – but still. We have some anecdotes, but we shall pass for now.
Anon says
Not sure if you posted this – but here is “substitute” in ’66 and ’74 – Miller can subsitite his ‘lies for facts’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0i7c8tjlIs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzIwRpFDZ8I
A Random Quote says
“Just another dead doper…”
~Rush Limbaugh
(On Jerry Garcia’s death)
Comment says
Clarify – Snow *usually* selected bad or hackneyed music – But the point was – the music he selected was almost always inappropriate and/or dissonant (in a bad way).
Comment says
Miller was so annoying – we read it at the time and just shook our head. He reminded us of Tony Snow – do you recall, Doktor, when Snow hosted FNS? Snow would try to integrate pop and rock tunes , in a relavent and joshing way, into the FNS segments – He always selected bad or hackneyed music – even though he said he was a musician. But the songs always made a point opposite of the point Snow thought they made.
Same with Miller – His take on ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ was especially stupid.