FIGHTING WORDS

Ange-Marie Hancock: "I do not condone rushes to judgment. But far too many Black women's legitimate claims of rape (and we do not, no matter what has been leaked to the media, yet know that this is not a legitimate claim of rape) have been ignored, considered attacks on black men like Mike Tyson or otherwise, leaving Black women feeling like they must bear the burden of their rape without the support of Black men." Mark Schmitt: "I don’t like the whole mode of analysis that assumes a politician has some "real" core of beliefs and then various positions he or she takes are either "real" or "political." That whole analysis is based on the cult of authenticity of which McCain, and to a lesser extent Bush, have been the greatest beneficiaries. Politicians are aggregations of their instincts, values, and political circumstances and conditions, the pressures put on them and the niches that are available." Matt Singer: "We literally have a political movement that makes as one of its central claims that a central problem of the modern world is the spread of moral equivalence and a failure to adopt a rigorous moral code. Meanwhile, the same individuals who will blame defeat in Vietnam on political leadership who tied the military’s hand, now decry military critics of civilian leadership as “gutless” threats to America’s Constitutional republic."