Spin and Counterspin and Counter-counterspin

Check out den Beste's blog, especially Stardates 20030722.2208 and 20030722.1656.

You'll note that den Beste is highlighting liberal bloggers' reactions to the news about Hussein's sons being killed. There's definitely a sense of denial in that camp. The knee-jerk reactions-- "No, he's still alive!"-- or "No, this isn't a good thing!", strikes even the politically neutral Big Hominid as droolingly retarded. I do agree with the remark that the sons might have served us as sources of information. True. But how likely was it that we would catch them alive?

Though I'm still raw enough about 9/11 that I hope no one dares to dramatize that event as a movie, I wouldn't mind seeing a Zucker Brothers-style comedy made out of the efforts to chase down the 55 Most Wanted on our deck of cards. A "Scarface" parody for the Hussein Boyz might work.

If you want to compare those liberal bloggers' reactions with a liberal like Joe Conason (who maintains a journal on Salon.com), here's Conason's latest reaction:

"Few tears will be shed for Uday and Qusay, the brothers grim. But whether their deserved demise will quell rebellious Baathists in Iraq remains to be seen, particularly with their father still at large. With any luck, the same kind of intelligence that led to the confrontation with his sons will soon bring Saddam a similar reward."

This already puts Conason at odds with the "they could have given us information!" wing of the liberal complainers (and the "uh-oh, we've made two martyrs" camp). Granted: Conason does go on to spin the deaths in the same way some of the other bloggers have. But at least his gut reaction is sane, and he's not in denial about the Hussein larvae's deaths.
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