A Response to Stanley Fish (And, by Proxy, Solon)

Good ole Stanley Fish. His literary criticism can be tedious, but he does a good job here of boiling the issue down to its most basic elements. The invocation of Dick Morris is especially appropriate.

One thing that is weak about Fish's argument though, is his comparing hatred of Hillary Clinton to hatred of George W. Bush: a 'Reader-Response' pouring of one's own "angst" into an empty vessel.

"BDS" is one of the most Rhetorically Destructive memes floating around out there (Word is Bill O'Reilly coined it). If all people hated about George W. Bush was that he is from Texas, affects machismo, and smirks a lot, then you would have a slightly better comparison to the treatment Hillary Clinton has received.

The 'BDS' myth trivializes, even obliterates, two important truths that Harrogate will here articulate:


1)We understand it is fun to make fun of Bush as an individual, but we also understand he is perfectly representative of the GOP Platform overall; and far more importantly

2)The actual things this Republican Administration has done, not Bush's smirks nor his affected machismo nor the shots of clearing brush etc., is the cause of concern, and has been from the beginning. "BDS" explicitly charged critics with irrationality, but what people are pissed off about is stuff like the stoopid Tax Cuts, Iraq, Nepotism, Institutionalized American Torture, the internal gutting of government agencies like FEMA and the Department of Education, etc.

Anywho.

Harrogate wonders about the veracity of his friend Solon's claim, "some supporters of Hillary would say any criticism falls under the irrational category." Harrogate was initially tempted to say, he has actually seen this tendency evinced broadly by Obama supporters, but Harrogate decided not to say that. :-)

In all seriousness, Stanley, let us not insult one another's intelligence through the proliferation of straw men. Harrogate has yet to meet a Hillary Clinton supporter, or see one on television or the blogosphere, who dismisses as irrational any and all criticisms of the candidate.

Of course there are likely a handful of true believers out there for her, as with all candidates, who will brook no criticism.

Ron Paul has the most of these by far.