Welcome to the Fringe
The readers of Freestate Politics already know this, but a lot of others may not. This site is the fringe.
I’ve gotten used to this nonsense over time, when someone like Andrew Kujan, who seemingly thinks that the DLC is an outlier group within the Democrat party, accuses me of being fringe it means that I know I am on the right track. When they level the same accusation at Brian, it means they have simply lost all sense of perspective.
I stand willing to defend any statement I make here or on RedState but what I won’t do is defend quotes that have been Dowdified. (For those who don’t know, this word was coined in honor of Maureen Dowd’s penchant for editing statements in order to change context.
For instance, Kujan quote me as saying in regards to Baltimore’s schools
Trending: Thank You
I am not a fan of public education or of the educrats who run the schools but in all fairness, a school can only work with what it has.
And proceeds to riff on how I am essentially attacking public schools, the bulwark of Western Civilization, or the nanny state, depending upon your perspective. I did say that but the original quote, before Kujan edited it to change the meaning, is
I am not a fan of public education or of the educrats who run the schools but in all fairness, a school can only work with what it has. Your child is in school for maybe six hours a day for about 180 days per year. The idea that the institution is going to present you with a markedly different child than the one you send off in the morning is just silly. It isn’t.
A vicious attack on public schools, isn’t it?
The second thing Kujan does, which is axiomatic when dealing with liberals, is attacking your personal experiences as inauthentic. They don’t need to know you to do this, if your opinions differ from their’s then you’ve just have no experience in whatever is being discussed. Black conservatives, in particular, have this tossed at them all the time (for the reading impaired, and to prevent another Kujan misstatement, I want to emphasize that I’m not claiming to be black.)
For instance, if you are speaking about Iraq, in order to defend the policy you must be an Iraq veteran (attacking that policy requires no credentials at all), in which case you are merely shouted down. (Full disclosure here, I’m a career Army airborne infantry officer with time on the Army Staff in War Plans). If you talk about life in the city, you are de facto illegitimate unless you live in the city. (Full disclosure, I moved into a row house at 9th and S NW in 1991 when less than half the homes on my street were even occupied, I lived there for 12 years. Bodies on the sidewalk in front of my house? I’ve seen them. I didn’t live in some yuppie enclave. I, my friend, have lived in a city).
Shortly after this blog came on line, Kujan snidely insinutated a vaguely sinister corporate connection.
Now, in this particular instance, Kujan says:
I guess streiff learned that term in private school, where of course, there are no internal politics at play, no funding issues, and certainly, every student excels in ever single case.
I’ve been writing for a while and, like many bloggers, my personal story is no secret to anyone who is interested. But for the record, I didn’t go to private school.
