Why Greenwald Matters

It's been noticed that I haven't had much to say recently about progressive blog matters. As I had indicated earlier, the depressing and enlightening response of our community to the Armstrong fraud and Kos' attempted cover-up of it had limited any desire to participate further. All the silly variations of "Kommandante Kos can't tell me to deny the Armstrong story oxygen" while they all denied the Armstrong story and cover-up, which go to the heart of the integrity of what I thought we were doing, oxygen smacked so much of our opponents and, frankly, the responses to criticism of the old Soviet regime that I used to teach about, that it hasn't seemed worth the time much anymore.

And, honestly, it still doesn't. The Plame story will go on, but not on a criminal path to the only outcomes that have a prayer of stopping future repeats and worse, as all our experts assured us. Bushnev and his Politburo are likely about to get their Iran excursion, and neither our blogs or the Dems have pre-structured the necessary arguments to keep it from happening by blending our historical suspicion of imperialism with our historical anger toward governmental waste to build a loud enough coalition to fight back meaningfully. We know, in fact, that the Dems in Congress will overwhelmingly support whatever Georgi does. So, despite the current polls, by November, the environment is very probably going to push back into Congress enough Repubs to keep the common task of challenging this authoritarian regime effectively from happening. In grad school, we used to joke about our happy hour roundtables basically being self-celebratory mental masturbation. Too much lately, that's what these blogs are looking like, with a real crack-up coming post-elections. (Absolutely nothing will make me happier than to have to eat these words. Without anything to drink with them.)

That said, while I've given up on Atrios, Firedoglake, MyDD, Upyernoz, and most of the others who thought scoffing at what's happening was a hoot, there are still a few who have made the mistake of joining the IOKIYAKos and Armstrong chorus who have nevertheless built up enough reserve that I still read them regularly--Digby, Mannion, the Corrente folks (although they're getting right up to the line by now). Billmon sort of joined in but didn't really and he'd have to do a lot to get me to take him off my current short list. Another one I still follow is Glenn Greenwald, and why is shown well by a recent post on the latest sellout of America by Arlen Specter. It was just a little aside to the longer post but it showed why hopes for integrity can still be held for at least some of the progressive blogosphere:

permit me here to apologize for all of those times I tepidly defended Specter by characterizing as unduly pessimistic and cynical predictions that he could cave completely; the humiliations he is willing, even eager, to publicly endure are without limits.

This ability to admit error and to face reality despite past exertions is the hallmark of what, when our battle is over one way or the other with those bringing the American Legacy into question and shame, will distinguish what was meaningful and hopeful about that Legacy. The Armstrong/Kos debacle showed what too many of us are about, that "winning" is everything even if we lose anything worth winning in the process (sounds a little like Bushnev and the WOT, doesn't it?). But there are still some on our side who can plot how to win without giving up our souls or being what we claim to be fighting. Greenwald is one of them. I hope his example will take hold.