Free Advice from Marc Thiessen is Felonious Insult
When I was a child, I was amazed the day I discovered the opinion section of one of my local newspapers. By now, I don’t recall whether it was the Cleveland Press, or the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Press ceased to exist many years ago, and the Plain Dealer still goes on, nobly, and barely. Around 20 years ago, I began reading the New York Times at least a few times per week. Eventually, this practice evolved into reading the papers online, by iPad. I miss the old papers, but, you know…change.
Those opinion sections, though, oh how I loved them. I’m not sure how old I was, probably around 10, or maybe a little younger. And, when I discovered that the opinion section had what I thought were articles on either side of a page, which wrote about the same subjects but gave entirely different perspectives, and came to different conclusions, I was both mystified and fascinated. I could go back and forth, from side to side, reading about Nixon, or Agnew, or Vietnam, and on the same page they told entirely different stories about the same subjects. Ah, youth.
By now, we don’t really discuss our differences. We tend to shout them. They shout them on television, and they make positively absurd statements in print. It is not so fascinating anymore. By now, it is mainly just annoying. By now, I’ll see a writer like Hugh Hewitt, or Marc Thiessen and I think to myself, what is this fool saying today. Often I skip writers like these. Where once, back in the 70s, it seemed like a conversation taking place across the page of a paper. Now, one side seems just plain nuts.
Today I broke my pattern twice. I read Hewitt, and decided to break down his clunky piece of pulp-aganda, bit by bit. Yes, it was a bit like pulling the wings off of a fly, but I indulged myself anyway. We’re in the middle of a 4 day rain event, and we are at flood stage, so the normal escape from post Covid life in Dystopia Heights is more of a challenge than usual. After I pulled the wings off of Hugh Hewitt, I figured I Would go back and pull the legs off of some ants. I decided to read Marc Thiessen.
It starts with reading his headline. Thiessen, in his infinite wisdom, refers to Stacy Abrams as the Democratic Sarah Palin, or some…thing like that. I read that headline and thought, I’m not reading that…something like that. Eventually I did. Boy, was it not worth it. Here is an excerpt from Thiessen’s piece.
“Abrams makes Palin seem qualified by comparison. At least Palin won her race for Alaska governor. Abrams’s claim to fame is that she lost Georgia’s governor’s race in 2018.“
Can it really be an opinion if you do not genuinely think what you have offered as your opinion? Can any sentient being sincerely offer this as a legitimate comparison? I don’t think much of Marc Thiessen, but this is beneath even him. Read his column if you like. Analyze his statements. I think his analysis is hot garbage.
Thiessen never once mentions their respective academic careers. Palin received her bachelors degree in 6 years, while attending 3 or 4 separate universities. Cool. Abrams graduated from Spelman College Magna Cum Laude, then received a Masters degree from the LBJ School of Public affairs at University of Texas, and then received her Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School. Again, Marc Thiessen doesn’t even delve into their respective academic records, or awards, (by the way, Palin had none as a student). He only said that Abrams made Palin seem “qualified by comparison”.
After that, Abrams went on to work as a tax attorney at a firm in Atlanta, focusing on tax-exempt organizations, health care, and public finance (according to Wikipedia). By the age of 26, she had completed her JD at Yale Law. At the ripe old age of 29 Abrams was appointed as the Deputy City Attorney in Atlanta. Abrams is a published author too. She published her first novel during her 3rd year of law school. Abrams has done quite a few other things as well. She’s 46 years old now.
I am astonished at Marc Thiessen’s comparison. I would bet my own eyes that he does not believe what he wrote. I have little doubt of that. I am just amazed at the lengths that some will go to impugn the quality of accomplishments of a black professional woman. Sarah Palin would not dare to claim herself to be the equal of Stacy Abrams. Do you know that Palin once thought that the Queen was the head of government in the U.K.? She did. Do you think Marc Thiessen thinks that Stacy Abrams does not know the difference between the head of state and the head of government in the U.K.? Whether he knows, or not, Thiessen’s column says more about him than it does about Stacy Abrams.
I have not chosen a favorite as to who Mr. Biden should choose as a running mate. I have not even decided whether or not it should be a woman or a man, although I lean quite heavily toward having a woman on the ticket. I’ll leave those questions to Biden, and support the ticket no matter what. I have decided to go back to avoiding Marc Thiessen. Mr Thiessen’s terrible column takes all of the fun out of reading opinions. Ah, middle age.
