Paleoconservative Academic Values
February 26th, 2008
After his posting yesterday about why Ward Churchill’s scheduled debate with Victor Davis Hanson at UC Boulder has been so abruptly cancelled, PirateBallerina’s head moonbat Jim Paine seems to have gone to sleep at the switch.
That’s a polite way of saying that he’s neglected to inform the lesser Ballerinas that, by this morning, Mr. Hanson—who, it may be recalled, was Paine’s source on this particular tidbit of “All Things Churchill”—had completely changed his tune.
As Hanson’s website now puts it, his April 2 debate with Churchill “has been canceled at this time and we are working on an upcoming debate. Our apologies to Ward Churchill for misstating the reasons earlier.”
Yeah. Right.
Hanson doesn’t say WHO his “upcoming debate” is intended to be WITH. Nor does he indicate who comprises the “we” that he supposedly has “working on” it.
Most glaring of all, while Hanson admits to having “misstated the reasons” for cancellation of the Churchill debate—and apologizes to the Good Prof for the bogus nature of said mistatement—he offers no hint as to what the real reasons ARE.
Churchill confirms that both Hanson and the self-described “paleoconservative” Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Chad Kifer are actively dodging his requests for an explanation.
Let’s face it, kids. The stench of ACTA’s Hank Brown, Bruce Benson, Michael Poliakof, and Bud Peterson—CU administrative heavies, every one—is getting stronger by the moment.
So, too, the sweet scent of a lawsuit.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
As in, “Oops. Sorry for the gratuitous smear.”
These folks make the scum that forms atop the contents of a septic tank seem downright appetizing by comparison.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Anybody noticed that Jim Paine still hasn’t bothered to update—which, at this point, means to correct—his post on PirateBallerina claiming that Ward Churchill “unexpectedly pulled out” of his upcoming debate with Victor Davis Hanson?
So, okay, Ben, maybe this disinformation wasn’t Paine’s fault at the outset (after all, he’s never been more than an anti-Churchill parrot, so the initial onus clearly rests on Hanson).
Things have changed since then, however. Hanson has corrected his “misstatement” and posted an apology on his website.
Paine has not. Instead, he’s left his original post unchanged, thereby casting the impression that Hanson’s now retracted falsehood should be treated as credible information.
And that, of course, IS Paine’s fault.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Isn’t Jim Paine the guy who said that he always corrects inaccuracies in his posts when they’re pointed out to him? Or have I confused him with someone else?
February 27th, 2008 at 11:52 am
No, Sally, you’re not confused.
Jim Paine did in fact say that. But, of course, he didn’t really mean it. In other words, it was a lie (just like most everything else he has to say).
February 28th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Paine finally acknowledged the obvious yesterday afternoon, mainly by way of linking to Drunkaslime, who in turn linked to “El President,” who in turn linked to Hanson’s website.
My-my-my, what a network these Rovians maintain!
It’s worth noting that, as always, Drunkaslime couldn’t resist dropping another whopper right in the middle of his attempt to rationalize away the last one he and his pals were caught peddling.
This took the form of an effort to absolve the responsible adults involved—e.g., Hank Brown, Bruce Benson, et al.—by attributing the cancellation exclusively to Chad Kifer, who Drunkablog wants to pass off as being merely “the student head of the ISI.”
Sooooo… The students did it. Right?
Wrong. Or, more accurately: BULLSHIT!
First off, Kifer is by no definition a student. He’s a 30-something institutional executive whose stock-in-trade for the past 7 years or so has been arranging ISI-sponsored events featuring prominent right-wingers like Victor Davis Hanson at campuses across the country.
Second, even were Kifer himself a student, that in itself would do nothing to make ISI a student organization (as Drunkaslime clearly implies it is). Like David Horowitz’s outfit, it’s one of those private— i.e., Scaife/Olin/Bradley/Castle Rock/Earhart-funded—”intellectual outreach vehicles” through which the grown-up right has been propagandizing for the past several decades.
Actually, ISI, which originally stood for “Intercollegiate Society of Individualists,” was founded in 1953. Its first president was the late—as of yesterday—William F. Buckley, Jr. (who, it should be mentioned, had already graduated from Yale… There’s never been a student involved in running this thing).
Third, and finally, Chad Kifer is no more the “head” of ISI than he is a “student.” The top slot has, since 1988, been filled by T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr. If the name rings a bell, it’s probably because Cribb served as “President Reagan’s top advisor on domestic matters” during the mid-80s, and, before that, as Counselor to the U.S. Attorney General.
ISI’s vice presidents include retired Rear Admiral P. Michael Ratliff, former director of naval intelligence, and H. Spenser Masloff, Jr., formerly a director at the ultra-rightist Free Congress Foundation.
Right-wing publisher Alfred S. Regnery is also a vice chairman.