“Imminent, Schmimminent” Redux
Remember all those anti-war revisionists who originally opposed the war in Iraq because Bush did not say an attack was imminent, but who now falsely claim that he did? Well, it seems that Matt Drudge has stolen a page from their playbook. Check out this heading, which currently appears on his :
Nader Says Military Draft Is Imminent…
The heading contains no Drudge exclusive; it’s a link to this story from the Washington Times, which carries a somewhat less ambitious headline:
Nader tells youths to brace for draft
Granted, urging someone to brace for X is not inconsistent with thinking that X us imminent, but the two are hardly the same thing. Air raid drills during the Cold War were based on the reality that they were possible not on anyone’s mistaken belief they were “imminent.” That’s not to say that the I-word is completely absent from the article. It’s there, all right, albeit in a manner that doesn’t exactly gibe with Drudge’s heading:
“I don’t think that Ralph feels that the draft is imminent, but we are looking at the shortage of troops in Iraq and the calls from [Senator John] Kerry for 40,000 more troops. What Ralph is saying is that if students don’t start to organize right now, it will be too late,” [Nader spokesman Kevin] Zeese said.
Et tu, Drudge.
[As to why the heading "imminent schmimminent" is a redux, see this 2/10/03 entry regarding a letter to the editor of mine that ran that same day. Unfortunately, the letter itself has long since become a victim of linkrot.]
UPDATE: Oki thinks Nader’s theory about the draft - be it imminent, schmimminent, or otherwise - is wrong. I tend to agree.
