(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Saturday, May 25, 2002
As Fyodor Dostoyevski and Jerzy Kozinski knew, the best way to make a dumb man look smart is to imply that he's playing it cagey. Thus, back in April, many warbloggers were saying that Bush was playing "rope-a-dope" with Saddam Hussein and Yassir Arafat.
Instapundit, as always ahead of the curve, was using the term on Bush's behalf in a domestic context months ago ("I've always noted Bush's predilection for rope-a-dope tactics..." he said on November 18). But it really took off during those recent, heady days when the belligerati saw fresh chances for armed engagement in desert fiefdoms. And, being a boxing reference (as VodkaPundit, an early adopter, explained at length to his dimmer blog-brethren), "rope-a-dope" appealed to their butch sensibilities.
Some used the term in a spirit of cautious optimism. Little Green Footballs hoped Colin Powell's unwarlike excursion to Israel was "all part of some diplomatic rope-a-dope."
Craig Schamp prayed that Bush's "asking the Israelis to back off was just a diplomatic rope-a-dope maneuver."
Others were more confident. "Let's take the Rope-A-Dope strategy to it's conclusion," cried PhotoDude, "all the way to Iraq." "IT'S THE OLD ROPE-A-DOPE," hollered the charmingly named WarNow!, "George Bush is giving Sharon as much diplomatic cover as he thinks he can get away with."
"Rope-a-dope" became shorthand for OPP (Other People's Punditry) on Bush's evasive actions. Ed Driscoll cited a Bush-approving Washington Times story as "LARRY KUDLOW ON THE ROPE-A-DOPE." Quoth Fredrik K.R. Norman: "I vote for rope-a-dope."
But now May is drawing to a close, and the warbloggers' patience is wearing thin. "I've been really willing to give Bush a lot of room," sighs James Morrow, "in believing he was maintaining a 'rope-a-dope' strategy in the Middle East, but now I'm not so sure." Justin Adams despairs at Curmudgeonry, "Now I don't trust President Bush to go to war with Iraq" -- and you know he's serious, because he doesn't even cite the r-a-d word. And Instapundit warns, "It better be rope-a-dope." Or else what? one wonders.
But GedankenPundit has the answer: A new neologism! "I think that rope-a-dope covers only what needs to be done to keep the region quiet until Saddam is gone," he says; "Call it descope-a-dope, perhaps."
