In the last few weeks, Seattle newspaper readers have been blessed with a trio of op-ed pieces written by current and emeritus faculty members from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. These three public policy scholars, entrusted with the noble duty of training our state's future policy makers, have flooded the media with their commentary in an apparent attempt to show off their scholarly brilliance and comprehension of public affairs.
On July 25 in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, former Evans School dean Hubert Locke reviews a book that he didn't bother to read and shares his initimate knowledge of secret White House discussions:
the nation's secretary of defense, I'm told, has written a book titled "Rumsfeld's Rules." I've not found occasion (or reason) to read it but, apparently, it contains such gems as "It's easier to get into a situation than to get out of one" or words to that effect. Clearly, it's a piece of advice he didn't share with his commander in chief before they decided to invade Iraq.On August 1 in the Seattle Times, professor emeritus Walter Williams claims that George W Bush is the only President who has ever aggressively sold his policies to the electorate
He is the first president to use propaganda as the main weapon in selling his policiesand he wants to impeach President Bush for saying something that the President never said:
Bush mixed misinformation, distorted allegations and unsubstantiated rumors to persuade the public of the imminent danger posed by Saddam HusseinWilliams is also the author of the forthcoming book Reaganism and the Death of Representative Democracy. [Hold on, didn't Reagan get re-elected in one of the most representative landslides in U.S. history? -- Ed.]
On August 8 in the Seattle Times former dean Margaret Gordon calls for making the American media more like the BBC, in part because she believes that private sector media companies are the financial equivalent of perpetual motion machines:
Meanwhile, the push for corporate profit margins much higher than those of average American businesses goes on — with 40 to 100 percent in the electronic media[I have more on Prof. Gordon here]
Jim Miller, on the other hand, isn't terribly impressed with the Evans scholars. Miller asks:
Why is the Seattle Times publishing all these pieces that discredit the professors who write them and academics in general? Could editorial page editor, James Vesely, a sharp journalist, share my view that our universities are in great need of reform? Is he publishing these columns to demonstrate just how poor some of the thinking is at our universities?Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 11, 2003 02:28 PM
"Before the U.S. invasion, the strong consensus based on intelligence community information held that there were only negligible Iraqi ties with al-Qaida, no nuclear weapons program of any consequence, and limited chemical and biological weapons programs at most."
How W. went back in time to deceive Clinton, Albright and Cohen, to launch Desert Fox and to pass the Iraq Liberation Act is not mentioned.
One wonders how the Seattle Times justifies printing this irrational screed. This is an unbalanced, pathological diatribe, not a genuine analysis. This is the splenetic raving of a hate-filled hack, hardly even worthy of the Stranger or Village Voice.
Sent to James Vesely:
Tell me, why would Walter Williams accuse Bush of fabricating, concocting the idea that Saddam had WMD programs, when Clinton, Albright and Cohen said the same things before Desert Fox and the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998? Why does he suggest propaganda and deception when sanctions had been in place for 12 years? Why does he pretend to believe Bush developed the concept of Iraq WMDs from scratch over a two-year period?
I know why. Partisan, irrational hatred, and nothing more.
Professor emeritus, from the Latin:
"e"=out of it, "meritus"=because he deserves to be.
----
thanks for posting this, Stefan.
Brian (aka "chopped liver")
Gotta love that Dan Evans' legacy he's left here in Washington state.
In addition to the "scholars" and crap pieces being pumped out by his "school" of public affairs, he's also the man responsible for spawning The Evergreen State College ... home of terrorist sympathizers, enablers and bulldozer bait.
Posted by: jimg on August 11, 2003 05:48 PMWhere can I get me some of those 40-100% media profit margings? All the ones I can find seem to be in the 5-10% range....
If there is anything that we should be attacking (or tearing down) in this country, it should be those ivory towers where the elite intelligentia live. Maybe the days of tenure (a form of welfare paid by the public) needs to be discarded. If they had to work in the real world and actually produce something of value, it might give them a different perspective.
Posted by: Pearl Chang on August 16, 2003 01:58 PM