Comments on: Worse Than Waterplame

By: some guy

some guy — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 21:57:16 +0000

If you ask me, “Ghraib” is a better suffix than “Plame.”

And David, what “slander”? In order to be slanderous, and assertion needs to be not true. Which “gates” do you think are not true?

Either way, the hypothetical slander would lie in making false charges, not in the “gate” suffix itself. That’s inactionable lameness.

Implying that there’s some sort of bias present simply because there are more “gates/Plames/Ghraibs” when the president is a Republican than when he’s a Democrat is as ridiculous as implying that the refs in a basketball game were biased because they called more fouls on one team than the other.

And would ya leave your self-pity at home. If some guy wants to start attacking you in ad hominem terms such as “dumb ass Wallmart shopper from a flyover state” then he’s an asshole. But don’t try to insulate the positions you’re taking from legitimate criticism by implying that any disagreement is elitist snobbery. As it happens, I’m from a “flyover state” myself. But what’s that got to do with anything?

By: David Hucks

David Hucks — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 06:45:04 +0000

I totally agree, the gate thing is worn out.

If we are going to reach back so far for garnishings, what would we call these things?:

Running a gay brothel out of your Home as a prominent government official:

Brothelgate? No way

Having a gay affair, as a married man, and giving your gay lover an excellent contract?

Affair gate? Not a chance

Dating an intern who turns up dead in a park?

No looking into this gate? Too weird

How about?

Trafficantegate… What happened to that guy?

Let’s really reach back…

Ted Drowns a drunk girl gate? Sophmoric

I certainly believe gate is largely overused, and with the exception of a girl giving blowjobs and some white water deal, this slander is genuinely tossed at one party in particular.

What do you guys think?

A dumb ass Wallmart shopper from a flyover state.

By: Hal

Hal — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 01:34:30 +0000

WMD had nothing to do with anything.
WMD was a ruse, a red herring, a decoy.
The issue is the partitioning of Palestine.
The world will not accept the partitioning of Palestine.
U.S. foreign policy is being dictated by a foreign government.
The current war is in support of the partitioning of Palestine, and nothing else.
The USA has been buying oil from scoundrels for generations.
Oil is not the issue.

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 17:42:01 +0000

The use of -gate signals it’s elevation to the status of political scandal. Instead of reliving the past, perhaps we should be forward looking and anticipate things that Bush will fuck up. Everyone assumes there will be scandals in the next four years and it is our duty to help the process along. And as we all know facts are irrelevant when creating a scandal. The republicans taught us that.

By: SIVACRACY.NET: Siva Vaidhyanathan's Weblog

SIVACRACY.NET: Siva Vaidhyanathan's Weblog — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 15:26:58 +0000

Naming-gate

From The Talent Show: “It’s strange that thirty years later, we’re still using Watergate as the measuring stick for all scandals. Since the current resident at 1600 Penn has been been on hand for quite a few scandals worse than…

By: Kevin Hayden

Kevin Hayden — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 12:05:54 +0000

This has long been a pet peeve of mine, too. -gate is simply lazy journalism. But why not just invent something catchy each time?

For example, I’m sick of the misnomer “WMD”. For example, chemicals are no more a mass destruction force than some of our conventional bombs. And particularly in light of the folly that justified another Bush Oil War, it’s time to kill that one.

IWMDTDF is better: Invisible Weapons of Mass Destruction To Die For.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 10:12:07 +0000

However, in the UK we seem to get -gate for almost everything as well. The best exception that springs to mind was the wonderful ‘dodgy dossier’. (I thank my lucky stars for the lack of ‘dossiergate’)

By: Assamite

Assamite — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 05:36:18 +0000

But then the WMD fiasco gets trivialized into a little “affair”.

By: August J. Pollak - xoverboard.com

August J. Pollak - xoverboard.com — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 01:43:36 +0000

Yeah, but “Waterplame” sounds like a hippie birthing technique

Greg joins the “stop with the -gate” bandwagon….

By: The Critic

The Critic — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 14:54:06 +0000

I’m fond of the European (mostly British) habit of referring to these things as “affairs.”

The Plame Affair.

Granted, if you can distract your mind from context, that sounds almost nice. The Plame Affair. Like a fling you had back in the day.

So while I may be fond of it, I don’t think it resonates as someone pointed out above. The only benefit I can really see other than relieving –gate of doing all that heavy lifting is that it would force Republicans into using the word “affair” repeatedly, hopefully translating into action. Then we’d get some resignations and more exposure of the right as morally bankrupt.

Wishful thinking on my part.