"[The Iraq media debate] is all just complete blather*, and never means anything"

we-e-e-e-e-ell... i would dispute the term "blather*"...

glenn greenwald...

It has been extremely difficult over the past several months to pay any attention at all to the discussion of Iraq from our political and media stars. It is all just complete blather, and never means anything. All of these stern and worried and tough words spill endlessly from their mouths -- they all proclaimed in May that September was the Day of Reckoning: there would be bipartisan, forced withdrawal if the political benchmarks weren't met -- only for the same thing to happen over and over. The conditions are not met; Bush proclaims we are staying; and the Washington Establishment submits.

[...]

(1) If X does not happen, there is no justification for staying; (2) X has not happened; (3) we must stay. That is why nothing they say has any meaning. Staying in Iraq is always the only real goal. Everything else is just pretext and blather to continue to do that.

perhaps i'm being excessively picky, but i think that "talking foolishly" ISN'T what is happening here... i think glenn destroys his own case for "blathering" when he says that "staying in iraq is always the only real goal"... if the "blathering" were being done "foolishly," it wouldn't HAVE a goal... instead, i believe it is being done consciously and deliberately...

blath·er
Pronunciation: 'bla-[th]&r
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): blath·ered; blath·er·ing /-[th](&-)ri[ng]/
Etymology: Old Norse blathra; akin to Middle High German blOdern to chatter
: to talk foolishly at length -- often used with on

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