Pressler Makes NYT, Criticizes Nameless Elitist Hordes

For a former lieutenant, he does an awful lot of generalizing....

Former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler pops up on the op-ed page of the New York Times, decrying what he calls the "Technicality Generation." Pressler is reacting to the news that Connecticut Attorney General (and current Senate candidate) Richard Blumenthal dodged the Vietnam draft by seeking deferments and ultimately enlisting in the Marine Reserve. (Feel free to discuss differences with George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard.)

Opines Pressler:

Many of those who didn’t serve were helped by an inherently unfair draft. I don’t fault anyone for taking advantage of the law. Where I do find fault is among those who say they were avoiding the draft because they were idealistically opposed to the war — when, in fact, they mostly didn’t want to make the sacrifice [Larry Pressler, "The Technicality Generation," New York Times, 2010.05.18].

Stop right there. Didn't Larry sit in on any rhetoric classes at Oxford? When you say "in fact," you are generally expeced to present fact, not unsubstantiated assertion.

Pressler proceeds to indict a great swath of nameless, faceless targets. He asserts that "many" in his generation "cloaked themselves in idealism but deep down had to know that they were engaging in a charade." Had to know? Hmmm... speculating as to the mindset of the defendant... surely some prof at Harvard Law mentioned that's a bad strategy.

"This intellectual justification continues to this day," says Pressler, "only now these men are among our country’s leaders." Oh really? Which ones? Care to get specific?

Of course not. Pressler refers to private conversations where he was told "over and over" about the "deeply insidious thing" many of his classmates did. Many, too many... but never any specifics.

Pressler's vague assertions smell a bit of Gordon Howie's unsubstantiated claims about his budget independence. It sure sounds nice, but without any hard evidence, can we really buy it?

South Dakota Gets Press on Abortion, Pressler Defection

More of South Dakota in the national press:

• NPR's Morning Edition today covers the retread abortion ban.
• So does the Los Angeles Times.
• Politico.com gives this amazing quote from former Senator Larry Pressler, on why he cast his early ballot for Barack Obama: "We have to be a moderate party. We can't be for all these foreign military adventures. We have to stop spending so much money. My God, the deficit is so high! The Republican Party I knew in the 1970s is just all gone" [emphasis mine].
• AOL newsblogger David Knowles puts South Dakota alongside Arizona as "Red States in Play." GOP slipping in South Dakota and its nominee's Western home state—yikes.

Larry Pressler Votes for Obama!

Former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler clearly reads the Madville Times: he voted for Obama!

Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in the United States Senate, is the latest Republican to back Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Politico learned Sunday.

Pressler, who said that in addition to casting an absentee ballot for Obama he'd donated $500 to the Illinois senator's campaign, cited the Democrat's response to the financial crisis as the primary reason for his decision.

"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better," he said. By contrast, John McCain's "handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous" [Alexander Burns, "Former GOP Senator, Vet Backs Obama," Politico.com, 2008.10.26]

Good call, Larry! Whether you did it for the reasons above or to lead Operation Chaos II, you did the right thing.