HEY HEY HEY

[Wolter]

I like the observation that the good and bad actions people take don't get added and subtracted like items on a ledger - all the good and ill we do sits together, neither canceling each other out. I think most of our moral orientations repulse from that idea, but that's the way it is.

I like that observation too.

[Flex]

But he does deserve credit for expending political capital to push thru the civil rights bills and the War on Poverty program. Caro's bio is a really good example of presenting how complicated and conflicted historical assessment can be. His Johnson is someone to marvel at and recoil from, often at the same time.

Yeah, I think that's what I was getting at with the rest of my post.

[Dr. Medulla]

But he does deserve credit for expending political capital to push thru the civil rights bills and the War on Poverty program. Caro's bio is a really good example of presenting how complicated and conflicted historical assessment can be. His Johnson is someone to marvel at and recoil from, often at the same time.

Yeah, I think that's what I was getting at with the rest of my post.

I thought so, but there was pretty apparent snark in the paragon of virtue line, so I was addressing possible ambiguity.

[Flex]

well, i think the dems who uncritically adore johnson are immoral fuckheads. I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard "if you just leave aside his foreign policy..." at a Dems meeting when discussing past presidential greats.

[Wolter]

well, i think the dems who uncritically adore johnson are immoral fuckheads. I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard "if you just leave aside his foreign policy..." at a Dems meeting when discussing past presidential greats.

Yeah. Uncritical praise of Johnson is asinine.

[Dr. Medulla]

well, i think the dems who uncritically adore johnson are immoral fuckheads. I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard "if you just leave aside his foreign policy..." at a Dems meeting when discussing past presidential greats.

Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?

(And I'll readily praise LBJ's ability. The guy was the most skilled politician of the 20th c, someone who knew how to manipulate people and process with stunning clarity. But ideology and history have a momentum of their own that even he couldn't control, something in his arrogance he never fully understood. That's what makes Caro's study so engrossing—a guy who had the ability and seemingly the context to be among the greatest of presidents, but the ability turned against him as quickly as did the context.)