Althouse On Our National "Conversation"

Via Instapundit:

Ann Althouse lends her voice to our national "conversation":


"I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place."

Conversation? Man, "conversation" has become one of those Orwellian words. There it is in Obama's NYT interview, where he's saying something that invites the relabeling that Sarah Palin so effectively slapped on it — "death panels."

Where is the room for "conversation" in this "debate"? If one side, mine, believes that the government has no business being invovled in health care and does not trust the government to be involved in health care and the other side believes that the government is the answer to all things great and small, there is precious little wiggle room.

It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just
through the normal political channels. And that's part of why you have to have
some independent group that can give you guidance. It's not determinative, but I
think has to be able to give you some guidance. And that's part of what I
suspect you'll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that
are taking place on the Hill right now.

Conversations! Damn! As if the government does not have power! Oh, but it's "not determinative," you say. It's just "some guidance." He said that, see? Ugh! Spare me! We're right to be afraid now, while the man is burbling about conversation. You know damned well he's about to say and now the time for conversation is over, and we must pass legislation. Before, he was all quick, shut up, it's an emergency, pass the legislation. People freaked, so then he deemed the period of freakage part of the conversation, and there, it has occurred, and now: shut up, pass the legislation.

We are told to believe that it means what it didn't seem to mean when HE said it and if we would just trust and act with sufficient speed the truth will be made clear in all good time. Oddly, those who would say that the previous sentence makes no sense are those who understand the Words of the One. Oddly, those who would ask us to accept The Change on faith, are those who often mock the Scriptures. And suddenly, irony is no longer funny.

Althouse:

Obama's final fillip:

In the end, this isn’t about politics.

Oh, come on! But this post is already too long, and it's about the rhetorical use of "conversation." "This isn’t about politics" is at least as common and at least as disingenuous, but we'll have to have our conversation about this isn’t about politics some other day.

Amen.