Susan Sontag :
The unanimously applauded, self-congratulatory bromides of a Soviet Party Congress seemed contemptible. The unanimity of the sanctimonious, reality-concealing rhetoric spouted by American officials and media commentators in recent days seems, well, unworthy of a mature democracy.
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Congress
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Politicians and Politics
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Democracy
Gift it
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=110192&author=Susan Sontag"e=The+unanimously+applauded%2C+self-congratulatory+bromides+of+a+Soviet+Party+Congress+seemed+contemptible.+The+unanimity+of+the+sanctimonious%2C+reality-concealing+rhetoric+spouted+by+American+officials+and+media+commentators+in+recent+days+seems%2C+well%2C+unworthy+of+a+mature+democracy.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F200%2FSusan+Sontag_64x64.png){kind=link}
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![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=27604&author=Jan Zamoiski"e=++Rhetoric+is+nothing%2C+but+reason+well+dressed+and+argument+put+in+order.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F5984%2FJan+Zamoiski_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=95579&author=Rush Limbaugh"e=Here+is+a+Morning+Update+that+we+did+recently%2C+talking+about+fake+soldiers.+This+is+a+story+of+who+the+left+props+up+as+heroes.+They+have+their+celebrities+and+one+of+them+was+Army+Ranger+Jesse+MacBeth.+Now%2C+he+was+a+%22corporal.%22+I+say+in+quotes.+Twenty-three+years+old.+What+made+Jesse+MacBeth+a+hero+to+the+anti-war+crowd+wasn%27t+his+Purple+Heart%3B+it+wasn%27t+his+being+affiliated+with+post-traumatic+stress+disorder+from+tours+in+Afghanistan+and+Iraq.+No.+What+made+Jesse+MacBeth%2C+Army+Ranger%2C+a+hero+to+the+left+was+his+courage%2C+in+their+view%2C+off+the+battlefield%2C+without+regard+to+consequences.+He+told+the+world+the+abuses+he+had+witnessed+in+Iraq%2C+American+soldiers+killing+unarmed+civilians%2C+hundreds+of+men%2C+women%2C+even+children.+In+one+gruesome+account%2C+translated+into+Arabic+and+spread+widely+across+the+Internet%2C+Army+Ranger+Jesse+MacBeth+describes+the+horrors+this+way%3A+%22We+would+burn+their+bodies.+We+would+hang+their+bodies+from+the+rafters+in+the+mosque.%22+Now%2C+recently%2C+Jesse+MacBeth%2C+poster+boy+for+the+anti-war+left%2C+had+his+day+in+court.+And+you+know+what%3F+He+was+sentenced+to+five+months+in+jail+and+three+years+probation+for+falsifying+a+Department+of+Veterans+Affairs+claim+and+his+Army+discharge+record.+He+was+in+the+Army.+Jesse+MacBeth+was+in+the+Army%2C+folks%2C+briefly.+Forty-four+days+before+he+washed+out+of+boot+camp.+Jesse+MacBeth+isn%27t+an+Army+Ranger%2C+never+was.+He+isn%27t+a+corporal%2C+never+was.+He+never+won+the+Purple+Heart%2C+and+he+was+never+in+combat+to+witness+the+horrors+he+claimed+to+have+seen.+You+probably+haven%27t+even+heard+about+this.+And%2C+if+you+have%2C+you+haven%27t+heard+much+about+it.+This+doesn%27t+fit+the+narrative+and+the+template+in+the+Drive-By+Media+and+the+Democrat+Party+as+to+who+is+a+genuine+war+hero.+Don%27t+look+for+any+retractions%2C+by+the+way.+Not+from+the+anti-war+left%2C+the+anti-military+Drive-By+Media%2C+or+the+Arabic+websites+that+spread+Jesse+MacBeth%27s+lies+about+our+troops%2C+because+the+truth+for+the+left+is+fiction+that+serves+their+purpose.+They+have+to+lie+about+such+atrocities+because+they+can%27t+find+any+that+fit+the+template+of+the+way+they+see+the+US+military.+In+other+words%2C+for+the+American+anti-war+left%2C+the+greatest+inconvenience+they+face+is+the+truth.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F210%2FRush+Limbaugh_64x64.png){kind=link}
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![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=41048&author=Marcus T Cicero"e=++Great+is+the+power%2C+great+is+the+authority+of+a+senate+that+is+unanimous+in+its+opinions.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F305%2FMarcus+Tullius_Cicero_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=91404&author=Benito Juárez"e=The+government+of+the+republic+will+fulfill+its+duty+to+defend+its+independence%2C+to+repel+foreign+aggression%2C+and+accept+the+struggle+to+which+it+has+been+provoked%2C+counting+on+the+unanimous+spirit+of+the+Mexicans+and+on+the+fact+that+sooner+or+later+the+cause+of+rights+and+justice+will+triumph.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F14268%2FBenito_Ju%C3%A1rez_64x64.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=41054&author=Mary Mccarthy"e=++The+American%2C+if+he+has+a+spark+of+national+feeling%2C+will+be+humiliated+by+the+very+prospect+of+a+foreigner%27s+visit+to+Congress+--+these%2C+for+the+most+part%2C+illiterate+hacks+whose+fancy+vests+are+spotted+with+gravy%2C+and+whose+speeches%2C+hypocritical%2C+unctuous%2C+and+slovenly%2C+are+spotted+also+with+the+gravy+of+political+patronage%2C+these+persons+are+a+reflection+on+the+democratic+process+rather+than+of+it%3B+they+expose+it+in+its+process+rather+than+of+it%3B+they+expose+it+in+its+underwear.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F2072%2FMary_Mccarthy_64x64.png){kind=link}
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![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=11863&author=Susan Sontag"e=++Industrial+societies+turn+their+citizens+into+image-junkies%3B+it+is+the+most+irresistible+form+of+mental+pollution.+Poignant+longings+for+beauty%2C+for+an+end+to+probing+below+the+surface%2C+for+a+redemption+and+celebration+of+the+body+of+the+world.+Ultimately%2C+having+an+experience+becomes+identical+with+taking+a+photograph+of+it.&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2FauthorIcons%2F200%2FSusan+Sontag_64x64.png){kind=link}
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