I’ve raised a fuss, on more than one occasion, about prominent pols failing to acknowledge their mistakes. With that in mind, I most certainly should be willing to acknowledge my own.<\/p>\n
I suggested<\/a> a few days ago that former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), who joined Time’s Swampland blog for a temporary stint, was a reasonable choice for the magazine to make.<\/p>\n As loathsome as I found Armey’s tenure in Congress, he has been rather provocative lately. During the flap over Kerry’s flubbed joke, he took Kerry’s side. Around the same time, he got into a fight with James Dobson, blasted the GOP’s role in the Terri Schiavo fiasco, and denounced Tom DeLay. A couple of months ago, he told McClatchy<\/a> that he lamented his 2002 Iraq vote (“Had I been more true to myself and the principles I believed in at the time, I would have openly opposed the whole adventure vocally and aggressively,” he said.)<\/p>\n Given all of this, I thought Armey might offer some insights at Swampland that were at least mildly interesting. He’d offer a conservative perspective, but he’d also, I thought, offer some pointed criticism at the right, some war analysis that runs counter to the White House, etc. I suggested it could make for some compelling blog reading.<\/p>\n I was wrong. Terribly, woefully, embarrassingly wrong. Armey seems entirely unable to conceal his hack-like tendencies and his foray into blogging is painful to watch. * Armey defended<\/a> Social Security privatization by pointing to Chile’s system — a talking point so vapid that even the White House avoided it in 2005.<\/p>\n * Armey wrote an item on Net Neutrality<\/a> that didn’t make any sense.<\/p>\n * Armey blathered on about “ownership<\/a>” while suggesting Social Security should be optional.<\/p>\n * Armey questioned<\/a> why Republican presidential candidates aren’t talking about Social Security (which he suggested is driving the nation towards “bankruptcy”).<\/p>\n * Armey encouraged<\/a> the Republican presidential candidates to “prove to America that they’re really about big ideas and small government.” How insightful.<\/p>\n * Armey denounced<\/a> regulation of health care and condemned “socialized” medicine.<\/p>\n * Armey argued<\/a> Hillary Clinton isn’t moderate.<\/p>\n * Armey denounced<\/a> regulation of health care and condemned “socialized” medicine. (Yes, again.)<\/p>\n
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\nConsider his posts:<\/p>\n