Other coverage of Tom's HASC appearance

ZenPundit linked our posts over here as well as Galrahn's first person account. The main part about Tom:

My favorite moment was during Thomas Barnett's opening statement, which I thought was really good. Dr. Barnett said something along the lines of "I want allies with million man armies and I want them to be ready to kill people," which is strategically exactly right.

Well, what the audio and video won't show is the reaction by Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D), who looked to me like she was about to either feint or have a heart attack when Barnett said that. It was a priceless moment of facial expressions as she struggled to cope with the idea he was expressing. Honestly, I'm still laughing writing about it here. It was only afterward I was reminded that she is co-sponsor in the creation of a new government organization.

TOM'S FOLLOW-UP COMMENT: I will go with Galrahn's analysis and retract my "I don't give a f--k" about future testifying. It was indeed an honor to be asked and I gave it my best shot because I did think it was important. Thompson got under my skin a bit, and to my credit (not usual for me, frankly), I did not reciprocate his cattiness. So I unloaded a bit in the initial blog post (heh, it is a diary!).

But Galrahn's take is far more objective than mine--obviously. So if he took the hearing seriously, I will subscribe to his thinking and shelve my ego on that one.

My initial post was like being interviewed right on the field after the game (which I was, actually, and decidedly kept my cool there, too, which is why I felt the need to unload in the blog on Thompson, who really does make you want to take a shower after you've been around him). Galrahn's thinking is much closer to mine, now that a day has passed.

The funny thing about Galrahn's notes: When I told Vonne that I said something that almost gave a Maine congresswoman a heart attack, she quipped, "Did you say, 'I'm moving to Maine?'"

The truth is, despite whatever you feel about any individual encounter, someone like me always wants to get back on the horse. My flash anger is typically about my own feeling that I could have performed better. So yeah, given the chance, I will come back with guns blazing because my #1 rule has always been: NEVER TURN DOWN A CHANCE AT PUBLIC SPEAKING!

Comments

[michal shapiro]

The real last line of that report by Galrahn was not printed."It was only afterward I was reminded that she is co-sponsor in the creation of a new government organization, "The Department of Peace." I hope that she was able to absorb Doc's particular sanguine humor. I would imagine the Department of Peace could be one of the parents of the Department of Everything Else. Although I laughed out loud when I read the account of her reaction, it would be a shame if she misinterpreted the remark, and was thus closed off to the full range of his ideas.