Thursday, February 03, 2005
There's Already Been One Radical In The White House - I Don't Believe It Could Survive Another
For my own part, I was struck by how Little League it all was -- and I mean that literally, as in, a child being applauded, frequently and overenthusiastically, by grown-ups for attempting basic things. Problem was, this wasn't applause for getting on base or making the throw to first, on time or not -- this was the president and CEO of our nation, expressing his views on the condition and direction of America.
He got applause for talking about due process and making sure people eat.
He got applause for his lies about Social Security and Pell Grants and health care and reducing the deficit.
He got applause for his announcement that gang violence was a growing problem, and that his wife Laura would be spearheading the efforts. Laura can't frickin' control Jenna and NotJenna -- what does anyone think she knows, or can do, about the 'hood?
He discussed the most basic things, in the most basic terms, often incorrectly or outright lying (such as the Clear Skies Initiative), and the Repubs shot out of their chairs time and again as if William Castle had rigged the entire Congress for a remake of The Tingler.
It should not be a fucking applause line to say you'll help the troops recover from the war. Especially when those at Walter Reed are paying for their meals.
I used to complain about being angry all the time at the President. I was angry at Reagan, because I disagreed with his policies and I thought he was intellectually lazy at best. I was really angry at Bush I, because he turned out to be worse than Reagan, without the communication skills and without Alzheimer's as an excuse. I was even angry at Clinton, because he let himself get sidetracked on a few big things.
I am no longer angry at our President. I am humiliated by our President. I am ashamed that this evil, stupid child is running our country right into the ground, and the news media just keep sucking.
One other thing. Many Republican members of Congress had purple ink on their fingers, fatuously expressing what they believe to be "solidarity" or somesuch with the people in Iraq (who had similar ink on their fingers after voting this past weekend). Correspondent Charles Pierce said it best in Altercation the other day:
You do not own their courage.
The people who stood in line Sunday did not stand in line to make Americans feel good about themselves.
You do not own their courage.
They did not stand in line to justify lies about Saddam and al-Qaeda, so you don't own their courage, Stephen Hayes. They did not stand in line to justify lies about weapons of mass destruction, or to justify the artful dodginess of Ahmad Chalabi, so you don't own their courage, Judith Miller. They did not stand in line to provide pretty pictures for vapid suits to fawn over, so you don't own their courage, Howard Fineman, and neither do you, Chris Matthews.
You do not own their courage.
They did not stand in line in order to justify the dereliction of a kept press. They did not stand in line to make right the wrongs born out of laziness, cowardice, and the easy acceptance of casual lying. They did not stand in line for anyone's grand designs. They did not stand in line to play pawns in anyone's great game, so you don't own their courage, you guys in the PNAC gallery.
You do not own their courage.
They did not stand in line to provide American dilettantes with easy rhetorical weapons, so you don't own their courage, Glenn Reynolds, with your cornpone McCarran act out of the bowels of a great university that deserves a helluva lot better than your sorry hide. They did not stand in line to be the instruments of tawdry vilification and triumphal hooting from bloghound commandos. They did not stand in line to become useful cudgels for cheap American political thuggery, so you don't own their courage, Freeper Nation.
You do not own their courage.
They did not stand in line to justify a thousand mistakes that have led to more than a thousand American bodies. They did not stand in line for the purpose of being a national hypnotic for a nation not even their own. They did not stand in line for being the last casus belli standing. They did not stand in line on behalf of people's book deals, TV spots, honorarium checks, or tinpot celebrity. They did not stand in line to be anyone's talking points.
You do not own their courage.
We all should remember that.
