Rare Political Ranting.
Oct. 6th, 2006 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
per_soloPolitical partial ranting ahead.
Thanks to Filkertom, I've been reading the transcripts of some of the political commentary given by Keith Olbermann, who some are calling the new Murrow.
He has a way with words, that most writers I know (and wannabes as myself) find envious.
In his most recent talk, he asks
"But tonight the stark question we must face is - why?
Why has the ferocity of your venom against the Democrats, now exceeded the ferocity of your venom against the terrorists?
Why have you chosen to go down in history as the President who made things up?
In less than one month you have gone from a flawed call to unity, to this clarion call to hatred of Americans, by Americans.
If this is not simply the most shameless example of the rhetoric of political hackery, then it would have to be the cry of a leader crumbling under the weight of his own lies.
We have, of course, survived all manner of political hackery, of every shape, size, and party.
We will have to suffer it, for as long as the Republic stands.
But the premise of a President who comes across as a compulsive liar — is nothing less than terrifying.
A President who since 9/11 will not listen, is not listening — and thanks to Bob Woodward's most recent account — evidently has never listened.
A President who since 9/11 so hates or fears other Americans, that he accuses them of advocating deliberate inaction in the face of the enemy.
A President who since 9/11 has savaged the very freedoms he claims to be protecting from attack. Attack by terrorists, or by Democrats, or by both — it is now impossible to find a consistent thread of logic as to who Mr. Bush believes the enemy is.
But if we know one thing for certain about Mr. Bush, it is this:
This President — in his bullying of the Senate last month and in his slandering of the Democrats this month — has shown us that he believes whoever the enemies are — they are hiding themselves inside a dangerous cloak, called the Constitution of the United States of America.
How often do we find priceless truth in the unlikeliest of places?
I tonight quote, not Jefferson nor Voltaire — but "Cigar Aficionado Magazine."
On September 11th, 2003, the editor of that publication interviewed General Tommy Franks — at that point, just retired from his post as Commander-In-Chief of U.S. Central Command — of Cent-Com.
And amid his quaint defenses of the-then nagging absence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, or the continuing freedom of Osama Bin Laden, General Franks said some of the most profound words of this generation.
He spoke of "the worst thing that can happen" to this country:
First, quoting, a "massive casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western World — it may be in the United States of America."
Then, the general continued, "the western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we've seen for a couple of hundred years, in this grand experiment that we call democracy."
It was this super-patriotic warrior's fear that we would lose that most cherished liberty, because of another attack, one — again quoting General Franks — "that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass-casualty-producing event. Which, in fact, then begins to potentially unravel the fabric of our Constitution."
And once again, I urge folks to go read "Transmetropolitan". In it, in a speech, The Beast (The president at the time) is talking to Spider about what he, as president, has to do, and what he doesn't have to do. He moved a bunch of low income families into a deathtrap neighborhood, and then rationalizes it away as "What, I should help them because they didn't vote for me?", and basically sums it up that if 51% of the American People are able to survive another day, then he's done his job.
I'd posit that part of El Presidente's delusion and irrationality is because the margin of people who voted for him was SO slim, and he feels he is doing God's Work, so why worry about the losers who didn't vote for him, and don't want him there? Who are we to question the President? Aside from the people who have to figure a way to fix things when a president completely fucks it up.
The thing I keep hearing people say is "Well, Kerry/Gore wouldn't have done any better", and that, that is just delusional bullshit too. They MAY not have, They MAY have, but we cannot hindsight that one. They weren't given the chance, so we'll never know how either of them would have reacted under the same circumstances that Bush has. However, we KNOW how Bush will react. First, he'll say he is doing the job he has been appointed, then he'll say he's protecting us from the people overseas who want to attack and kill us here. And then he'll say it's perfectly ok if we kill a lot of innocents (Americans AND Iraqi), but that damnit, he knows what he is doing, and damn anyone who doesn't agree/enable him.
Paranoid Delusions do not befit the leader of this country, and unfortunately, due to either 51% of the people, or shady voting machines (and the fact that people aren't rising up to bitch more about it), he IS the leader right now. The Democrats are spineless, in that even if they win the house and senate this year (I'm not going to hold my breath), they STILL will not set up to have his ass impeached. And that makes them just as cowardly.
Power, for Power's sake. Pitiful.
Again, even if you only start with the third book, READ Transmet. There are points in it where you'd swear it was just written in the last few years, and that's damned creepy.
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murrow
Wiki Entry on Edward R Murrow, who Olbermann has been compared to.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/05/olbermanns-special-comment-it-is-not-the-democrats-whose-inaction-in-the-face-of-the-enemy-you-fear/#more-10808
Commentary from Olbermann in regards to the above quotes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmetropolitan
Wiki entry on Transmetropolitan, one of my favorite comics of all time. Especially as things continue as they are.
Thanks to Filkertom, I've been reading the transcripts of some of the political commentary given by Keith Olbermann, who some are calling the new Murrow.
He has a way with words, that most writers I know (and wannabes as myself) find envious.
In his most recent talk, he asks
"But tonight the stark question we must face is - why?
Why has the ferocity of your venom against the Democrats, now exceeded the ferocity of your venom against the terrorists?
Why have you chosen to go down in history as the President who made things up?
In less than one month you have gone from a flawed call to unity, to this clarion call to hatred of Americans, by Americans.
If this is not simply the most shameless example of the rhetoric of political hackery, then it would have to be the cry of a leader crumbling under the weight of his own lies.
We have, of course, survived all manner of political hackery, of every shape, size, and party.
We will have to suffer it, for as long as the Republic stands.
But the premise of a President who comes across as a compulsive liar — is nothing less than terrifying.
A President who since 9/11 will not listen, is not listening — and thanks to Bob Woodward's most recent account — evidently has never listened.
A President who since 9/11 so hates or fears other Americans, that he accuses them of advocating deliberate inaction in the face of the enemy.
A President who since 9/11 has savaged the very freedoms he claims to be protecting from attack. Attack by terrorists, or by Democrats, or by both — it is now impossible to find a consistent thread of logic as to who Mr. Bush believes the enemy is.
But if we know one thing for certain about Mr. Bush, it is this:
This President — in his bullying of the Senate last month and in his slandering of the Democrats this month — has shown us that he believes whoever the enemies are — they are hiding themselves inside a dangerous cloak, called the Constitution of the United States of America.
How often do we find priceless truth in the unlikeliest of places?
I tonight quote, not Jefferson nor Voltaire — but "Cigar Aficionado Magazine."
On September 11th, 2003, the editor of that publication interviewed General Tommy Franks — at that point, just retired from his post as Commander-In-Chief of U.S. Central Command — of Cent-Com.
And amid his quaint defenses of the-then nagging absence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, or the continuing freedom of Osama Bin Laden, General Franks said some of the most profound words of this generation.
He spoke of "the worst thing that can happen" to this country:
First, quoting, a "massive casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western World — it may be in the United States of America."
Then, the general continued, "the western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we've seen for a couple of hundred years, in this grand experiment that we call democracy."
It was this super-patriotic warrior's fear that we would lose that most cherished liberty, because of another attack, one — again quoting General Franks — "that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass-casualty-producing event. Which, in fact, then begins to potentially unravel the fabric of our Constitution."
And once again, I urge folks to go read "Transmetropolitan". In it, in a speech, The Beast (The president at the time) is talking to Spider about what he, as president, has to do, and what he doesn't have to do. He moved a bunch of low income families into a deathtrap neighborhood, and then rationalizes it away as "What, I should help them because they didn't vote for me?", and basically sums it up that if 51% of the American People are able to survive another day, then he's done his job.
I'd posit that part of El Presidente's delusion and irrationality is because the margin of people who voted for him was SO slim, and he feels he is doing God's Work, so why worry about the losers who didn't vote for him, and don't want him there? Who are we to question the President? Aside from the people who have to figure a way to fix things when a president completely fucks it up.
The thing I keep hearing people say is "Well, Kerry/Gore wouldn't have done any better", and that, that is just delusional bullshit too. They MAY not have, They MAY have, but we cannot hindsight that one. They weren't given the chance, so we'll never know how either of them would have reacted under the same circumstances that Bush has. However, we KNOW how Bush will react. First, he'll say he is doing the job he has been appointed, then he'll say he's protecting us from the people overseas who want to attack and kill us here. And then he'll say it's perfectly ok if we kill a lot of innocents (Americans AND Iraqi), but that damnit, he knows what he is doing, and damn anyone who doesn't agree/enable him.
Paranoid Delusions do not befit the leader of this country, and unfortunately, due to either 51% of the people, or shady voting machines (and the fact that people aren't rising up to bitch more about it), he IS the leader right now. The Democrats are spineless, in that even if they win the house and senate this year (I'm not going to hold my breath), they STILL will not set up to have his ass impeached. And that makes them just as cowardly.
Power, for Power's sake. Pitiful.
Again, even if you only start with the third book, READ Transmet. There are points in it where you'd swear it was just written in the last few years, and that's damned creepy.
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murrow
Wiki Entry on Edward R Murrow, who Olbermann has been compared to.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/05/olbermanns-special-comment-it-is-not-the-democrats-whose-inaction-in-the-face-of-the-enemy-you-fear/#more-10808
Commentary from Olbermann in regards to the above quotes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmetropolitan
Wiki entry on Transmetropolitan, one of my favorite comics of all time. Especially as things continue as they are.
