Olbermann provides a most eloquent, passionate and concise deconstruction of the Bush Administration’s policies which are undermining this fine country, at home and abroad. It is as fine a peice of editorial journalism as you will find on televison in our time, or any other. Murrow and Kronkite would be most proud.
For an almost complete transcript, be sure to check out the source over at CrooksandLiars.com.
Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld and company recently stepped up their campaign of FUD (Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt) against critics of the Bush administration.Along the way, it ceased to be “the war on terror” and is now the War on Islamic Fascists. And according to Rumsfeld, if you don’t buy into this spinjob, you must be an idiot.
Huh?
To be clear … I am not a knee-jerk pacifist. I believe that war, terrible machine that it is, is sometimes necessary. Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Iran and North Korea, all need to be dealt with. Furthermore, I believe Saddam needed to be removed from power. I do not think that terrorists can or should be “appeased”. Osama bin Laden and his captains need to be hunted down and, after a war tribunal, executed. The heads of the hydra need to be cut off. This will win the primary battle of this modern, non-traditional war.
While decapitating the Al Qaeda hydra will win the battle, it will not keep new heads from springing up and therefore will not end this war. To “burn the stumps”, we need to regain the moral authority hard earned by Brokaw’s “greatest generation”. Rather than imposing our will on the world, we need to work with the world (and not just Great Britain) to run this hydra to ground and kill it.
Associating the words Islam and Fascist, is no way to build consensus and common goals. Not all Islamists are Fascists, yet. The way we are headed, that may change.
Recall the out-pouring of grief and support we received from practically every nation in the world on 9/11. In the weeks to follow, the world, at least the great majority of it, stood with us. Operations in Afghanistan were widely supported because the objectives and targets were clear.
Iraq changed all that.
We claim to hunt rogue nations, when our government has gone rogue itself. Now, nations look at us askance; eyes filled with fear, uncertainty and doubt. And, our targets are not just Al Qaeda or even Saddam. Now, they include us; each and every one of us.
The Bush Administration is a pack of wolves in sheep dog clothing. Everyday, they cry wolf and point their eyes at the flock of sheep. While the sheep mill about trying to find the alleged wolf, they fatten up on the weak-minded and the weak-willed. When the sheep dog disguise slips, they pounce on the bold, vocal minority and cry wolf in an attempt to protect their ruse. Worst of all, they sit on the hill overlooking the flock and ignore the looming threat of the hydra, who is leaner, meaner and far more blood-thirsty than they will ever be.
But, I don’t blame them. Lazy, convenient predation is the nature of the beast. One cannot blame a wolf for being a wolf.
No. I blame us. I blame you. I blame me.
We sat by like sheep when Bush stole the 2000 election. We obliviously chewed our cud while he led us into war in Iraq under false pretense. In 2004, we looked shocked when he won again on a campaign conveniently fueled by fear and stoked by duplicity at polls in Ohio and beyond.
When Bush and his pack sat on their tails as Katrina drowned New Orleans and beyond, we looked up from the grass for a bit and then went back to grazing. When they applied wire-tap collars to the flock, we shrugged. They said it was for our own good. And we believed them, even though those collars can quickly become garrotes.
We have become a nation of lazy, non-voting, non-vocal sheep. We take our elections for granted and assume our leaders mean our nation well … even as evidence mounts to the contrary.
I, for one, am tired of being a sheep. And, being wolf really is not in my nature. There are no sheep dogs for hire. The wolves killed them or ran them off. So, I guess I’ll have to trade in my wooly fleece and simple life for a hunter’s keen nose (critical thinking), a sharp set of teeth (my vote) and a long mournful howl (my voice).
I suggest you do the same.
Armed with these tools, we can take back the hill from most of the wolves this fall. Then, we can give the alpha male and pups the boot in 2008. Along the way, we can begin to focus serious attention on the true threat … the desert hydra.
PS: My apologies to the species canis lupus for comparing their kind to the Bush Administration. While it makes my point, it is an insult to wolves everywhere.
Donald Rumsfeld briefed the president this morning. He told Bush that Brazilian soliders were killed in Iraq. To everyone’s amazement, all the color drained from Bush’s face, he then collaspsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost in tears.
Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld:
“Just exactly how many is a brazillian?”
My wife sent me this joke, which she received from a family friend. Casually reading through it, I did a classic comedy spit-take.
Coffee … all over … the desk.
This might be the best Dubya joke ever written. Why? Because, it rings true. The best jokes often do. How sad is that?
A Federal Judge finally stands up to the Bush Administration on the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping and Bill O’Reilly trots out a “Joe McCarthy” wannabe to essentially call her a dirty, pinko commie. O’Reilly needs to look up the definition of “yellow journalism“. He’ll find his photo staring back at him.