Plain Speaking
Aug 31st, 2006 at 8:00 am by Susie
Please, go read all of what Keith Olbermann said last night. And then ponder on the sorry state of national affairs when a sportscaster and a comedian vie for our country’s leadership, and not our “leaders”:
That, about which Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this: This is a Democracy. Still. Sometimes just barely.
And, as such, all voices count — not just his.
Had he or his president perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience — about Osama Bin Laden’s plans five years ago, about Saddam Hussein’s weapons four years ago, about Hurricane Katrina’s impact one year ago — we all might be able to swallow hard, and accept their “omniscience†as a bearable, even useful recipe, of fact, plus ego.
But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance, and its own hubris.
Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina, to the entire “Fog of Fear†which continues to envelop this nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies have — inadvertently or intentionally — profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.
And yet he can stand up, in public, and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the Emporer’s New Clothes?
In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?
The confusion we — as its citizens— must now address, is stark and forbidding.
But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and obscured our flag. Note — with hope in your heart — that those earlier Americans always found their way to the light, and we can, too.
UPDATE: You can go see the whole thing at Crooks & Liars.
Olbermann nailed it on the head, as he does so many times.
Rove, Rumsfeld Cheny and the Frat Boy are cartoons. When the Democrats take the House, the troops will be supported both financially and militarily. The Administration will be exposed. There will be no impeachment but the Administration will be left hanging at the end of every lie from Tora Bora to Iraq, to torture, to spying, to colusion with pharmaceuticals, health insurance companies and oil corporations, to corruption and bribes.