Exactly What Is A "Coward?"
“Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.”
“American Idiot” by Green Day, 2005.
I tend to laugh at things that strike me as inept. Ineptitude is certainly a trait many of us have. Compound inept behavior with sheer arrogance and mindless stupidity, well…now you have a unique type of person.
Take the case of Republican Representative Jean Schmidt who referred to a decorated war hero and established Democratic Representative John Murtha as a “coward.” Full quote after she said she had received a call from a Marine colonel, who "asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do." She then retracted her statement after debate ensued, and she claimed she did not mean Murtha.
Uh-huh...right.
Alas, the silver-tongued lackey Schmidt is not alone in her comments. Vice President Dick Cheney said, “the president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or backbone, but we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history."
I am confident he did not mean Murtha either, right?
Here is the problem. Freedom of speech means that—freedom of speech. Now, I agree some blowhard (uh…like me) taking potshots is pushing it because I have never served and I do not understand the military approach as much as many more seasoned citizens. However, Murtha does. If Murtha says that he sees a problem with the war, the knee-jerk reaction to calling him a coward is inept and dangerous. It is also wrong.
And speaking of rewriting history, Mr. Cheney--WMD's??? Please be fair.
One has to love Murtha, though. He is quick-witted enough to fire back. "I like guys that have never been there to criticize us who have been there."
Yay! Win one for the intelligent side.
When did it become Un-American to voice an opinion? When did it become Un-American to ask the government questions? When did it become Un-American to say despotism is unacceptable? When did it become Un-American to question a President? Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Van Buren, Lincoln, Grant, Tyler, McKinley, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and the current Bush have all had their fair share of detractors. They knew it walking into the post and they should accept and expect it.
To call a decorated Veteran, who has faithfully served his country for over 40 years and who has the self-esteem to stand up and say he questions the goals of the government in a military action, a coward is just plain wrong. The cowardly acts seem to come from those who are clinging to political party lines and who lower themselves to throw disparaging names at loyal Americans.
America’s greatest strength, as historian Shelby Foote once noted, is its power and intellect to analyze and compromise. In these difficult times for our men overseas, let us not forget that. Let’s not forget what made America the great nation that it is.
I hate paranoia, I cannot accept inept behavior from people who should know better, and I cannot stand the hypocrisy of condemning a man, who risked his life and served his country and continued to serve after the battles were over, by people who have no idea what he experienced.
Kudos to President Bush, as he commented that he respected Murtha. Now, if only he could teach the rest of his party to do the same.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Well that's enough to argue.”
“American Idiot” by Green Day, 2005.
I tend to laugh at things that strike me as inept. Ineptitude is certainly a trait many of us have. Compound inept behavior with sheer arrogance and mindless stupidity, well…now you have a unique type of person.
Take the case of Republican Representative Jean Schmidt who referred to a decorated war hero and established Democratic Representative John Murtha as a “coward.” Full quote after she said she had received a call from a Marine colonel, who "asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do." She then retracted her statement after debate ensued, and she claimed she did not mean Murtha.
Uh-huh...right.
Alas, the silver-tongued lackey Schmidt is not alone in her comments. Vice President Dick Cheney said, “the president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or backbone, but we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history."
I am confident he did not mean Murtha either, right?
Here is the problem. Freedom of speech means that—freedom of speech. Now, I agree some blowhard (uh…like me) taking potshots is pushing it because I have never served and I do not understand the military approach as much as many more seasoned citizens. However, Murtha does. If Murtha says that he sees a problem with the war, the knee-jerk reaction to calling him a coward is inept and dangerous. It is also wrong.
And speaking of rewriting history, Mr. Cheney--WMD's??? Please be fair.
One has to love Murtha, though. He is quick-witted enough to fire back. "I like guys that have never been there to criticize us who have been there."
Yay! Win one for the intelligent side.
When did it become Un-American to voice an opinion? When did it become Un-American to ask the government questions? When did it become Un-American to say despotism is unacceptable? When did it become Un-American to question a President? Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Van Buren, Lincoln, Grant, Tyler, McKinley, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and the current Bush have all had their fair share of detractors. They knew it walking into the post and they should accept and expect it.
To call a decorated Veteran, who has faithfully served his country for over 40 years and who has the self-esteem to stand up and say he questions the goals of the government in a military action, a coward is just plain wrong. The cowardly acts seem to come from those who are clinging to political party lines and who lower themselves to throw disparaging names at loyal Americans.
America’s greatest strength, as historian Shelby Foote once noted, is its power and intellect to analyze and compromise. In these difficult times for our men overseas, let us not forget that. Let’s not forget what made America the great nation that it is.
I hate paranoia, I cannot accept inept behavior from people who should know better, and I cannot stand the hypocrisy of condemning a man, who risked his life and served his country and continued to serve after the battles were over, by people who have no idea what he experienced.
Kudos to President Bush, as he commented that he respected Murtha. Now, if only he could teach the rest of his party to do the same.
posted by Eric Sweetwood at 9:08 PM
2 Comments:
Eric:
Good comments on the Murtha situation. Pres. Bush can continue to say what he did to take himself out of the name calling situation. However, Cheney is still the attack dog of this administration--a man who was able to get four or five deferments to keep himself out of the Vietnam War.
By the way, have any of these men--Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld--had any children or other family members in the military? Not one I can find! If they had so, their perspective might change.
Two young men just arrived home in the Peoria area who were wounded and badly burned while in Iraq when they were hit by a bomb. My heart broke when I saw their scarred faces. One young man no longer has ears, eyebrows, etc.
Would like to see Bush, Cheney, and Rummy visit more with our wounded at Walter Reed and the other hospitals in the D.C. area. Murtha does.
Perhaps they would think more about where they send our young men and women if it were their own serving instead of living lives of the priviledged children of our leaders.
Lou Ann
I noticed that Dick (the most correctly named politician) Cheny recently retracted his statements.
What were those big "wishy-washy" comments from the White House referring to in the last election anyway? Here we go--Politics as usual for the GOP.
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