On Countdown Wednesday night, Keith Olbermann had some comments on Donald Rumsfeld’s Tuesday speech to the American Legion convention. By Thursday, it was all over the blogs. (Full transcript here.)
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 flu vaccine shortages, 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 Emperor’s New Clothes?
Olbermann ended with an extended quote from Edward R. Murrow:
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty,” he said, in 1954. “We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.
“We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.”
brainrow :: Pre-9/11 Thinking and the Blame Game | 30-Sep-06 at 6:13 pm | Permalink
[…] Olbermann is often forcefully critical of the Bush administration, and this has made him a favorite among many anti-Bush blogs, including this one. A month ago, he made a strongly-worded “special comment” in response to a Donald Rumsfeld speech comparing critics of the Iraq War to World War II-era appeasers of fascism. Olbermann seemed genuinely angry, and the blogosphere was buzzing for days. […]