"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam. How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
-- John Kerry
Given a recent poll that said that a majority of people think the Iraq excursion was a mistake, who will be the soldier who testifies in Congress this time? Who will the one who asks "how do you ask a man (or woman) to be the last one to die for a mistake?" Who will say like John Kerry did in his class oration in 1966:
"And this [war] has found our policy makers forcing Americans into a strange corner ... that if victory escapes us it would not be the fault of those who lead, but of the doubters who stabbed them in the back ... We have not really lost the desire to serve. We question the very roots of what we are serving."
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To Freeman, concerns about one's honor and reputation led early American politicians to create a highly charged political culture that involved shifting political alliances, gossip, "paper wars," and even, at times, duels.
-- from a review of Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic by Joanne B. Freeman
I really don't care if Cheney told Leahy "fuck you" ... unless, you know, the sorts he hangs with insists in being all hypocritical about the thing. For instance, Tucker Carlson, the bow tie wearing conservative commentator, noted in his book how Karen Hughes refused to admit, truth notwithstanding, her boss had a little potty in his interview with Carlson. Giving the moralistic sorts that make up his base, and the hypocritical nature of the country, she rightly felt this would be looked upon badly by various sorts.
It's of course hypocritical, but that is our way ... we are such a moralistic country, notwithstanding we are far from moral much of the time. So we worry about a bit of boob on the t.v. or some profanity on the airwaves -- Congress falling over themselves to up the available fines if a Howard Stern crosses some imaginary line.
Hypocrites ... but so are we ... so they continue doing it. It is somewhat refreshing to have such a s.o.b. like Cheney out there. So curse like a sailor, uh Dick,* it's okay.
* Their very names are obscene ... what do you expect from them? Like really.