Why does (insert name of prominent conservative here) hate America?
Newt Gingrich's recent call for the US to skedaddle from Iraq has been met with chortles and shaking heads. Wow. NEWT. GINGRICH. SAYS. WE. SHOULD. LEAVE. IRAQ. The Mighty Middle asks how Little Green Freeper Limpballs are going to take this short of having their brains go pop.
Of course, war critics on the right have always been there; one of those most notable was Brent Scowcroft, former national security advisor to President Ford and Daddy Bush...and one of Daddy Bush's bestest buds. And on the conservative libertarian side, you have the folks at Antiwar.com. The Little Green Freeperballs just didn't want to acknowledge this unpleasant fact.
Glenn Greenwald isn't ready to forgive Newt or accept him as a valid critic of Bushco, pointing to Newt's appearance on (gack) Hannity & Colmes, where he suggested that bin Laden and al Qaeda "take a great deal of comfort when they see people attacking United States policies." Lovely. God forbid Gingrich suggest that Bush actually concentrate on finding bin Laden, since he seems to have an idea of what bin Laden thinks and how he spends his free time.
So what's with this about-face? Greenwald suggests self-interest--the warmongers are at least bright enough to realize that the administration is sinking, but, as he writes, "they cannot be allowed to distance themselves now from the Administration to which they tied themselves."
Jane Hamsher isn't ready to forgive, either.
The war cheerleaders should never be allowed to live this down. Ever. It should follow them for the rest of their public lives, no matter how much it makes them squirm to be reminded of it. The best they can do at this point is to apologize--right now--to all the war critics they denounced as a "fifth column." They were wrong. Dead wrong. And the war critics were right. Absolutely right. This goes not only for Code Pink and Michael Moore but also for Brent Scowcroft and other Republican war critics. Everyone who ever denounced a critic of the Iraq war as a traitor, a Tokyo Rose, or a fifth columnist needs to come out and apologize for these needless, baseless insults against their fellow Americans. Don't just eat crow. Don't just wipe the egg off your face. Admit you were mistaken.
Once they could just call all the war critics traitors, secure in the belief that they were only denigrating liberals Now on the traitors list: General Zinni, General Newbold, Colin Powell, Francis Fukuyama, Chuck Hagel, Newt Gingrich . . . and, of course, about 60% of the American people.
Of course, war critics on the right have always been there; one of those most notable was Brent Scowcroft, former national security advisor to President Ford and Daddy Bush...and one of Daddy Bush's bestest buds. And on the conservative libertarian side, you have the folks at Antiwar.com. The Little Green Freeperballs just didn't want to acknowledge this unpleasant fact.
Glenn Greenwald isn't ready to forgive Newt or accept him as a valid critic of Bushco, pointing to Newt's appearance on (gack) Hannity & Colmes, where he suggested that bin Laden and al Qaeda "take a great deal of comfort when they see people attacking United States policies." Lovely. God forbid Gingrich suggest that Bush actually concentrate on finding bin Laden, since he seems to have an idea of what bin Laden thinks and how he spends his free time.
So what's with this about-face? Greenwald suggests self-interest--the warmongers are at least bright enough to realize that the administration is sinking, but, as he writes, "they cannot be allowed to distance themselves now from the Administration to which they tied themselves."
Jane Hamsher isn't ready to forgive, either.
Newt didn’t just support the war. In addition to sitting on the Defense Policy Board and being one of its more enthusiastic cheerleaders, he created a climate where it became impossible to question the war, the rationals given for it or any of the disastrous decisions made by George W. Bush by branding people who did so as anti-American turncoats.
The war cheerleaders should never be allowed to live this down. Ever. It should follow them for the rest of their public lives, no matter how much it makes them squirm to be reminded of it. The best they can do at this point is to apologize--right now--to all the war critics they denounced as a "fifth column." They were wrong. Dead wrong. And the war critics were right. Absolutely right. This goes not only for Code Pink and Michael Moore but also for Brent Scowcroft and other Republican war critics. Everyone who ever denounced a critic of the Iraq war as a traitor, a Tokyo Rose, or a fifth columnist needs to come out and apologize for these needless, baseless insults against their fellow Americans. Don't just eat crow. Don't just wipe the egg off your face. Admit you were mistaken.
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