Not only the FOX news types, but lots of journalists have been talking about how the last couple of weeks have been good ones for W. As many have noted, this is really just a case of how low a bar can you set. The three "accomplishments" that most people have cited are:
- Rove's lawyer's announcement that Rove will not be indicted.
- The head of Goldman Sachs is accepting job as Secretary of the Treasury.
- The killing of al-Zarqawi.
It is an embarrassment to the President, and thus to the U.S., that the lack of an indictment against the nation's top domestic advisor is considered a triumph. For the new Treasury Secretary to have been a Wall Street Big Shot is not really a triumph either. The death of al-Zaqawi is a great and a good thing. The guy was a monster, who was empowered by our invasion of Iraq. Before we did that, he was fairly well bottled up in Kurdish controlled Iraq. In fact the vast majority of his evil acts were only committed after our invasion. In a sense, we created this Frankenstein whom we then had to kill.
Whether W. is justified in taking pride in such "accomplishments" is not of great import. It's really more of a political issue, and the American public finally know better than to rely on the honesty of any White House statement. It's not like we expect better of this administration.
But something similar is going on where it does matter. The right now are so filled with hatred and with fear, that they are demanding that we take pride in our not being barbarians. Lacking any sense of truth or self-respect, they end up denigrating our troops and our values.
During WW II, F.D.R. never bragged that at least we were not trying to exterminate a race of people. He actually thought that the country had principles and that we stood for something. Not so with the crowd now in power.
At Town Hall this morning I read a column by Jeff Emanuel in which he asks "how many times have Americans strapped bombs to their own chests and purposely detonated themselves in a large crowd of civilians? ... how many prisoners - Muslim or otherwise - have Americans brutally beheaded?" (you get the sense that he beheading part is OK by Jeff, it's just that they do it so brutally!)
The ever charming Michelle Malkin quotes a reader who wants us "to imagine the outcry" from those on the left and from organizations devoted to human rights if we had killed prisoners as cruelly and inhumanely as Menchaca and Tucker were slain. He doubts "we will hear the same intensity in their voices or in their printed words regarding these two soldiers."
Their point is quite clear: Why is America held to different standards than is Al Qaeda? Why should people expect anything different from us that is expected from them. At least we're not brutally beheading anyone.
That their argument is based on lie is just part of the problem. Of course human right organizations have complained about the behavior of the insurgents:Amnesty International wrote
"There is no honour nor heroism in blowing up people going to pray or
murdering a terrified hostage. Those carrying out such acts are
criminals, nothing less, whose actions undermine any claim they may
have to be pursuing a legitimate cause. "
No one says this kind of behavior is acceptable (except of course Ann Coulter.) The larger problem is that Michelle Malkin and Jeff Emanuel don't think that we should be better than that. They don't believe that this country should stand for something beyond power and greed. In the end, the Malkins and Emanuels will do much more damage to this country that al-Zarqawi ever could.
P.S. It appears that Private Menchaca's mother only speaks Spanish. We can expect Michelle Malkin to start demanding deportation proceedings shortly.
P.P.S. Sadly, the Pentagon this week has accused 3 U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne, in which Menchaca and Tucker also served, of murdering unarmed Iraqi prisoners.c
