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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSalon: The right’s unhinged Bergdahl hypocrisy: The ultimate way to savage Obama
TUESDAY, JUN 3, 2014
The rights unhinged Bergdahl hypocrisy: The ultimate way to savage Obama
Should accused deserters face trial by Bill Kristol before being rescued? Understanding the latest wing nut hysteria
JOAN WALSH
The anti-Bergdahl hysteria plays into six years of scurrilous insinuation that Obama is a secret Muslim who either supports or sympathizes with our enemies. Even moderate Mitt Romney, youll recall, claimed the presidents first response to the 2012 Benghazi attack was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks. This is just the latest chapter.
The partisan opportunism over the Bergdahl deal shouldnt be surprising, but it is, a little bit. This wasnt some wild radical idea of the Obama administration; it was driven by the Defense Department and signed on to by intelligence agencies. Although Congress is claiming it wasnt given the requisite 30 days notice of a prisoner transfer (more on that later), this deal or something very much like it has been in the works for at least two years, with plenty of congressional consultation.
And plenty of partisan demagoguery: In 2012 the late Michael Hastings reported that the White House was warned by congressional Republicans that a possible deal for the five Taliban fighters would be political suicide in an election year a Willie Horton moment, in the words of an official responsible for working with Congress on the deal. In the end, though, Hastings reported that even Sen. John McCain ultimately approved the deal; it fell apart when the Taliban balked.
Two years later, the rights official talking points are mixed: Some critics focus on rumors (buttressed by Hastings own sympathetic reporting on Bergdahl) that he was a soldier disillusioned by the Afghan war who deserted his post. Wrong-way Bill Kristol has dismissed him as a deserter not worth rescuing, while Kristols most prominent contribution to politics, Sarah Palin, has been screeching on her Facebook wall about Bergdahls horrid anti-American beliefs.
The rights unhinged Bergdahl hypocrisy: The ultimate way to savage Obama
Should accused deserters face trial by Bill Kristol before being rescued? Understanding the latest wing nut hysteria
JOAN WALSH
The anti-Bergdahl hysteria plays into six years of scurrilous insinuation that Obama is a secret Muslim who either supports or sympathizes with our enemies. Even moderate Mitt Romney, youll recall, claimed the presidents first response to the 2012 Benghazi attack was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks. This is just the latest chapter.
The partisan opportunism over the Bergdahl deal shouldnt be surprising, but it is, a little bit. This wasnt some wild radical idea of the Obama administration; it was driven by the Defense Department and signed on to by intelligence agencies. Although Congress is claiming it wasnt given the requisite 30 days notice of a prisoner transfer (more on that later), this deal or something very much like it has been in the works for at least two years, with plenty of congressional consultation.
And plenty of partisan demagoguery: In 2012 the late Michael Hastings reported that the White House was warned by congressional Republicans that a possible deal for the five Taliban fighters would be political suicide in an election year a Willie Horton moment, in the words of an official responsible for working with Congress on the deal. In the end, though, Hastings reported that even Sen. John McCain ultimately approved the deal; it fell apart when the Taliban balked.
Two years later, the rights official talking points are mixed: Some critics focus on rumors (buttressed by Hastings own sympathetic reporting on Bergdahl) that he was a soldier disillusioned by the Afghan war who deserted his post. Wrong-way Bill Kristol has dismissed him as a deserter not worth rescuing, while Kristols most prominent contribution to politics, Sarah Palin, has been screeching on her Facebook wall about Bergdahls horrid anti-American beliefs.
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Salon: The right’s unhinged Bergdahl hypocrisy: The ultimate way to savage Obama (Original Post)
flpoljunkie
Jun 2014
OP
Is Sarah Palin going to preside over a military death panel for captured soldiers ... ?
underpants
Jun 2014
#1
underpants
(182,281 posts)1. Is Sarah Palin going to preside over a military death panel for captured soldiers ... ?
Ooh that was gooood.
Great article as usual.
SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)2. K & R