Sydney H. Schanberg, "Convention of Hate"

http://www.villagevoice.com/print/issues/0436/schanberg.php


The presidency cannot be built—and should not be won—on slander and vitriol.

Convention of Hate

by Sydney H. Schanberg
September 7th, 2004 9:50 AM


(illustration: Patrick Arrasmith)

At the Democrats' convention a few weeks ago, Barack Obama, the keynote speaker, called for civility and restraint in our political discourse. At the just-ended Republican convention, Zell Miller, the GOP keynoter, called for bile, invective, and, well, hate. Political hate. Smear hate.

We have seen nastiness at both parties' rallies before—many will remember Pat Buchanan's garbage-truckload of rhetoric at the 1992 Republican convention—but in my time, which goes back to FDR, I can remember no oratory sanctioned by a major party that was more obviously a hate speech than Zell Miller's.
<snip>

I realize politicians of all parties twist history every which way to their benefit, but wasn't it the Bush administration that sent the troops into Iraq without enough body armor or armor for the sides of their battle vehicles? Casualties rose as a result. Soldiers' parents went on the open market back home to buy state-of-the-art body vests with ceramic-plate reinforcement, and then shipped them to their sons and daughters in Iraq. Not until early this year did the Pentagon begin to fill the gap. No part of this failure had anything to do with a vote by Senator Kerry.

At no time has President Bush admitted this failure or apologized to the troops. Planners make errors in all wars, but what kind of commander in chief (using a surrogate) blames those failures on others, in this case on the man running against him in an election? Perhaps not a very stand-up commander in chief.

..more..

is there any possibiity of it being syndicated?

some wonderful talking points here.

:kick:

it is a classic.
I thought about this drawing when I heard the guy who wrote "Bush's Brain" on NPR's Fresh Air today.