Religions > Atheism > A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
13 Oct 2006 06:42:59 PM |
| Object: |
A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
A special comment about lying
Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
MSNBC
Updated: 8:19 a.m. MT Oct 6, 2006
While the leadership in Congress has self-destructed over the
revelations of an unmatched, and unrelieved, march through a cesspool
....
While the leadership inside the White House has self-destructed over the
revelations of a book with a glowing red cover ...
The president of the United States — unbowed, undeterred and unconnected
to reality — has continued his extraordinary trek through our country
rooting out the enemies of freedom: the Democrats.
Yesterday at a fundraiser for an Arizona congressman, Mr. Bush claimed,
quote, “177 of the opposition party said, ‘You know, we don’t think we
ought to be listening to the conversations of terrorists.’”
The hell they did.
One hundred seventy-seven Democrats opposed the president’s seizure of
another part of the Constitution.
Not even the White House press office could actually name a single
Democrat who had ever said the government shouldn’t be listening to the
conversations of terrorists.
President Bush hears what he wants.
Tuesday, at another fundraiser in California, he had said, “Democrats
take a law enforcement approach to terrorism. That means America will
wait until we’re attacked again before we respond.”
Mr. Bush fabricated that, too.
And evidently he has begun to fancy himself as a mind reader.
“If you listen closely to some of the leaders of the Democratic Party,”
the president said at another fundraiser Monday in Nevada, “it sounds
like they think the best way to protect the American people is — wait
until we’re attacked again.”
The president doesn’t just hear what he wants.
He hears things that only he can hear.
It defies belief that this president and his administration could
continue to find new unexplored political gutters into which they could
wallow.
Yet they do.
It is startling enough that such things could be said out loud by any
president of this nation.
Rhetorically, it is about an inch short of Mr. Bush accusing Democratic
leaders, Democrats, the majority of Americans who disagree with his
policies of treason.
But it is the context that truly makes the head spin.
Just 25 days ago, on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, this
same man spoke to this nation and insisted, “We must put aside our
differences and work together to meet the test that history has given
us.”
Mr. Bush, this is a test you have already failed.
If your commitment to “put aside differences and work together” is
replaced in the span of just three weeks by claiming your political
opponents prefer to wait to see this country attacked again, and by
spewing fabrications about what they’ve said, then the questions your
critics need to be asking are no longer about your policies.
They are, instead, solemn and even terrible questions, about your
fitness to fulfill the responsibilities of your office.
No Democrat, sir, has ever said anything approaching the suggestion that
the best means of self-defense is to “wait until we’re attacked again.”
No critic, no commentator, no reluctant Republican in the Senate has
ever said anything that any responsible person could even have
exaggerated into the slander you spoke in Nevada on Monday night, nor
the slander you spoke in California on Tuesday, nor the slander you
spoke in Arizona on Wednesday ... nor whatever is next.
You have dishonored your party, sir; you have dishonored your
supporters; you have dishonored yourself.
But tonight the stark question we must face is — why?
Why has the ferocity of your venom against the Democrats now exceeded
the ferocity of your venom against the terrorists?
Why have you chosen to go down in history as the president who made
things up?
In less than one month you have gone from a flawed call to unity to this
clarion call to hatred of Americans, by Americans.
If this is not simply the most shameless example of the rhetoric of
political hackery, then it would have to be the cry of a leader
crumbling under the weight of his own lies.
We have, of course, survived all manner of political hackery, of every
shape, size and party. We will have to suffer it, for as long as the
Republic stands.
But the premise of a president who comes across as a compulsive liar is
nothing less than terrifying.
A president who since 9/11 will not listen, is not listening — and
thanks to Bob Woodward’s most recent account — evidently has never
listened.
A president who since 9/11 so hates or fears other Americans that he
accuses them of advocating deliberate inaction in the face of the enemy.
A president who since 9/11 has savaged the very freedoms he claims to be
protecting from attack — attack by terrorists, or by Democrats, or by
both — it is now impossible to find a consistent thread of logic as to
who Mr. Bush believes the enemy is.
But if we know one thing for certain about Mr. Bush, it is this: This
president — in his bullying of the Senate last month and in his
slandering of the Democrats this month — has shown us that he believes
whoever the enemies are, they are hiding themselves inside a dangerous
cloak called the Constitution of the United States of America.
How often do we find priceless truth in the unlikeliest of places?
I tonight quote not Jefferson nor Voltaire, but Cigar Aficionado
Magazine.
On Sept. 11th, 2003, the editor of that publication interviewed General
Tommy Franks, at that point, just retired from his post as
commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command — of Cent-Com.
And amid his quaint defenses of the then-nagging absence of weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq, or the continuing freedom of Osama bin Laden,
General Franks said some of the most profound words of this generation.
He spoke of “the worst thing that can happen” to this country:
First, quoting, a “massive casualty-producing event somewhere in the
Western World — it may be in the United States of America.”
Then, the general continued, “the Western World, the free world, loses
what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we’ve seen for a
couple of hundred years, in this grand experiment that we call
democracy.”
It was this super-patriotic warrior’s fear that we would lose that most
cherished liberty, because of another attack, one — again quoting
General Franks — “that causes our population to question our own
Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a
repeat of another mass-casualty-producing event. Which, in fact, then
begins to potentially unravel the fabric of our Constitution.”
And here we are, the fabric of our Constitution being unraveled, anyway.
Habeus corpus neutered; the rights of self-defense now as malleable and
impermanent as clay; a president stifling all critics by every means
available and, when he runs out of those, by simply lying about what
they said or felt.
And all this, even without the dreaded attack.
General Franks, like all of us, loves this country, and believes not
just in its values, but in its continuity.
He has been trained to look for threats to that continuity from without.
He has, perhaps been as naïve as the rest of us, in failing to keep
close enough vigil on the threats to that continuity from within.
Secretary of State Rice first cannot remember urgent cautionary meetings
with counterterrorism officials before 9/11. Then within hours of this
lie, her spokesman confirms the meetings in question. Then she dismisses
those meetings as nothing new — yet insists she wanted the same cautions
expressed to Secretaries Ashcroft and Rumsfeld.
Mr. Rumsfeld, meantime, has been unable to accept the most logical and
simple influence of the most noble and neutral of advisers. He and his
employer insist they rely on the “generals in the field.” But dozens of
those generals have now come forward to say how their words, their
experiences, have been ignored.
And, of course, inherent in the Pentagon’s war-making functions is the
regulation of presidential war lust.
Enacting that regulation should include everything up to symbolically
wrestling the Chief Executive to the floor.
Yet—and it is Pentagon transcripts that now tell us this—evidently Mr.
Rumsfeld’s strongest check on Mr. Bush’s ambitions, was to get somebody
to excise the phrase “Mission Accomplished” out of the infamous Air
Force Carrier speech of May 1st, 2003, even while the same empty words
hung on a banner over the President’s shoulder.
And the vice president is a chilling figure, still unable, it seems, to
accept the conclusions of his own party’s leaders in the Senate, that
the foundations of his public position, are made out of sand.
There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
But he still says so.
There was no link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaida.
But he still says so.
And thus, gripping firmly these figments of his own imagination, Mr.
Cheney lives on, in defiance, and spreads—around him and before
him—darkness, like some contagion of fear.
They are never wrong, and they never regret -- admirable in a French
torch singer, cataclysmic in an American leader.
Thus, the sickening attempt to blame the Foley scandal on the negligence
of others or “the Clinton era”—even though the Foley scandal began
before the Lewinsky scandal.
Thus, last month’s enraged attacks on this administration’s
predecessors, about Osama bin Laden—a projection of their own negligence
in the immediate months before 9/11.
Thus, the terrifying attempt to hamstring the fundament of our
freedom—the Constitution—a triumph for al Qaida, for which the
terrorists could not hope to achieve with a hundred 9/11’s.
And thus, worst of all perhaps, these newest lies by President Bush
about Democrats choosing to await another attack and not listen to the
conversations of terrorists.
It is the terror and the guilt within your own heart, Mr. Bush, that you
redirect at others who simply wish for you to temper your certainty with
counsel.
It is the failure and the incompetence within your own memory, Mr. Bush,
that leads you to demonize those who might merely quote to you the
pleadings of Oliver Cromwell: “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ,
think it possible you may be mistaken.”
It is not the Democrats whose inaction in the face of the enemy you
fear, Sir.
It is your own—before 9/11 - and (and you alone know this), perhaps
afterwards.
Mr. President, these new lies go to the heart of what it is that you
truly wish to preserve.
It is not our freedom, nor our country—your actions against the
Constitution give irrefutable proof of that.
You want to preserve a political party’s power. And obviously you’ll
sell this country out, to do it.
These are lies about the Democrats -- piled atop lies about Iraq --
which were piled atop lies about your preparations for al Qaida.
To you, perhaps, they feel like the weight of a million centuries -- as
crushing, as immovable.
They are not.
If you add more lies to them, you cannot free yourself, and us, from
them.
But if you stop -- if you stop fabricating quotes, and building
straw-men, and inspiring those around you to do the same -- you may yet
liberate yourself and this nation.
Please, sir, do not throw this country’s principles away because your
lies have made it such that you can no longer differentiate between the
terrorists and the critics.
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15147009/
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "skyeyes" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
13 Oct 2006 06:49:52 PM |
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stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Brenda Nelson, A.A.#34
EAC Professor of Feline Thermometrics and Cat-Herding
skyeyes at dakotacom dot net
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| User: "The Chief Instigator" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
13 Oct 2006 09:16:44 PM |
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"skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> writes:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Indeed...but I suspect that he's going to be involved in a convenient accident
in the not too distant future, after the "elections".
--
Patrick "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey (patrick@io.com) Houston, Texas
chiefinstigator.us.tt/aeros.php (TCI's 2006-07 Houston Aeros)
LAST GAME: Iowa 3, Houston 1 (October 12)
NEXT GAME: Saturday, October 14 at Iowa, 7:05
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
14 Oct 2006 01:43:33 AM |
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In article <szkmz7zzlo3.fsf@fnord.io.com>,
The Chief Instigator <patrick@fnord.io.com> wrote:
"skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> writes:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Indeed...but I suspect that he's going to be involved in a convenient accident
in the not too distant future, after the "elections".
Or they might 'Swift Boat' him and humiliate him to the extent that he
has to quit or is fired. Many think that this is how they got rid of
Rather.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
16 Oct 2006 11:36:49 AM |
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On 13 Oct 2006 21:16:44 -0500, The Chief Instigator
<patrick@fnord.io.com> wrote in alt.atheism
"skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> writes:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Indeed...but I suspect that he's going to be involved in a convenient accident
in the not too distant future, after the "elections".
More than likely. :\
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "JTEM" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
14 Oct 2006 03:41:00 AM |
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The Chief Instigator wrote:
"skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> writes:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a
National Treasure.
Indeed...but I suspect that he's going to be involved in a convenient
accident in the not too distant future, after the "elections".
He was already the victim of a fake anthrax scare.
Apparently a less-than-happy Reich winger sent Mr. Olbermann
an envelope of white powder -- replicating the famous anthrax
attacks (for which no one was ever charged, by the way).
Anyhow, the NYC biohazard team subjected him to a rather
thorough decontamination -- right down to melting his keys.
The FBI instructed him to not say anything, claiming they didn't
want the culprit to know if he was successful or not (apparently
hoping that he'd try it again), but Murdoch's NY Post printed the
story anyway.
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| User: "Al Klein" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
13 Oct 2006 09:28:54 PM |
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On 13 Oct 2006 16:49:52 -0700, "skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net>
wrote:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Let's hope he doesn't end up a National Missing Person, or "killed by
terrorists".
--
rukbat at optonline dot net
"I can't activate two neurons simultaneously, and I vote"
- The theistic majority
(random sig, produced by SigChanger)
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
16 Oct 2006 11:38:02 AM |
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On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:28:54 -0400, Al Klein <rukbat@pern.invalid> wrote
in alt.atheism
On 13 Oct 2006 16:49:52 -0700, "skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net>
wrote:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Let's hope he doesn't end up a National Missing Person, or "killed by
terrorists".
The Rethugs *are* terrorists.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "Al Klein" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
16 Oct 2006 01:39:17 PM |
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On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:38:02 -0700, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:28:54 -0400, Al Klein <rukbat@pern.invalid> wrote
in alt.atheism
On 13 Oct 2006 16:49:52 -0700, "skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net>
wrote:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Let's hope he doesn't end up a National Missing Person, or "killed by
terrorists".
The Rethugs *are* terrorists.
Yes, and?
--
rukbat at optonline dot net
"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
- Isaac Asimov
(random sig, produced by SigChanger)
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
18 Oct 2006 03:13:09 PM |
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On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:39:17 -0400, Al Klein <rukbat@pern.invalid> wrote
in alt.atheism
On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:38:02 -0700, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:28:54 -0400, Al Klein <rukbat@pern.invalid> wrote
in alt.atheism
On 13 Oct 2006 16:49:52 -0700, "skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net>
wrote:
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
Let's hope he doesn't end up a National Missing Person, or "killed by
terrorists".
The Rethugs *are* terrorists.
Yes, and?
Foley's on the same page.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
16 Oct 2006 11:35:21 AM |
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On 13 Oct 2006 16:49:52 -0700, "skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> wrote
in alt.atheism
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
If he was Bush would have him immediately buried......
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
17 Oct 2006 01:22:57 AM |
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In article <i5d7j2t95c8jh421kbfsk4lhh771gf7e6m@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
On 13 Oct 2006 16:49:52 -0700, "skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> wrote
in alt.atheism
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
If he was Bush would have him immediately buried......
Under the floor of The Evil *****'s undisclosed location.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: A special comment about lying Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics |
18 Oct 2006 03:13:48 PM |
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On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:22:57 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism
In article <i5d7j2t95c8jh421kbfsk4lhh771gf7e6m@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
On 13 Oct 2006 16:49:52 -0700, "skyeyes" <skyeyes@dakotacom.net> wrote
in alt.atheism
stoney wrote:
<Awesome article snipped> Olbermann should be declared a National
Treasure.
If he was Bush would have him immediately buried......
Under the floor of The Evil *****'s undisclosed location.
Above or below the pages?
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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