Jesus, guys. Don't be like *them.*
The same thing happened to me as happened to a lot of Internet aware liberals. I read that President Bush reportedly screamed "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!" And I got pissed as Hell, just like every loyal American, liberal or conservative, should. I ranted, in my head, about principles, about the founders, about America.
Here's the thing, though. I read it on an ultra-left-wing blog. And while I have no reason to think Doug Thompson is lying, I have no reason to think he wouldn't blow things out of proportion, either.
There is no independent corroboration. Just "three people he talked to."
Jesus Christ on the Half Shell, gang. This is bush league crap. This is punditry through innuendo. This is the kind of thing we loathe in the most partisan, least even-handed of the Neo-con pundits.
If we're honestly liberals -- if we're honestly for rationality, for humanism, for principle, for the greatest good for the greatest number, we need to be above this kind of petty rumor mongering playing on patriotism and emotionalism over substance. If Bush actually said this and if it can be corroborated, we can have a debate over what this means -- what it means to have a President who swore an Oath to uphold a Constitution he dismisses as meaningless. And all the rest. I can froth with the rest of you.
And guess what -- if it turns out to be true, the Right Wing in this country will be right alongside us, frothing as hard or harder. Don't kid yourselves, love of the Constitution is a bedrock Conservative principle too.
But right now, it's fucking gossip.
This is beneath us. This is Ann Fucking Coulter level crap.
If their side of the aisle won't decry it, that's their lookout. But Liberals? Like me and a lot of you? We should be staring at this, calling shenanigans and getting our fucking brooms.
It's not like the Bush Administration hasn't given us plenty of real things to be outraged over. We don't need this ridiculousness clouding the debate.
Here's the thing, though. I read it on an ultra-left-wing blog. And while I have no reason to think Doug Thompson is lying, I have no reason to think he wouldn't blow things out of proportion, either.
There is no independent corroboration. Just "three people he talked to."
Jesus Christ on the Half Shell, gang. This is bush league crap. This is punditry through innuendo. This is the kind of thing we loathe in the most partisan, least even-handed of the Neo-con pundits.
If we're honestly liberals -- if we're honestly for rationality, for humanism, for principle, for the greatest good for the greatest number, we need to be above this kind of petty rumor mongering playing on patriotism and emotionalism over substance. If Bush actually said this and if it can be corroborated, we can have a debate over what this means -- what it means to have a President who swore an Oath to uphold a Constitution he dismisses as meaningless. And all the rest. I can froth with the rest of you.
And guess what -- if it turns out to be true, the Right Wing in this country will be right alongside us, frothing as hard or harder. Don't kid yourselves, love of the Constitution is a bedrock Conservative principle too.
But right now, it's fucking gossip.
This is beneath us. This is Ann Fucking Coulter level crap.
If their side of the aisle won't decry it, that's their lookout. But Liberals? Like me and a lot of you? We should be staring at this, calling shenanigans and getting our fucking brooms.
It's not like the Bush Administration hasn't given us plenty of real things to be outraged over. We don't need this ridiculousness clouding the debate.