Torture!
Should there be a commission? A special prosecutor? A nonpartisan investigation? Congressional hearings?
Torture? Our country is really talking about torture and the involvement and authorization of those uppermost in our nation’s leadership?
How quickly we become diverted into the “how” rather than the “what” or the “why.” The whole thing is absurd.
Why did we feel we had to scrap our values and trample on the Constitution when attacked on our soil? Was there no time for a sober breath, quiet reflection? Or did someone have a bone in his or her craw all along, and this was the chance to flex some young people’s (some other people’s) muscle and show the world. Show them what? That we can’t take a punch?
I’m not an historian, but I do wonder if any other country has become so easily and quickly unhinged when attacked. I do wonder if any country in history has ever had such a disproportionate and misdirected response, the virtual destruction of an uninvolved sovereign nation, the displacement of millions, the deaths of hundreds of thousands. And for what?
I thought I was done ranting on this. It’s most bizarre.
I can’t help but be reminded about who bullies whom. Those who are attractive and used to having their own way? Those who are deficient in key attributes … and are in complete denial of the fact yet feel inferior anyway … such that they seek to raise their own stature by attempting to push others down? That is what I saw and heard in Sarah Palin’s remarks. Here is someone who most likely couldn’t have kept up with Senator Obama on any front, yet she smilingly belittles him and his achievements. This slamming can happen only if one feels he/she is in the company of those of like mind, high school-clique behavior as it were.
But she forgot one thing, others outside the clique were watching. There are those of us who minister to the less fortunate, who value the role of community organizing, and who don’t feel the need to display a smugness and arrogance to overcome some hidden shortcomings. I’m not sure she is entirely at fault. There was a decidedly Rovian slant to her message; a slant which doesn’t seem to know any boundaries when it comes to distorting the truth or hurting others.
Did McCain thoroughly vet her? Only time will tell. My gut tells me no, and no amount of “taking offense” at the press can cover up such a dizzying display of poor judgment in a key decision by one wishing to lead our country. I suspect she was just the nearest thing to grab to keep his campaign from sinking completely out of sight. A foolish decision entirely befitting of a Bush third term.
What worries me is that the McCain/Palin team could get elected. Why do I say that? Look at the elections of 2000 and 2004. Competence doesn’t matter. Making poor decisions doesn’t matter. Being indifferent to the needs of our country and its people, America’s standing in the world, what the U.S. Constitution says, and what is moral or lawful, doesn’t seem to matter. In fact, being indifferent to all of that can get one elected … twice!
We shall see. Governor Palin hasn’t been made available to the press or us. The next few weeks will be very interesting. A caution is in order, however: most people don’t like those who bully, and they can be quite energized toward putting a stop to such behavior.
In a dim light... 