Pro-war pols visit upstate New York

Two visits yesterday by political illuminati made news in upstate New York's media today.

Vice-President Dick Cheney paid a visit to Fort Drum, near Watertown, in northern New York. He offered the usual strident rhetoric about fighting against Evil, struggling for freedom and liberty (said breathlessly) and the like. No mention of how torture (which he so eagerly defended) fits into that whole freedom and liberty thing.

He offered the usual vague platitudes like 'Stay the course' and 'Don't cut and run' without bothering to get specific about what that course is. He surely hopes that the self-righteous indignation in his tone will mask the lack of substance of his words. To the administration, warmed over cliches, obfuscation, deception and belligerent rhetoric are substitutes for a real, well-thought out plan.

Near the end of a North Country Public Radio report on Cheney's visit, a reporter interviewed an anti-war protester who'd gathered some distance away (because of 'security reasons'). The protester said he had a sign that read, "Torture and prisoner abuse is never justified."

He said one genius passerby rolled down his window and told the protester, "If you don't like it, why don't you move to Iraq?"

That's about as brilliant as saying, "If you don't like traffic, why don't you move to Los Angeles?"

Closer to home, Sen. Hillary Clinton attended a local Democratic county fundraiser and a few other events.

Clinton was met by a number of Democratic and liberal anti-war activists protesting her support for the Iraq aggression.

Well, she would've been met by the protesters except she slipped in the back door so as to avoid them. Perhaps she has more in common with the president than she realizes.

One man was protesting separately Clinton's position on partial birth abortion. If he believes that the procedure constitutes the killing of innocent human life, then perhaps he has more in common with the anti-war protesters than he realizes.



Update: Rather than work on a viable resolution to the Iraq mess, Clinton has been busy pandering to the right (her natural consistuency, of course) by proposing a ludicruous bill criminalizing flag burning. Rather than address serious problems, she's spending time on this never-was-an-issue.

[T]he senator's staff did not have any immediate examples of actual New York flag-burnings in the recent past, notes a New York Times editorial. It's telling that an almost non-existent thing like flag burning outrage her but war does not. Political protest should be criminalized, but not international aggression.


Hurting a veteran's feelings may be socially unacceptable, but it shouldn't be a criminal offense... though this seems to be the direction the country's going in.