Tuesday, September 12, 2006

"We Have Not Forgotten, Mr. President"


I thought about writing something about 9/11, but my words would have paled in comparison to Keith Olbermann's:

"We Have Not Forgotten, Mr. President."

A particularly good passage:

... The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.

Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that.

Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that.

Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.

History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.

Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.

The President -- and those around him -- did that ...

... How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you -- or those around you -- ever "spin" 9/11?

In this speech and his earlier one chastising Mr. Rumsfeld, KO has taken on a role that lightweight "news" people like Katie Couric seem afraid to. Hopefully he'll keep speaking truth to power and he'll continue having a forum to do so.

Also, a nice post on 9/11 by Josh at Schulzone.

8 comments:

Sadie Lou said...

just out of curiousity, have you seen "Loose Change"?

dbackdad said...

I have not. Is that a movie? I looked it up on IMDb but there were several things listed and I wasn't sure which one it was.

Shawn said...

That does pretty much say what I've been thinking for a long time. Every time I begin to wonder about where our humanity has gone, someone steps up and shows that there are still people who value decency and have open eyes.

Laura said...

The Twilight Zone was a very socially relevant show. I love that he used that episode. We are our own worst enemies. Why can't we fix that hole in the ground? Because if we all compromise on something that no one person or organization gets the credit? Why can't we put aside petty differences and finally lay those people to rest? It's just going to get worse come election time.

Scott said...

Loose Change is a 9/11 conspiracy theory movie.

dbackdad said...

Ah. I've heard a lot of the theories that they talk about in that movie. As much as I believe there is incompetence and ill-will in this administration, I cannot allow myself to believe that the attack was orchestrated by our own government. Because that speaks of an evil that I cannot even comprehend and am afraid to.

dbackdad said...

The Daily Show spoofed part of Bush's speech (using the Little Richard Geico commercial). It's pretty damn funny:

Little Richard Translates For Bush...

greatwhitebear said...

Oberman, Stewart, and Maher have become the conscious of America.