I watched three cable news shows today to soak in the circus atmosphere in Florida and wasn’t disappointed. Sean Hannity is broadcasting live from the Schiavo hospice, Joe Scarborough is a megaphone for the American Taliban, and only Hardball has any perspective.
Pat Buchanan has flip-flopped so hard that he’s even criticizing Hitler for euthanizing retards. This is the guy who said the US had the wrong allies in WW II, doncha know. An extremely angry Christopher Hitchens tore the American Taliban a new asshole in a great display of perspective.
Fox and MSNBC really have sunk to new lows. You’d think their programming people would at least look at the polls before submitting to this orgy of hate and stupidity.
Barry Richards, W’s lawyer in the 2000 election imbroglio was great, pointing that the people who usually slam the courts for being too activist are now slamming them for being too restrained. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
There’s something about Florida at Easter that seems to bring the loonies out of the woodwork.
The funniest thing I saw was Barney Frank, Pat Boone, and some other guy on Larry King going at it over “Terri.”
I wondered what special insights Barney Frank brought to the table other than that he’s gay and from Massachussetts, and the same about Boone other than that he’s a mummified evangelical pop-idol.
The worst I have seen so far was Cal Thomas on his show After Hours on Fox late last night. The transcript isn’t up yet, but it was a comparison to the crucifixion, and a rehash of this column:
“The Schiavo case should not be viewed in isolation. It is part of a flow that began in modern times with abortion-on-demand and will continue, if not stopped, with euthanasia. Once a single category of life is devalued, all other categories quickly become vulnerable.
Girls who became pregnant by a drunken father and sought abortions were the symbolic beginning of a process that has resulted in abortion for any reason at any stage. Now we are targeting the infirm, and soon the elderly will be in our sights because of the pressure on Social Security and Medicare.
The “reasoning” will be: rather than raise taxes, reduce benefits or raise the retirement age, let’s eliminate those who are the biggest “drain” on retirement resources – that is, the elderly and infirm.
Having been conditioned to accept killing, even killing by the state according to an arbitrary standard of who is “fit” to live and who is not, it will be a short step to killing Grandma and Grandpa in their “assisted living” centers, which quickly will be transformed into centers for assisted dying.
Someone will produce a document or hearsay testimony that the elderly person would have “wanted to die” in such circumstances and never intended to be a “burden” to their children. The lawyer will be called, the will read and the inheritance distributed. It will be larger than what would have remained had it been spent on the recently departed.”
If MR. and MRs. Schiavo’s wishes, as faithfully determined by the court according to the laws we created are carried out, the next thing you know, we the police will be pulling over Lincoln Town Cars full of retirees and executing by the side of the road. Seriously- it could happen.
What a f-ing idiot.
The slur on Pat Buchanan is disgusting. It’s wholly without foundation to imply that he ever supported either Nazism or killing mentally retarded people. That kind of hysterical and baseless name-calling we can get from the Left; we don’t need it on a blog that’s supposedly a forum for rational debate and discourse.
By the way, I have to question your ability to reason if you can’t distinguish between opposing our intervention in a war from support for the other side in that war. Buchanan questions whether we should have intervened in WW2, but he certainly has NEVER supported the Nazis or expressed anything but relief that they were defeated.
It wouldn’t be so easy to slur Pat if he weren’t anti-Israel.
You conveniently fail to provide evidence that Buchanan has never supported Nazism, said that we “had the wrong allies” in WW2, or supported killing mentally retarded people — because as far as I know, there’s no such evidence. If you don’t like the guy’s ideas, take them on without the childish and dishonest slander.
Also, you continue to engage in rhetoric that reflects sloppy and illogical thinking at best, bad faith and personal malice at worst. In response to my pointing out that Buchanan’s not pro-Nazi, you say that he’s “anti-Israel.” Just about the biggest non sequitur I can imagine.
Whether or not one supports the existence of the State of Israel as a specifically Jewish government/society is a separate question from whether one is anti-Semitic.
Similarly, whether or not one supports the policies of the Israeli government is a separate question from whether one is anti-Semitic.
While I’ve tended to support Israel, I should note that many people of good will — including many Jews — strongly oppose the Israeli government’s policies, vis-a-vis the “Palestinians” and otherwise.
People have a right to question and criticize the Israeli government’s policies without having to explain themselves to people who cry “anti-Semitism” to intimidate and stifle debate.
Moreover, I’m glad that you mentioned Israel. While I generally “root for” Israel given who they’re up against, one central thing that troubles me about Israel is that it’s unabashedly & proudly billed as “a Jewish state.”
It’s hypocritical that many people have no problem with that concept yet take umbrage when people call America “a Christian country.” What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Richard,
Since I know you’re a longtime, perceptive reader of literature, I might suggest a book of poems by Aharon Shabtai, one of Israel’s leading poets & a Classics professor at Tel Aviv University. An example of someone who is certainly not “anti-Israel” but still questions the actions of his government.
“J’Accuse” translated by Peter Cole
(ISBN 0-8112-1539-3)
I seem to recall Buchanan making the argument that it would have been more prudent for the US to side with Hitler against Stalin in WW II and then defeat Hitler than to do it the way we did, leadin to a 50 year Cold War. Buchanan also believes that European Culture has been diminished by immigrants from non-Christian countries, because in his mind there’s a connection between Christian values and the greatness of Western Civilization.
Pat has always had a bit of admiration for Hitler as a strong leader and great orator, and he’s always been critical of the civilizations of non-white people. But you’re right, he’s not a straight-up Nazi and never has been. But he’s been a little closer to the line than many people are comfortable with these days.
I should have simply pointed out that it’s hypocritical of him to slam judges for being activist and then turn around and slam them for being restrained.
You can’t have that both ways.