Our reaction to terrorism is silly
The Cold-war is just one of many threats we've faced that exceed the danger posed to America from Osama bin Laden by orders of magnitude. We also survived Hitler, Imperial Japan, the Kaiser, a Civil War, and the British Empire--the latter one twice by the way--just to name a few.
In that historical context, reading or hearing a bunch of yelping GOP crybabies incessantly screeching in craven horror that Al Qaeda is the worst, gosh-darn biggest bad-ass threat we've ever faced is, frankly, an act that has grown tired and embarrassing. And when they yammer, time and time again, that it's not enough for them to be quivering under their beds, they insist the entire country crawl under there and obsess along with them, while they lay in fetal position swaddled in their faded George Bush security blanket squawking in fear, it's enough to make Burt the Turtle duck and cover in disgust.
Here's a message for both our homegrown Neoconservative, bloggy, gutless wonders and the Jihadi nutcases overseas: I grew up in the cold-war, my parents went through WW2 for crying out loud. We are not paralyzed with fear over Osama. Despite your best efforts, I'm not obsessed with terrorism. Sheesh, I barely even think about it. I face bigger statistical risks, in every way, every day, and on every scale, just driving across a set of railroad tracks and down the interstate smoking a cigarette in the rain, and I don't worry much about that either.
By the way, Joe Lieberman has apparently joined this crowd of screechers. Lots of sites (e.g. Kos) quote this NYT story:
“I’m worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don’t appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us,” Mr. Lieberman said at the Waterbury event. He called that threat “more evil, or as evil, as Nazism and probably more dangerous than the Soviet Communists we fought during the long cold war.”So terrorism is more dangerous than the Soviet Communists, who had an arsenal of hydrogen bombs on ICBMs and could destroy most of the United States in less than an hour? Um, dude, lay off the crack. Statements like this make you sound a lot like Dick Cheney. (Is there a retraction or clarification out there anywhere?) Either you are colossally dumb, or you are, in fact, like Dick Cheney. So stop whining that Connecticut Democrats chose the other guy.
Comments
In the long run, history's most damning judgement of Bush -- and there'll be volumes of them -- will center on this: During a national crisis, he never even considered genuine "leadership" Instead, he always opted for expedience, and encouraged fearfulness and division at every opportunity.
-- sglover
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