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re: Dubya causes Fear, Doubt, and Uncertainty in the Heartland

On Sat, 7 Sep 2002, Jason Neely wrote:
> The next step up is saying something like "There are reminders to all
> Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and
> this is not a time for remarks like that; THERE NEVER IS.''

Hmmm.

   http://www.nationalpost.com/review/story.html?id=C95C730B-BCD9-4B66-A21B-1E0B969EEAEA

   LOS ANGELES -- On the very first page of the new collection Into the
   Buzzsaw -- one of dozens of books on the market right now that fret
   about the health of U.S. "dissent" -- best-selling Yankee dissident
   Gore Vidal reprints a stirring phrase by the 17th-century English poet
   John Milton about the clarifying virtues of letting "[truth] and
   falsehood grapple." Vidal then adds:

   "One wonders how Milton would have answered that spokesman for
   President George W. Bush who admonished the press on CNN, 'You better
   watch what you say.'"

   One wonders indeed, since no Bush spokesman ever uttered those words.
   Here is Ari Fleischer's actual quote, from a Sept. 26, 2001, press
   conference, televised by CNN (as well as by various other networks):
   "There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they
   say."

   Fleischer's comment, inappropriate as it was, hardly resembled a threat
   -- he didn't say "better," he said "need," and there was no "or else."
   Nor was it directed at the press -- he didn't say "you," he said
   "Americans," and he was responding to a request for reaction to
   comedian Bill Maher's Sept. 17 assertion that U.S. bombardiers were
   "cowards" compared to the brave Islamic terrorists who rammed jumbo
   jets full of civilians into the bustling World Trade Center. Two days
   later, in fact, Fleischer added: "It is always the right, and forever
   will be, of an American to speak out. It is always the right of an
   American to be wrong."

   But by then, the Doomsayers of Dissent were off to the races, and they
   have rarely looked back, even as the one-year anniversary approaches in
   a country positively roiling with debate over Iraq.

   "Dissent stifled by most media," thundered The Hartford Courant on
   Sept. 28 of last year. "Dissent viewed as unpatriotic during crisis,"
   seconded The Lexington Herald Leader the next day. "Drums of patriotism
   drown voices of dissent," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette concurred the day
   after. All three headlines, incidentally, ran above news stories.

   The view looked just as bad north of the border. Linda Diebel of The
   Toronto Star wrote an article under the banner, "Freedom of speech
   casualty of a new war." The Globe and Mail's Simon Houpt lamented,
   "Dissent has all but disappeared." Across the media landscape,
   Fleischer's criticism of Maher became the smoking gun for what
   Cleveland's The Plain Dealer's Washington bureau chief, Tom Brazaitis,
   called "the death of free speech."

   Yet the pure physical heft of the Fleischer repudiation -- more than
   200 North American newspapers and magazines piled on within two months
   -- actually suggested something quite to the contrary: That the
   "dissent" reflex against government over-reach was impressively
   well-oiled and ready for work, only two weeks after the worst attack
   ever on U.S. soil. Further, it also hinted that those quickest to cry
   "Censorship!" were among the most distressingly cavalier about getting
   even the most basic facts -- such as easily verifiable press-conference
   quotes by government officials -- halfway straight.

   [ snip ]

FWIW, the author of this piece is incorrect himself when he says that
Maher was accusing U.S. bombardiers of being "cowards" -- Maher actually
said that it was "we" who have been the "cowards".  He was talking about
the policy-makers in the government more than anybody else.  But, hey,
like Fleischer said, columnists have the right to be wrong, too.

   http://www.topica.com/lists/dadl-ot/read/message.html?mid=800744586

   Bill: Good evening, and welcome again to "Politically Incorrect." Let
   me introduce our panel for this evening's show. . . .
   Before I do, I have to address Monday's show.
   And I should clarify a few things that were said.
   You know, this show has always been off the cuff.
   That's the beauty of it.
   It also causes problems, because you say things which you need to
   explain more.
   But you know, these are sensitive times, and I should've been more
   clear when, in a discussion of how we have in the past conducted our
   war on terrorism, I said, "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise
   missiles from 2,000 miles away." And the problem there is the word
   "We," I think.
   It's indistinct, and I should've been more clear.
   So let me be very clear now.
   In no way was I ever intending, because I never think this way, to say
   that the men and women who defend our nation in uniform are anything
   but courageous and valiant.
   And I apologize to anyone who took it the wrong way, sincerely.
   And I'll get to that.
   But my criticism was for the politicians mostly, who, fearing public
   opinion, have not allowed the military to do the job which they are
   absolutely ready, willing and able to do.
   And now that they can, I have no doubt they will do what they have
   always done and get the job done.

   [ Applause ]

   A lot of people now think that patriotism means just marching in
   lockstep and shutting up.
   And I'm sorry, but, you know, when the same terrorists who committed
   this heinous crime against our country a week ago, those same people,
   when they blew up two of our embassies in Africa three years ago --
   I know it's Africa, and I know that's a long way away, but that was
   still --
   hundreds of people died, and embassies are American soil.
   And our political response was to blow up a pharmaceutical factory in
   the Sudan, from far away.
   And I am not unpatriotic to question how our government has handled
   this situation in the past.
   Patriotism does not involve shutting up, it involves speaking out.

   [ snip ]

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
 If true love never did exist how could we know its name? -- Sam Phillips
          Happiness happens but I want joy. -- Marjorie Cardwell

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