Apparently only fools can be patriots
Donald Rumsfeld is a sad, pathetic little man. Having proven again and again that he lacks both the essential moral character and the basic competence needed to do the job our nation is cursed to have assigned to him, he now viciously attacks anyone who dares oppose his mendacity and incompetence.
Rumsfeld Lashes Out at Bush’s Critics
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq and counterterrorism policies of trying to appease ”a new type of fascism.”
In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration’s critics as suffering from ”moral or intellectual confusion” about what threatens the nation’s security and accused them of lacking the courage to fight back.
There’s a lot more, of course, but I don’t have the stomach for it. Suffice it to say he accuses anyone who opposes him on Iraq, or for that matter, anything else, of being a defeatist and an appeaser of this “new type of fascism.”
It’s a stark choice he gives us: Either follow him fawningly as he continues to drag this country through the gates of hell, or, as the only other apparent option, subject ourselves to attack for being unpatriotic, fascist-loving-morons.
The bottom line, according to Rumsfeld’s “logic” is that the only way to be a patriotic American is to blindly follow his lead.
Yet, based upon what has happened during the last five years, only a fool would do that.
So, I guess what that means is, according to Rumsfeld, only fools can be patriots.
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August 30th, 2006 at 12:27 am
lol
about the “fool” thing
Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. - Bertrand Russell
Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind. - Albert Einstein
Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.- George Bernard Shaw
Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war, in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. - Julius Caesar (attributed)
To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography. - George Santayana
Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. - George Jean Nathan
Patriotic societies seem to think that the way to educate school children in a democracy is to stage bigger and better flag-saluting. - S.I. Hayakawa
…
and the other side
Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. - James Bryce
My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions or its office-holders. - Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, 1889
He loves his country best who strives to make it best. - Robert G. Ingersoll
Do not regard the critics as questionable patriots. What were Washington and Jefferson and Adams but profound critics of the colonial status quo?- Adlai Stevenson
…
and sorry, but i can’t resist, because it’s so sad, that HE seems to be more right than the judges of Nuremberg:
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same in every country. - Herman Goering
and last not least, the insight of Kipling, who had killed his own son by hailing patriotism:
If any ask us why we died; Tell them ‘Because our fathers lied’
August 30th, 2006 at 1:02 am
Donald Rumsfeld is on his “Last Hurrah.” He is obsessed with power and aggression. He has compartmentalized his emotions so much, that he no longer makes sense. He is old and angry. He has failed and must project his failure onto others. He cannot tolerate criticism, because he must hide from his underlying weakness. I wonder if he is even able to face reality anymore. It is so obvious that his policies have failed in Iraq, that to drive away overwhelming feelings of guilt, he must deny any mention of fault or failure. He has managed to surround himself, as does Bush, with flunkies and yes-men. The entire Bush Administration abhors objective, critical analysis. Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Rove feed on one another. They reinforce one another’s pathology. It allows them to justify the most outrageous acts, like supporting torture, and continue their insanity in Iraq and possibly on to Iran. It is unfortunate that the American public cannot see the real danger these men pose to society. The public is beginning to have an inkling of it, but so much damage has already been done. Rumsfeld is like a charging bull, and his anger knows no bounds. He is the one who is blind, and he is headed over the precipice.
August 30th, 2006 at 8:01 am
While we’re busy decrying Rumsfeld’s inglorious words about patriotism, we’re missing a central fact: This administration has declared a war against one of the world’s largest religions and its billion-plus followers and it has done so without the permission of the American people!
Rummy brands us as “appeasers” in a war against a new kind of “fascism” which he bothers to neither describe nor quantify. When did we as a people rise up and demand that our government declare war against this “fascism”? If I recall, we gave our permission to only bring Bin Laden to justice for the crimes he committed on September 11. When and where did that simple act of law enforcement become an unwinnable war against Bush’s “Islamofascism”?
It’s about time these questions were asked in public forums.
hizzhoner
August 30th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Fools and Patriots are not very profitable to those who truly matter. The President is a third generation Yale graduate with a Harvard MBA. Despite his sorry corporate track record, he and everyone in his administration are more adept at planning for their post-office retirement than you think.
They heve engineered and secured a piece of the profit pie that will come from perpetual regional chaos (’here’ in places like New Orleans and ‘there’ in places like the Middle East).
The Jesus-Whoops-Apocalypse scenario is just a Karl Rove ruse.
August 30th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
“In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration’s critics as suffering from ‘’moral or intellectual confusion’’ about what threatens the nation’s security and accused them of lacking the courage to fight back.”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Who has confused stateless Islamic jihadism with secular despotism in Iraq? Who thinks the impossible ends of eliminating terrorism and evil justify any and all means of achieving them, including torture and murder? Who lacks the courage to face reality, admit mistakes and adjust accordingly, as Lakrise noted above? Gimme a f***ing break.
August 30th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Again:
Unfortunately I’ve found Goebbels’ quote too often appropriate in politics in this country. I’ve used it many times. Let me add another quote to your list:
“The Question I find intriguing is whether a nation so extrodinarily endowed as the United States can overcome that arroggance of power which has afflicted, weakened and, in some cases, destroyed great nations in the past. Power tends to confuse itself with virtue and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is the sign of God’s favor, conferring upon it a special resposibility for other nations–to make them richer and happier and wiser, to remake them, that is, in its own shinning image.”
J. William Fulbright, 1966
August 31st, 2006 at 12:14 am
great quote, thanks, Chuck (stored
)
reminds me of my favorite of Nietzsche:
“One pays heavily for coming to power: power makes stupid”