Friday, August 11, 2006

Dick Cheney and the al Qaeda Smear

Yesterday in discussing the London terrorist attacks I made reference to the unseemly tendency of American politicians and especially those at the helm of government today to demogogue the issue of terrorism. Today's New York Times has an editorial addressing this exact issue. Apparently in an interview session with reporters, Dick Cheney hinted that by supporting Ned Lamont over Joseph Lieberman Democrats were supporting "al Qaeda types." Yes, by supporting one Democrat over another, one who did not support the war in Iraq (which had almost nothing to do with al Qaeda at the time, this administration's protestations notwithstanding, though of course their there now) over one who did, the Democrats are supporting "al Qaeda types." This sort of rhetoric is beyond contemptible. On the list of almost-always unacceptable comparisons, can we not agree that labelling an American citizen an "al Qaeda type" is just as intellectually and morally bankrupt as the Hitler/Nazi/Fascist/Stalin analogies?


This is precisely what I was trying to address yesterday when I mentioned politicians using terrorism for political gain and not to make us any safer. This administration's callous disregard for truth in its quest not to keep us safe bit to gain political advantage would be merely flabbergasting were the stakes not so very high.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

So, you are saying Lamont does NOT support Al Qaeda? Surely Dick knows better...

Name: Matthew Guenette said...

Thing is Derek, your observation about Cheney's preposterous analogy won't be discussed enough. It would be a gonzo, but I wish every newspaper headline had read "Cheney Calls Lamont Al Qaeda". This is who Cheney really is, why isn't this a major news story--other than in the editorials--at least for a few days?

dcat said...

Matt and Abinav --
Absolutely -- this will get buried or explained away by the very same conservatives who under ordinary circumstances would be the first to equate al Qaeda with fascists, Nazis, what have you. I happen not to disagree with the analogy, but then you see the problem -- that sort of means that you cannot simply toss that comparison on the table.
Dick Cheney is bad for America. He hurts our country. This sort of situation is contemptible. Where is the outrage?

dcat