WORST...TWEETY...EVER. Matthews on "Over 2000 Casualties" in "Hardblogger"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

NOTE: I'm not questioning the comments Matthews makes about the bravery of the troops. I just think he's using them to prop up Bush.

:patriot:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5445086/

For all its importance, I think the intrigue of this CIA leak story has had the negative effect of crowding out a daunting story of American courage, service and sacrifice. This is not a story about politics. Young men and women who join up for the military are not asked which country or which war they want to fight. They are trained, not to make such fateful decisions but to carry them out. The commander in chief elects to invade a country — Iraq, for example. He orders our fighting forces to do it. Period. That's it. You get in there and accomplish the mission. You do your duty as you've promised to do your duty. There are improvised explosive devices on that highway. You go out there and ride it! There are snipers in that town. You go in there and take their shots! That's what you signed up to do. And boy do they know it!

Even when they get cut down in combat and hurt for life — they are raring to get back into it. They can't wait to get back to their units. We've got to pay attention to these courageous young Americans. They're soldiers, not politicians. Once they enlist, they give up their right to decide when, if and where our country fights. That's for the civilians, especially the civilian commander-in-chief, to choose.



Something else: the obvious gung-ho spirit and patriotism of our young people is easily made into a political point — by both those who think it was smart to go into Iraq and those who don't. Those who think it was smart say the commitment of the troops to the mission justifies the mission. If they believe in what they're doing, we should. They go further. They say that the losses families have suffered and are suffering make up a justification for the policy of invading Iraq in the first place.

The other side has said the losses are a case against the Bush policy of going into that country. Let me offer a separate case: The more loyal our troops, the more courageous they are in facing any mission put before them. Their unwavering determination to do what they're asked to do makes it all the more vital morally that our civilian leaders — the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense and all their important deputies — use their time in office to treasure the lives of our troops, to honor their readiness to serve all of us and sacrifice all of themselves.

[TomInTib]

1. I just puked on my laptop

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. "treasure the lives of our troops"?

I don't know what this meeans.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Tweety wrote this? I think he said, when he dropped his column

from the San Francisco Chronicle, that he was not a good enough writer.

The blogs. They'll let anyone in.

[emulatorloo]

4. I saw him deliver this sunday morning and i respectfully disagree w you

More like that politicians should take seriously decisions to go to war. Because they are going to put these soldiers in harms way. At least that's what I came away with hearing him speak.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. I'm thinking "going to war under false pretense"...

...then I read the stuff about the commander-in-chief "honoring" the troops and it all falls apart for me.

I also think about the two times last week that Matthews asked if it would be possible for Bush to regain his "sunny nobility."

I hear what you're saying ("...politicians should take seriously decisions to go to war. Because they are going to put these soldiers in harms way..."), and if it were anyone other than Bush (or if Tweety said that politicians SHOULD do this but in the case of the Iraq War they DIDN'T), I might have had a much different reaction to the piece.

But...whatever Matthews' intention...I also respect your opinion.

:patriot:

[emulatorloo]

15. right back at yah

:patriot:

tweety frustrates the hell out of me, but IMHO his heart in the right place re the troops. . .I am thinking of the Walter Reed Hospital stuff he did last year.

also IMHO tweety has signaled many times that thinks iraq war was a bunch of crap, but seems to blame it on cheney and rummy. . . .can't get past his love for Bush 'personality'.

[OzarkDem]

5. Working on his Xmas bonus from GE

He's not only repeating the GOP talking points (ignore our criminal behavior and corruption and focus on our illegal war) he's embellishing them.

Gilding the GOP lily, so to speak.

[wtmusic]

6. "The losses families have suffered ...make up a justification

for the policy of invading Iraq in the first place."

That is some of the sorriest logic I have ever heard in my life.

[BuelahWitch]

7. Is he giving one of his kids to sacrifice?

Well, is he? :mad:

[Boo Boo]

8. The intrigue of this CIA leak story, about how the President used

phony intelligence to lie the country into a war, just distracts us from the more important story of the heroic sacrifice being made by the President's victims.

Somebody get that guy a rifle and a pair of boots. What a fucking tool.

:puke:

[shenmue]

10. What the...?!

What kind of inane slant is he trying to give this? Not honoring their sacrifice? By noting how high the death toll is, we are somehow downplaying the courage of the soldiers?!

Exactly how hard was he hit on the head before he opened his mouth and said that crap?

Jimony. It takes your breath away, how bad this is.

[LSparkle]

11. Oh God not that flight suit pic again!

[Fenris]

12. Matthews' sentiment is maudlin where it should be irate.

Instead of any critical commentary about the nature of the mission the dead were compelled to undertake, we are subjected to saccharine reflection on Horace's dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. I suppose that is not surprising coming from someone as foolishly patriotic as Matthews, but it is still nauseating to read.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

13. "...Once they enlist...

...they give up their right to decide when, if and where our country fights."

Maybe so, Tweety, but they do NOT give up their right, and in fact their duty, to refuse to be willful participants in war crimes. The invasion of Iraq was illegal, the continued occupation of Iraq is illegal, torture is illegal, the wanton, reckless slaughter of innocent Iraqi civilians is illegal. BushCo's Militia does nothing to improve the security of America, but serves only to disgrace our nation and should not be supported by the American public.

[neuvocat]

14. Matthews needs to read a newspaper.

Maybe then he would see the connection between Plame Gate and the presence of the troops overseas. Maybe then he would figure out that the sacrifice of the troops has been absolutely unnecessary and that their lives have been lost in vain.

Maybe he'll also find out that the troops actually have a right to vote in this country.

[rocktivity]

16. Translation: "I'm too embarrassed to talk about Libby, Alito, or Bush."

Young men and women who join up for the military are not asked which country or which war they want to fight. They are trained, not to make such fateful decisions...The commander-in-chief elects to invade a country...
Young men and women who join up for the military EXPECT their commander-in-chief NOT elect to invade a country unless it attacks us or poses an imminent threat to us or our allies. In exchange for their loyalty and courage, the troops deserve leadership, honor and competence from the superiors into whose hands they literally place their lives. In the case of Iraq, they haven't come close to getting it.

...(Their)...unwavering determination to do what they're asked to do makes it all the more vital morally that our civilian leaders...treasure the lives of our troops, to honor their readiness to serve all of us and sacrifice all of themselves...
If that's how you feel, Chris, why haven't you screamed bloody murder over the troops' lack of armor and other supplies, the stop-losses, the mercenaries earning ten times what they are, the cutbacks in veteran's services, the slow paychecks and reimbursements while a contractor in which the vice president has a financial interest gets multi-million dollar bonuses? Why did you not pay attention to Cindy Sheehan until the opportunity to confront her about her marital situation arose? Shame on you trying the use them as a sheild without so much as lifting a finger to help them!

:mad:
rocknation