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applegrove

(118,012 posts)
Thu Jun 5, 2014, 11:51 PM Jun 2014

"The Rush to Demonize Sgt. Bergdahl" By THE EDITORIAL BOARD at the NY Times

The Rush to Demonize Sgt. Bergdahl

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD at the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/opinion/demonizing-sergeant-bergdahl.html?_r=0

"SNIP.....................

But the instant the Obama administration actually made that trade, Mr. McCain, as he has so often in the past, switched positions for maximum political advantage. “I would not have made this deal,” he said a few days ago. Suddenly the prisoner exchange is “troubling” and “poses a great threat” to service members. Hearings must be held, he said, and sharp questions asked.

This hypocrisy now pervades the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and has even infected several fearful Democrats. When they could use Sergeant Bergdahl’s captivity as a cudgel against the administration, they eagerly did so, loudly and in great numbers. And the moment they could use his release to make President Obama look weak on terrorism or simply incompetent, they reversed direction without a moment’s hesitation to jump aboard the new bandwagon.

The last few days have made clearer than ever that there is no action the Obama administration can take — not even the release of a possibly troubled American soldier from captivity — that cannot be used for political purposes by his opponents.

Though we criticized the administration for ignoring the law in not informing Congress of the transfer of the Taliban detainees 30 days in advance, leave it to Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other hyperventilators to claim that continued release of prisoners from Guantánamo without prior notice is now considered an impeachable offense, a ludicrous leap.



.....................SNIP"
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"The Rush to Demonize Sgt. Bergdahl" By THE EDITORIAL BOARD at the NY Times (Original Post) applegrove Jun 2014 OP
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Jun 2014 #1
I know it. Tell it NYTimes.... tell it!! applegrove Jun 2014 #2
Remember McCain and his "Straight Talk Express?" What a joke that was. Uncle Joe Jun 2014 #4
Republicans need to be called out Rosa Luxemburg Jun 2014 #3
So do enablers on our side...the kneee-jerk Obama hating qua Bergdahl hating was atrocious alcibiades_mystery Jun 2014 #11
like pukes, who never apologize or recant, BlancheSplanchnik Jun 2014 #14
That may be the most disgusting part 4now Jun 2014 #18
The way particular clowns who claim to be progressives jumped on this was telling indeed alcibiades_mystery Jun 2014 #19
I must have missed that. sulphurdunn Jun 2014 #41
k/r Dawson Leery Jun 2014 #5
Is it really 'maximum political advantage" for the GOP C_U_L8R Jun 2014 #6
Rightwing rubes, racists, dolts and dickheads Iwillnevergiveup Jun 2014 #10
They are PISSED because their source about the "letter on the bed" LIED TO THEM. MADem Jun 2014 #7
Exactly right: the NY Times was once again made complicit in out-and-out RW propaganda alcibiades_mystery Jun 2014 #12
Yep. I'm VERY curious as to who it was. MADem Jun 2014 #13
Yup. They are not protecting a source, they are accomplices to fraud. SunSeeker Jun 2014 #22
They were caught with their pants down murielm99 Jun 2014 #40
Well it's a damn good thing on so many levels that mccain went down in a Cha Jun 2014 #8
I don't even know liberalmuse Jun 2014 #9
That's exactly how I feel. CrispyQ Jun 2014 #28
something that really pisses me off barbtries Jun 2014 #59
I feel the same way... tallahasseedem Jun 2014 #61
KnR Hekate Jun 2014 #15
This is so beyond reason it should shake the corporate media to it's core. mountain grammy Jun 2014 #16
K & R defacto7 Jun 2014 #17
Christ Almighty, I'm sitting here vlakitti Jun 2014 #20
K & R SunSeeker Jun 2014 #21
never, ever think that conservatives have gone as low as they can go Skittles Jun 2014 #23
of course, they have to... tomp Jun 2014 #55
K&R. CJCRANE Jun 2014 #24
K & R Iliyah Jun 2014 #25
Worth it? Scarsdale Jun 2014 #26
Welcome to DU, Scarsdale. Love your post. Pathwalker Jun 2014 #29
Is the Guantanamo Notification Law Legal? Isn't It Unconstitutional? stuartsdesk1 Jun 2014 #27
Finally the press wakes up! perdita9 Jun 2014 #30
Hah - the only thing that will wake them up is more $$ erronis Jun 2014 #62
Why don't we name theses repeated acts of hypocrisy as displayed by McCain and others as usafvet65 Jun 2014 #31
^^^ hopemountain Jun 2014 #49
That is a good idea! mazzarro Jun 2014 #56
Kick. Big-assed kick, in fact. riqster Jun 2014 #32
Yep. Like Gramm-standing. Ilsa Jun 2014 #33
^this!!!!!!^ catrose Jun 2014 #52
My comment submitted to the editorial ... shireen Jun 2014 #34
I 'm not sure if it was Jon Stewart or John Oliver who pointed out that if maddiemom Jun 2014 #35
It was Jon Stewart. applegrove Jun 2014 #39
'They' will be on the wrong side of history libodem Jun 2014 #36
We can only hope that's true.. abakan Jun 2014 #38
Not likely Cosmocat Jun 2014 #42
Grenada bigmonkey Jun 2014 #44
COSCMO, I am happy to tell you that I humbly disagree with you. I was in university under raygun Ecumenist Jun 2014 #50
K&R n.t myrna minx Jun 2014 #37
K & R Scurrilous Jun 2014 #43
Shhh...don't tell Fox News! Boomerproud Jun 2014 #45
Well done. K&R Jefferson23 Jun 2014 #46
Dianne Feinstein is the worst of the Dems. Zen Democrat Jun 2014 #47
YEAH, I agree. FUCK her! I wish I could vote her the freak out of office. She's past her due Ecumenist Jun 2014 #51
DiFi's self-appointed moniker of "Democrat" has always been VERY tentative, to say the least! blkmusclmachine Jun 2014 #54
Soldier Trashing Bergdahl Received ‘Other Than Honorable’ Discharge riverwalker Jun 2014 #48
K&R. Overseas Jun 2014 #57
This message was self-deleted by its author blkmusclmachine Jun 2014 #53
they couldn't do it without the free speech free ride we give rw radio certainot Jun 2014 #58
So the ZZ top guys have longer beards than Mr. Bergdahl. Hubert Flottz Jun 2014 #60
 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
11. So do enablers on our side...the kneee-jerk Obama hating qua Bergdahl hating was atrocious
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:55 AM
Jun 2014

Even here. A lot of posters have plenty to be ashamed of. What a disgraceful performance.

4now

(1,596 posts)
18. That may be the most disgusting part
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 01:29 AM
Jun 2014

That Dems would jump on the bandwagon and attack an American POW. How some people live with themselves is beyond me.

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
19. The way particular clowns who claim to be progressives jumped on this was telling indeed
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 01:37 AM
Jun 2014

I won't name names, but what a joke they've made of themselves. Even the smart ones resorted to pathetic insinuations. What a disgusting pack of assholes.

C_U_L8R

(44,891 posts)
6. Is it really 'maximum political advantage" for the GOP
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:09 AM
Jun 2014

when McCain makes a total jackass of himself and his party.
I don't think they are scoring any points with anyone but
rightwing rubes, racists, dolts, and dickheads.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
7. They are PISSED because their source about the "letter on the bed" LIED TO THEM.
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:35 AM
Jun 2014

That IS what this is all about.

Make no mistake.

 

alcibiades_mystery

(36,437 posts)
12. Exactly right: the NY Times was once again made complicit in out-and-out RW propaganda
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:57 AM
Jun 2014

They should very well be pissed. They should shitcan the reporter and out the source and announce both prominently to their readers, to whom ther have done a great disservice. A printed apology to Sergeant Bergdahl and family would useful as well.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
13. Yep. I'm VERY curious as to who it was.
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 01:06 AM
Jun 2014

It's either someone inside the Five Sided Farm with access to investigatory materials, or it is someone on the HASC or SASC, or one of the senior aides to one of the principals on those committees.

And...if the latter, it's a Republican. Make no mistake.

SunSeeker

(51,367 posts)
22. Yup. They are not protecting a source, they are accomplices to fraud.
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 02:19 AM
Jun 2014

If you lie to a reporter, you assume the risk of becoming the story. You are not a source, you are a propagandist.

murielm99

(30,656 posts)
40. They were caught with their pants down
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 03:26 PM
Jun 2014

when Bin Laden was taken out. They did not have a unified response that worked, or that could be used to blame Obama when Bin Laden was killed.

They probably had secret meetings to decide on a strategy for the next time Obama came up with something good or startling concerning the wars in that part of the world.


Cha

(295,899 posts)
8. Well it's a damn good thing on so many levels that mccain went down in a
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:38 AM
Jun 2014

flash of flames with failed gov palin.. isn't it?!

CrispyQ

(36,225 posts)
28. That's exactly how I feel.
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 11:28 AM
Jun 2014
This hypocrisy now pervades the Republican Party and the conservative movement, and has even infected several fearful Democrats.


And crickets from the "news" media on the hypocrisy. They should put McCain front & center & call him out on his complete 180 on this issue. There is not one ounce of integrity among all of them. Worthless pieces of shit, all of them.

barbtries

(28,702 posts)
59. something that really pisses me off
Mon Jun 9, 2014, 06:13 AM
Jun 2014

nobody ever mentions the hypocrisy.
i keep remembering when bush insisted he was not letting rumsfeld go, then the election came up and rumsfeld was out just like that. at a press conference he was asked why he had lied, and he just shrugged and said it was an election. nobody called him on it. honesty is not even considered a virtue anymore, i guess. hypocrisy, yawn.

mountain grammy

(26,568 posts)
16. This is so beyond reason it should shake the corporate media to it's core.
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 01:12 AM
Jun 2014

It's time to name names and call out all the "hyperventilators."

vlakitti

(401 posts)
20. Christ Almighty, I'm sitting here
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 01:46 AM
Jun 2014

actually agreeing with the NYTimes editorial board on something? Oh the embarrassment! These are the people I used to think were the "centrist" wing of the establishment selling us a line of hooey and now I think they're right?

I think they are starting to get that the "conservative" movement has moved into its own private bedlam and they can no longer show any support for its lunacy. Overall, a good thing.

Skittles

(152,964 posts)
23. never, ever think that conservatives have gone as low as they can go
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 03:06 AM
Jun 2014

they ALWAYS find a way to be even more scummier

 

tomp

(9,512 posts)
55. of course, they have to...
Sat Jun 7, 2014, 12:10 PM
Jun 2014

...to show a difference between themselves and the dems. the further right the dems move the further right the repubs move. and it all serves the rich.

Iliyah

(25,111 posts)
25. K & R
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 10:28 AM
Jun 2014

CNN is still on the bandwagon of calling him a deserter which tone mimics the Time Mag cover. I suppose now a soldier if caught will have to wonder if he or she is "worth it".

Scarsdale

(9,426 posts)
26. Worth it?
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 11:13 AM
Jun 2014

I doubt if the powers that be think ANY of these young people in the service are worth it. Cannon fodder, from day 1. I would not encourage any young relative of mine to enlist, and I have had two husbands serve, one army one air force. When people such as W and 5 deferrment Cheney start useless wars, let them send their own family members into battle. By the way, didn't McCain's VP nominee "desert" her position as Alaska's governor? She did the state a huge favor, and avoided prosecution, but that's beside the point. Since her abdication she has not shut her big flapping yaw about the Obama administration.

 

stuartsdesk1

(85 posts)
27. Is the Guantanamo Notification Law Legal? Isn't It Unconstitutional?
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 11:27 AM
Jun 2014

A lot is being said about Obama violating a law that demands he give 30 days
notice to congress before releasing any Guantanamo detainees.

It's even theorized that his release of 5 detainees in exchange for an American POW
is an impeachable offense (just wait 'till the GOP gets control of the senate in 2015
and calls for impeachment - so they're hoping).

But two nights ago on NPR an astute commentator raised the possibility that the
law itself is ILLEGAL - i.e. UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Since the president is commander in chief and has total control of the armed forces
and must do what is necessary to protect and even retrieve his soldiers from enemy hands,
this sounds like a good bet to me.

If the Republicans continue to push this line of reasoning the matter may well reach
the Supreme Court. Then it will be open to public scrutiny and logical judgment.

Which is probably more than I should ever hope for from the Court itself -

For a slightly different take on the Bergdahl affair and other shenanigans of the right wing
please view this contributor's original cartoons on

http://stuartsdesk.com

Check out "Tea Party Tales" and "Oldies But Goodies" (featuring Paul Ryan's craziness) by clicking at upper left
of home page.

perdita9

(1,142 posts)
30. Finally the press wakes up!
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 11:35 AM
Jun 2014

I was beginning to think all editors were idiots who would swallow whatever the GOP spewed out

usafvet65

(46 posts)
31. Why don't we name theses repeated acts of hypocrisy as displayed by McCain and others as
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 11:50 AM
Jun 2014

"being a McCain" or "that's a McCainion statement". Lets alter for ever the name McCain to mean a hypocritical lair.

Join me lets make him regret the loss of his "good" name.

Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
33. Yep. Like Gramm-standing.
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:08 PM
Jun 2014

Phil Gramm was a senator from Texas that would oppose pork or just any project funding in Texas. It would pass, and when the project would have its grand opening, he'd be there to take credit for getting the federal money.

shireen

(8,333 posts)
34. My comment submitted to the editorial ...
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:13 PM
Jun 2014
I wonder if the concerns about Bergdahl's father's long beard should be extended to those guys in Duck Dynasty.









maddiemom

(5,106 posts)
35. I 'm not sure if it was Jon Stewart or John Oliver who pointed out that if
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:38 PM
Jun 2014

Mr. Bergdahl wrapped a scarf around his head and carried a duck, conservatives would love his beard.

libodem

(19,288 posts)
36. 'They' will be on the wrong side of history
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 12:45 PM
Jun 2014

In a hundred years. They will eventually be exposed as the asses they actually are. Dumb asses.

This whole war has been a ridiculous exhibition of callous cruelty. An exercise in exploitation of a sovereign nation, for opium and minerals. We are leaving it more corrupt and a worse Hell hole than ever for the women and children.

You can't put enough lipstick on this pig.

abakan

(1,815 posts)
38. We can only hope that's true..
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 01:25 PM
Jun 2014

But why can't it happen in our lifetime? What makes us so powerless to stop them now? And will we ever be be powerful enough to keep them from rewriting history the same way they have made a saint of ronny raygun?

Cosmocat

(14,543 posts)
42. Not likely
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 03:34 PM
Jun 2014

the further we get away from Reagen the less people remember him as a senile clown show who cut and ran from Beurit only to attack some island country I can't even remember the name of now and the Iran Contra debacle ... All we have left is everything on the planet republicans can name after him, how he single handedly took down the soviet union and is on par with Washington and Lincoln with the great presidents.

Sorry ... They scream bloody loud and bloody relentlessly and meld reality to what the want it to be.

bigmonkey

(1,798 posts)
44. Grenada
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 04:29 PM
Jun 2014

That was the name of the place Reagan invaded. Quoting the Wikipedia entry:
"...the invasion began early on 25 October 1983, just two days and several hours after the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut (early 23 October Beirut time)."

Ecumenist

(6,086 posts)
50. COSCMO, I am happy to tell you that I humbly disagree with you. I was in university under raygun
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 11:06 PM
Jun 2014

and I have been telling the "ingnant yung'uns" about what raygun was REALLY like. When I show them ACTUAL news stories from SEVERAL different papers. they end up walking on their bottom lips. They're SHOCKED that they've been lied to.....so BADLY. I'm doing it ONE CHILD at a time.

Boomerproud

(7,889 posts)
45. Shhh...don't tell Fox News!
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 04:38 PM
Jun 2014

They've even demonized his father. They have never had any shame. Remember how O'Reilly treated the son of a victim of 9/11 because he wouldn't follow the narrative of that horrific day being a Conservative Holy Day?

riverwalker

(8,694 posts)
48. Soldier Trashing Bergdahl Received ‘Other Than Honorable’ Discharge
Fri Jun 6, 2014, 10:45 PM
Jun 2014
http://freakoutnation.com/2014/06/06/soldier-trashing-bergdahl-received-other-than-honorable-discharge/
Josh Korder, a former Army sergeant from Minnesota who served with Bowe Bergdahl, signed a non-disclosure agreement, and admits he may be in violation of that by speaking out. He also left the service with an “other than honorable” discharge.

Jake Tapper et al in the future, try vetting your "sources". You let Richard Grenell, GOP operative peddle these guys to the media and let them create the narrative (Rove style). You let them repeat things that have now been found to have no basis in truth.

Response to applegrove (Original post)

Hubert Flottz

(37,726 posts)
60. So the ZZ top guys have longer beards than Mr. Bergdahl.
Mon Jun 9, 2014, 08:21 PM
Jun 2014

I refuse to believe that Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill are also "Terra-ists." (unless you're somebody like John McCain, or his smarmy boyfriend, Lindsey Graham)

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