Friday, May 18, 2007

Blinded by the Rudy

MSNBC's John Harwood has swallowed the 'Rudy Myth' hook, line, and sinker:

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Just stop it, Mr. Harwood, you blinkered pantywaist. It wasn't enough that 9/11 was used so cynically as a cudgel to launch a preemptive and illegal war against a country that, despite Ron Paul's well-intentioned but off-the-mark comments at the debates on Tuesday night, did NOT attack us. Now you want to conflate Vietnam War draft dodger Rudy Giuliani's exploitation of 9/11 with "justifiable" cheerleading for waterboarding? I think this country has had quite enough of "President Jack Bauer," thankyouverymuch.

And no, Mr. Harwood, Rudy Giuliani cannot "lay claim" to 9/11. He no more owns the tragedy than any other New Yorker, like my shellshocked neighbor who, when I met him up on the rooftops to watch the rest of the horror of that day unfold a mile south, recounted in an eerily detached monotone about fleeing WTC1 and seeing people hitting the pavement from ninety stories up. Or the friend of mine who broke her ankle trying to scramble out of the way of falling debris. Or the woman who battled back from the edge of death after she was engulfed in burning jet fuel as she rushed from the buildings. Or the families of the restaurant workers who had been starting their day at Windows on the World, way up on the top floor. Or the 9/11 widows so snidely and cynically mocked by the War Whores on the Right who accused them of pimping the tragedy for their personal benefit.

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Watertiger, a fellow NYer also closely touched by September 11th, calls it exactly right.

The Cattle Dog slept in and the Mrs. is away on business, hence I'm late for work. See you in the afternoon.

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