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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Off the Wagon

Confession:  I just fell off the "Sunday morning network political shows" wagon.  (Note: I never pledged to stop watching Steve Kornachi, Melissa Harris Perry, or "Reliable Sources.")   Clicked over to "This Week" on ABC, catching most of an interview with  prepared, poised and articulate National Security Adviser, Susan Rice.  She made a compelling case for the President's decisions around the release of the last remaining POW captured during the Afghan war.   She was followed by Senator Ted Cruz.  Why is it so hard for me to believe that he's a "U. S. senator?"  Maybe the same reason I'm incredulous that anyone can listen to what he says without erupting in chants of b.s., b.s., b.s.  (When voters in the Lone Star State wise up and vote him out, he could do well as an acting coach.)  

 

He's so blatantly full of it.  Cruz said a woman came up to him at an event and "hugged my neck."  He said the woman has six children; her husband left her and she works five jobs....  Hmmmmm.  I'd like to meet that woman.  If you know her, please ask her to get in touch.  Seriously, he talked about the woman's plight with perfect "I feel your pain" expressions and tones generally associated with funeral directors.  And don't you know Cruz has cast votes that contributed to her problems?   Or, more significantly, to the financial hardships impacting real men, women and children.  

 

Mostly Cruz slammed the President on the release of five Taliban members detained at GITMO in exchange for the release of  Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (the American POW referenced in Susan Rice's comments) held for the past five years during the Afghanistan war.  Despite repeated questions, the senator never said how he would have secured the American prisoner's release.  How he would have done it any differently.  He "danced the little sidestep" all around it.  Not one truly constructive insight or remark during his air time.  Only b.s. served up with carefully crafted, soft-spoken drama.

 

When speculation about the 2016 election gets around to Ted Cruz, people tend to be dismissive.  Big mistake.  I believe his acting and public speaking skills will appeal to low-information voters who won't fact-check what he has to say.  And you know there are far too many low-info voters and too many who respond manically to buzz words like "patriot" "freedom," "second amendment rights" and "founding fathers."  Cruz and other Teapublicans fill their rhetoric with these words.  Of course the big applause-getter is any reference to "taking our country back." 

 

Thoughts of how our country would be if the likes of a Ted Cruz were to become its leader is the stuff nightmares are made of.  It's up to us to wake up and get busy now.  That we could lose the White House to a Republican/Teapublican is unthinkable.  And we must keep the Senate majority.  We need to win majority in the House, too.  I know:  This is what dreams are made of.   But sometimes dreams come true, especially if they're fueled with passion and hard work.  We can do it.  We must.

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 3, 2014 at 2:09 PM

    Are you not also outraged at the fact that we let 5 terrorists free? Are you too busy hating on the person that you don't hear the validity of his argument? I know from previous posts in your blog that you're for gun control because of the violence that can be rendered from guns. Yet how many deaths can be attributed to these men that we released? Thousands? Does this not outrage you that they put them back out into the world with their stated mission to bring destruction to America.

    We traded 5 for 1. The 1, Bowe Bergdahl, is believed, by many of the people who served with him, to have walked off base of his own choice (most say without intent to return). We have never negotiated with terrorist before, and I am truly afraid this will put targets on Americans who are in the middle east.

    In conclusion, I urge you to actually think about the other side of the story logically before you write it off just because of the person that said it. No one is ever 100% right or 100% wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lucinda ShirleyJune 3, 2014 at 5:53 PM

    Thanks for taking time to comment, "Anonymous." The prisoner-trading negotiations and outcome are not all good or all bad. Just complex. I don't "hate" Senator Cruz; I simply have little respect for his opinion—in this instance and in most matters.

    When the Bush administration declared "war" on Iraq and Afghanistan, the US began operations under military rules of law in those countries. The cardinal rule, as I understand from former POW's and career military officers, is that no solider is left in captivity. That cardinal rule of "no solider left behind" IN WAR, trumps "not negotiating with terrorists." This Country owes the "no solider left behind" he assurance to every person who goes into the military. Once Bowe Bergdahl returns home, it will be the duty of the military judicial system to hold him accountable for his actions during his military service.

    We do not know the full set of circumstances surrounding the "trade" that took place. From what I have heard and read, the five men will be under a form of "house arrest" for one year. Ideal? No. Not even close. But military rule and precedent were honored in securing the release of the last remaining solider in captivity (in this particular war). We are a nation of laws that prides itself on honoring human rights. The applicable rules and laws have been followed. Perfect outcome? Nope. Complex situations rarely turn out to be "perfect." Democracy is messy. It's not an easy form of government, but aren't we glad we live in one--for all its imperfections!

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