The headline of Ed Weaver's latest column blared, "Show me how Cheney's evil." I put it to you, my readers, for ammunition and was really amazed that I received such little feedback. In fact, a one-time visitor stopped to tell me he supports Bush and Cheney 1000%. Wow, perhaps I had misjudged. Well, that never stopped me before!
Manhattan Chowder gave me quite a few suggestions. I decided that the best way to get published was to make a call to the newspaper's anonymous complaint column called "Sound Off." It's probably the most popular and most read column in the paper. And I know that Ed Weaver reads it because he gets bashed there on a regular basis and he writes about how offended he is that people criticize him.
The voice mail I left went like this: "Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney. One down, one to go!" It should be succinct and current enough to make it into print. Trying to explain everything in my head in a letter would have been too overwhelming and without a singular focus to be effective and get published.
The guilty verdict reached for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby makes him the highest ranking administration official to be convicted since the Reagan "I can't remember" Iran Contra hearings.
The case laid bare the inner workings of a presidency under siege for its reasons to go into Iraq and the secretive world of Vice President Dick Cheney. It showed the lengths to which Cheney went in early summer 2003 to discredit administration critic Joseph Wilson.
Libby, who was Cheney's chief of staff, was found guilty of four of five counts of obstructing justice, lying and perjury during an investigation into the administration's disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA official Valerie Plame, Wilson's wife. The trial showed Bush declassified prewar intelligence that Libby leaked to New York Times reporter Judith Miller, a plan carried out in such secrecy that no one in the government except Bush, Cheney and Libby even knew about it.
Testimony showed there were other leakers, including adviser Karl Rove, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. The White House has never corrected the denials it issued in the fall of 2003 saying neither Rove nor Libby was involved in the leak of Plame's CIA identity.
Next up from Weaver's column as a response to online comments that suggested the world would be a better place if Dick Cheney had been knocked off in Afghanistan:
"What is it that causes people to post comments on left-wing blogs such as those found on Ariana Huffington's and the Democrat (sic) underground?"First, it's the Democratic Party, not Democrat Party. This is a high-school level political debate code-word that apparently signals you're a far right nincompoop. Watch for it the next time you happen upon Fox News.
I went to the The Huffington Post after I read this. They clearly stated that inappropriate comments would not be tolerated, in fact they had been deleted, and that they did not represent their site or the bloggers that contribute to it. One thing that crossed my mind is that these posts were anonymous. How do we know they were posted by Democrats? They could have been Iraqis, really, as it is the worldwide web. Who knows?
In addition, based on Dick Cheney's approval ratings, it is entirely possible that those comments came from a non-Democrat. According to The Harris Poll taken 2/5-7, Dick Cheney had a 67% rating of "Only Fair/Poor." Now, Democrats make up only 37.3% of the nation's registered voters. Clearly, even if all Democrats disapprove of him, an additional 30% come from a pool of Republicans, Independents, and others. He ain't popular and it isn't partisan.
Ed Weaver's column appears every Saturday in The Record newspaper in Troy, NY. I'd say he's a right-wing conservative, but all indications are that he's even whackier than that. His views are so skewed, and based in a reality that I don't even recognize, that I think he sees the world through fun house mirrors, only it isn't funny. He's proof of the theory that hindsight is 20/20, only his vision is 20/100...20 for those things that support his views, 100 for those that don't.
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3 comments:
I'm happy to provide whatever ammunition I can to help de-bunk this nitwit, Ed Weaver.
In answer to his question: "What is it that causes people to post comments on left-wing blogs such as those found on Ariana Huffington's and the Democrat (sic) underground?"
The same thing that enables a nitwit like him to have a regular column in a newspaper--The First Amendment!
Even though I'm a Republican - I personally find it exhausting to be concerned and oriented over either camp (democrat or republican). It's consuming, and not in a good way :) Over the past few days, I've encountered people getting so riled up about things. And for some reason, things fall under the ideology of left or right. I don't understand it. I try to understand. But I guess it boils down to that no one is right or wrong. We just have different perspectives. At any rate, I found you by way of Michael. I figured I'd check you out. By the way, I saw that your other blog is about your Mother. I hope she's fairing well. I recently went through all of that with a family member. It's difficult. Hang in there :)
Joshua--
Welcome and thanks for the post. While I tend to vote Democratic, I consider myself a pragmatist willing to vote for any candiate that fits my thinking. In 2000, I gave money to one candidate and that was John McCain but he's jumped on the far-right bandwagon and no longer represents my views.
I really do think my Libra personality fits here. I tend to weight all sides of an issue and then make a decision. Sometimes I agree with the columnist I'm describing here and there have been weeks where I don't write at all because of that. But, when he's way out of whack, I like to point it out!
Thanks for the note, too, about my mom. It's a tough road for all involved and sometimes I'm just trying to keep my patience intact!
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