Pomposity on Parade

Donald Rumsfeld has hit a nerve on the left – and not a small one.

While many were outraged by the SecDef’s comments, Keith Olberman’s response is arguably the most representative of the pseudo-intellectual anti-war left in this particular case. Therefore, his verbal lashing of the SecDef last night deserves especial attention.

(It is nothing short of depressing that I, or anyone, should have to take the time to counter the rantings of a moderately talented comedian.)

Though his rhetoric was at times high-flying, it was nothing new. Basically, he proudly marched into the leftist armory, broke out the shop-worn cudgels of McCarthyism and then equipped an army of straw men with them.

What Mr. Olberman no doubt considers high moral dudgeon and righteous indignation, is also arrant hypocrisy.

First, Mr. Olberman is appalled that Mr. Rumsfeld is criticizing those who disagree with the war and insinuating that they are morally deficient. Excuse me, but, is it not the case that the Mr. Olberman makes his living by calling the administration wrong and their actions unethical - every night? What is good for the goose, Mr. Olberman, is good for the gander.

Mr. Olberman’s eloquent venom is spent decrying the sheer, unmitigated gall of an administration that dares to reply in kind to its critics when said administration has gutted civil liberties in this country, muzzled its opponents, embarked on an unjustified war of imperial conquest, attempted to kill the poor blacks of New Orleans, etc. etc.

Mr. Olberman’s chronicling of abuses would be stirring if it weren’t for the tiny fact that none of his statements are true.

You may not like the Patriot act, but if you believe that the government is listening in to Joe Sixpack and Sally Housecoat’s phone conversations, you’re WRONG, period – end of story.

You may think our excursion to Iraq was a mistake, but don’t fool yourself that Iraq wasn’t - or couldn’t have become - a festering Islamic fever-swamp like Afghanistan.

While he missed this particular one, one of the “ironies” that Mr. Olberman likes so much is that the hated, demonized Senator Joseph McCarthy - was right. He was a grandstanding, self-aggrandizing blowhard – but he was right. There were Communists in our government and we were right to have been looking for them. The lesson we should take from McCarthyism is that it’s not what you say, but how you say it that determines whether you succeed or not.

At the end of the day, Mr. Olberman and those like him are outraged because they KNOW they’re right and how dare anyone contradict them.

If we value the right to free speech and thus the right to criticize the government, then we cannot complain when they criticize us back.

Mr. Olberman, I’ll make you a deal: if the FBI or the Secret Service shows up at your door and takes you away for criticizing the government, I’ll be one of the first to storm the Bastille to get you out. But, we both know that the picture you paint is not a landscape, but a dreamscape.

Or, maybe it's me. Maybe your rant was a masterpiece of sublimely ironic and facetious wit.

Nah.