If You Personalize War It's a Felony

Philip Slater

The real reason for picking Iraq as a scapegoat is that the Iraqis couldn't fight back--militarily, at least. Iraq was just another patsy to bully around like Grenada and Panama.

READ POST Unfit to lead. Can anyone who as a boy enjoyed blowing up frogs with firecrackers, as a young man enjoyed branding people with an iron, and mocking death row inmates pleading for mercy before they died, really be a man who has the qualities sufficient to be the leader of this country. I think the past four years have given an ample answer to that.

No wonder he never did anything about Abu Gharib except court martial a couple of privates. He didn't give a shit.

Quote:

Comparing the Two Candidates

When one is evaluating political candidates, I think it’s worthwhile to consider their personal histories and how they treat their fellow human beings.

Some people seem to take pleasure in causing pain for others. Other people are genuinely concerned with the well-being of others, including their adversaries. Some people are humanitarians, and some people are blatant assholes.

When George Bush attended Yale University in the 1960’s, there was a bit of controversy over allegations that his fraternity, DKE, had hazed incoming pledges by branding them with an iron. Bush told the New York Times "it was just a coat hanger, and ... it didn't hurt any more than a cigarette burn."


One of George W. Bush’s original campaign themes was the concept of “compassionate conservatism.”

John Kerry has a very different history than George W. Bush. Certainly, most Americans are aware that John Kerry is a distinguished war veteran who volunteered for service in Vietnam.

What is not common knowledge is the fact that Senator Kerry actually saved the life of a Republican political adversary. Chic Hecht, who was a conservative Republican Senator from Nevada, almost died when a piece of apple lodged firmly in his throat at a Republican luncheon in 1988.

Senator Hecht stumbled out of the dining room, as he didn’t want to vomit in front of colleagues. He passed out in the hallway, but luckily Senator John Kerry stepped off an elevator at the right time. Kerry rushed to Hecht's side and gave him the Heimlich maneuver -- four times.

Hecht said he was amazed that Kerry acted so quickly -- some people were assuming that he was having a heart attack. "He knew exactly what to do," he said. "But a lot of people know what to do. They just don't size up the situation immediately."

The story has a twist of irony: Hecht was up for re-election that year, and Kerry, who was serving as the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, had pegged Hecht as one of the most vulnerable Republican seats.

Indeed, the Democratic nominee for Hecht's seat, then-Gov. Richard Bryan, beat Hecht, who served just one term in office.

"Only in America can this happen, where he's working against me to get me defeated and then saves my life," Hecht said.

THE EGO HAS LANDED