George Will has his undies in a bunch over the recent exchange between George Bush and Jim Webb and spends way too much ink calling the Senator-elect names while decrying the lack of civility of the newly elected official. It would be possible to simply observe that we have just been provided even more evidence that George Will is an irony-challenged self-absorbed pontificating little prick but, hey, I have time to kill.
The Bush-Webb exchange occurred in response to a Bush inquiry about the well-being of Webb’s son who is serving in Iraq. If Webb had responded to Bush by saying "I think your mother is a cold-hearted witch," I think we could all agree that is not civil. It is certainly truthful but not civil.
However, Webb’s response was a simple declaration that he would like "to get them out of Iraq." To this, Bush retorted, "That's not what I asked." George Will dishonestly omitted this retort in his harpy piece but I guess that would be nit-picking since he was only writing about civility after all, not truthfulness.
The questioner and puerile responder in the Bush-Webb exchange is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, the supreme military commander of Mr. Webb’s son and every other man and woman in our military. If Bush commands Webb’s son to suck dirt, Webb’s son must suck dirt. If Bush orders Webb’s son to conduct a military operation in the most dangerous part of Iraq, Webb’s son must salute smartly and say yes sir, right away sir.
George Bush is a person with the power to decide whether Mr. Webb’s son lives or dies. We could hope that he has genuine compassion and concern for those whose lives depend on the proper exercise of that power. That hope would be misplaced.
George Bush lied to the American people so he could start a war in Iraq that has killed thousands of soldiers. He authorized torture of American prisoners which gives our enemies the opportunity to inflict the same treatment on our captured soldiers. He described the deaths caused by his war in Iraq as merely numbers. He does not attend military funerals. He did not fire an incompetent Secretary of Defense for political reasons.
Civility Mr. Will? George Bush has no right to scold the father or mother of any son or daughter serving in our military for not directly responding to a question that contains fake concern for their child. On the other hand, each of them, whether they are a mother from Milwaukee or a Virginia Senator-elect, has an absolute right to demand that they be protected, anytime anywhere even if the oval office occupant does not like it or it offends the prudish sensibilities of a primping snot like you who did not learn that civility in a democracy does not mean kissing the ass of a compulsive liar and a mass-murderer.
CROSSPOSTED AT DICTA