Garrison Keillor: Do We Need This Many People To Die So That One Dude Can Look Like A Leader?

[kpete]

Published on Thursday, January 4, 2007 by the Baltimore Sun (Maryland)

Time for the Father to Chat with the Son

Hey, we've all had issues with our dads. But do we need this many people to die so that one dude can look like a leader?

by Garrison Keillor

.........

American boys in armored jackets and night scopes patrolling the streets of Baghdad are not going to pacify this country, any more than they will convert it to Methodism. They are there to die so that a man in the White House doesn't have to admit that he, George W. Bush, the decider, the one in the cowboy boots, made grievous mistakes. He approved a series of steps that he himself had not the experience or acumen or simple curiosity to question and that had been dumbed down for his benefit, and then he doggedly stuck by them until his approval ratings sank into the swamp.

He was the Great Denier of 2006, waving the flag, questioning the patriotism of anyone who dared oppose him, until he took a thumpin' and now, we are told, he is re-examining the whole matter. Except he's not. To admit that he did wrong is to admit that he is not the man his daddy is, the one who fought in a war.

...............................

The earnest folk in Congress are prepared to discuss policy issues, to plant their butts in hard chairs and sit through jargon-encrusted reports and long, dry perorations thereupon. They're trained for that. That's one good reason they're there and not you or me. But to address the war and the White House, you're talking pathology.

It's time for 41 and 43 to work something out, and they can't do it by way of James A. Baker III or Brent Scowcroft. Pick up the phone, old man, and tell 43 you love him dearly and it's time to think about sparing the lives of American soldiers, many of whom have sons too.


more at:
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0104-20.htm

[G_Leo_Criley]

1. The Great Denier

Thank you kpete.

Garrison Keillor sure gets it right:

"He was the Great Denier of 2006, waving the flag, questioning the patriotism of anyone who dared oppose him, until he took a thumpin' and now, we are told, he is re-examining the whole matter. Except he's not. To admit that he did wrong is to admit that he is not the man his daddy is, the one who fought in a war."

Wow.

glc

[demnan]

2. I think he was inspired by "Bush on the Couch"

Always refreshing to read Keillor.

[jensmygov]

3. Keillor

The man is an American I con in the truest sense of the word!!!!

[Tyo]

4. And the hell of it is, it didn't even work

Junior has always been a loser not a leader. The war and the occupation have done nothing to change that.

[brer cat]

5. Keillor is so refreshing.

Tell it like it is.

[nancyr]

6. Correct, as usual.

Garrison Keillor says it all.

[Gregorian]

7. Dear Mr. Keillor, do you not support the targets, um, I mean troops?

It's not a mistake. He's doing it for the companies.

Garrison is a true gem of a man. I know, we're all baffled. We're all trying to decipher what the Deceiver is doing. It ain't easy. It's a crime.

[FredStembottom]

8. A little off-topic but I'll carry this paragraph in my head for weeks:

>>>>>As the new Congress convenes today and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ascends to the rostrum, you have to wish them all well. These are the kids who got up in school assembly and spoke on Armistice Day and were captains of teams and organized class projects to do good works, a different breed from us wise guys who lurked in the halls and made fun of them, and in the end you want them and not us running your government. Yes, they had serious brown-nose tendencies and a knack for mouthing pieties, but you could count on them to do what needed doing. They were leaders. They weren't going to swipe the lunch money and buy a keg of suds.<<<<<<

As one of the smart-mouths in the hall, I always suffered guilt based on exactly what Keillor says above. We weren't wrong. They were brown-nosers and quite disingenuous - but how much did any of us wise-asses ever actually get done?
While still in high school, I reached the point where I could no longer do the harassment and gave it up forever. I still am a smart-mouth (oh my God!) - but I no longer lurk in the hall. I try to do. Just like they always have.:blush:

[brg5001]

9. I've been asking the same thing: Why more killing so W can save face?

Shrub cannot be allowed to talk tough, escalate the killing, then slink out of office without withdrawing our forces. I'm glad that we are part of an effort to shine a painfully bright spotlight on "President" Bush and "Vice"-President Cheney as they hide in the basement and try to get away with the crime of the century.

The current strategy is a calculated effort to conveniently postpone the inevitable until after the next election. This tough-talking, pugnacious, impudent, ungrateful, emotionally immature brat leads a Black Parade (to borrow the song title) of sycophants and loudmouths, and our military and treasury are footing the bill for the show. ENOUGH!

And the MSM have the temerity to assert that it's up to the Democrats to clean up the mess or be punished, while Lyin' Laura complains that MSM isn't reporting all of the "good things" happening in Iraq. What hogwash!

[GenDem]

10. This folksy, sensible, midwestern icon gets it right.

Nothing like a plain, honest, truth teller giving * the title "Great denier".

Keillor's book "Homegrown Democrat" is my next read.