Remember When It Was A Day Of Remembrance?

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_09/025618.php

REMEMBER WHEN IT WAS A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE?.... Two years ago on this date, in the midst of a heated presidential campaign, the two major-party candidates pulled their television ads and appeared together in New York. It was a reminder that, as recently as 2008, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was still considered unique -- a day on which politics and divisiveness were simply out of bounds.

As you may have noticed, that's no longer the case.

Beck and Palin are "commemorating" 9/11 with an expensive event later today; Ralph Reed has his event in D.C.; Newt Gingrich is unveiling some kind of right-wing movie he made; some conservatives are rallying in lower Manhattan to prevent a clothing store from being converted to a community center; and all kinds of candidates are holding campaign events and fundraisers today.

Dave Weigel considered the transition from a solemn 9/11 to the crass politics of today, and asked how we got this point. The answer, he explained, is "with a lot of hard work."

For nine years, supporters of an aggressive approach to terrorism as a response to 9/11 worked to make sure that they owned the anniversary. For nine years they got brushback from the media and from the political actors who had the most to lose if 9/11 was seen as proof that ultra-tough conservatives were right and that ultra-tolerant liberals were wrong. And the conservatives won.

What seems especially noteworthy about this is the noticeable lack of a backlash. In previous years, Republicans seemed nervous -- they wanted a politicized 9/11, but didn't want to risk dealing with the criticism. It's why, for years, candidates simply wouldn't use 9/11 imagery in their campaign ads -- it was the kind of tactic that was more likely to lose votes than gain them.

None of this applies anymore, in part, I suspect, because of the larger political landscape. Right-wing anger is driving the discourse, and those most likely to push back against GOP exploitation of 9/11 are in a defensive crouch, hoping the midterms don't go too badly. When conservatives are emboldened, they're more likely to push the decency envelope in ways they wouldn't before.

The result is a phenomenon we're seeing quite a bit of this year: far-right shamelessness on a grand scale.

—Steve Benen

[cleveramerican]

1. I think a little distance has helped.

I think solemn remembrance has its place.
We should not be held captive by it.
I think angry political demonstrations represent us getting back to normal.
and in that regard its not all bad

[jobycom]

2. I always felt like the Republicans used the holiday to push their agenda.

Somehow, the "Never forget" mantra always took the form of waving a flag in approval of violent, mindless, patriotic slaughter regardless of whether that slaughter had anything to do with 9-11 or not. "Never forget" became "Support everything Bush does," and "Never question war ever in any way."

Not that all the participants in memorials were trying to give that message. Most were just trying to be contemplative and solemn. Instead of protesting the implicit militaristic message of the conservatives, they bowed their heads and remained respectfully silent, to avoid corrupting the memory.

But now Republicans see a chance to make political gains, and since the wars are more of in a "hold the status quo" than an aggressive "Oh hell, we're losing, let's send more troops," they don't need liberal consent. So now they are pasting 9-11 imagery onto their various agendas, like Qur'an burning and destroying religious tolerance in America, and using it as their "You'd do it for Randolph Scott" routine in political campaigns.

And through it all, they've successfully disguised the fact that their failed policies, long term and short term, caused and allowed the attacks in the first place.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Dignity, taste, decency

It was all more than the Republicans could stand after a while.

[Jennicut]

4. Tell me, was Pearl Harbor used like this? I dread 9/11 every year now. I just want to move on.

This just keeps us dragging into crap. I think I moved on a long, long time ago but some want to keep us mired in hate and pain. It was a day I will never forget for various reasons....I was working at a call center that had clients in New York City plus a coworker I was close to had a sister who worked at the Pentagon that day. But now I remember being all of 25, trying to comfort a friend. I remember trying to calm down people who called us in shock, saying their cable was out because the antenna was on top of the WTC and it was gone, just gone. My Mom has family in NYC, and she was trying to get through to her cousins. Connecticut had lots of people missing, as we had a lot of commuters from Fairfield County. But this book burning, this exploitation is a turn off from those of us that want to remember but also move on with our lives. I am 34 now, with two kids. A lot of America got past it.