William Rivers Pitt: Mosques, Muslims and America in Darkness

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-rivers-pitt/30845/mosques-muslims-and-america-in-darkness

Mosques, Muslims and America in Darkness

by William Rivers Pitt | August 20, 2010 - 10:26am

— from Truthout


Things have come to a pretty pass when I'm the guy saying it would be really helpful if George W. Bush were still around. I'm saying it, and I mean it, because this country could really use his brand of wisdom right now.

Let me be clear: I despise the man. Loathe him. He was quite simply the worst president in all of American history; if a future president wants to outstrip his deplorable record, they will literally have to crash the Earth into the Sun to pull it off. He is a thief, a liar and a murderer, and I consider the fact that he has not been called to account for his serial crimes against the American people and the world to be a failure of leadership equal to Hitler's decision to open a second front. If George W. Bush were on fire in front of me, I would not piss on him to put him out.

But I'd really like to hear from him right about now. Whatever else he did wrong, Mr. Bush went out of his way during his eight years in office to tell us that we are not at war with Islam and Muslims, the "crusade" gaffe notwithstanding. His rhetoric regarding Islam and Muslims after 9/11 was uniformly conciliatory, couched as it was between his WMD fabrications and pro-war grandstanding, and as the leader of his party, he kept the lid on an explosion of virulent hatred against fellow citizens who prayed to Allah instead of Jesus or Yahweh. It was bad enough after 9/11, with many assaults on Muslims and mosques to go around, but it could have been far, far worse had Bush not spoken as he did.

Well, he's gone now, and the dogs are off the leash. The proposed construction of the Cordoba House two blocks from the World Trade Center site has given the far-right the opportunity to unveil the one flag they really salute: hatred, divisiveness and fear. For whatever reason, Mr. Bush has chosen to remain silent while his former minions drag the GOP and the country even further into darkness - his spokesman issued a "no comment" on Tuesday regarding the matter, in fact - so it falls to cooler heads to try and prevail. The problem is, my head isn't all that cool. I'm furious and disgusted over this situation, over the fact that once again, the far-right media establishment has successfully dragged us all to the edge of a cliff, over the fact that too many of us are wallowing in our worst selves.

snip//

The philosopher Denis Diderot once said, "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." I don't go that far, but for sure this whole sad, sorry issue makes me want to strangle myself with my own intestines. In so many ways, including this mosque issue, we are falling backwards into a darkness from which there is no recovery. Well-meaning people can object to the building of a Muslim facility near the World Trade Center site, but the way this has played out is a blot on the soul of America. We have to be better than this.

[BootinUp]

1. Interesting idea, but whats in it for Bush

I mean I just don't see him as really giving a shit unless he or his friends have something to gain.

I think Conason had a similar Op-Ed wanting Goerge W to say something.

[babylonsister]

2. I think everyone thinks it'd be really nice if he finally tried

to do the right thing. Seems like that's not going to happen. Yes, I know, shocked!

[dkf]

3. This isn't about the republicans. Its about the families.

I don't get the complete disregard for their sensibilities. Do they not exist as even an glimmer of a consideration?

[jberryhill]

6. Still pissing on the graves of Muslim victims and Muslim US soldiers, eh?

Yeah, fuck their families' feelings.

You won't even acknowledge they exist in your lying assertion that all of these "families" have the same opinions.

I'd like to see you tell those families they are not "really" Americans and need to be careful around bigots who hate them.

[naaman fletcher]

7. not really.

That is, if we are going to run the country with reason and logic instead of emotion.

[MBS]

4. Well, W is certainly not the answer. .

. . even coming from Rivers Pitt (of whom I'm a fan). But his last line is perfect

the way this has played out is a blot on the soul of America. We have to be better than this.

YES.

And, as edhopper notes on another thread, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8988288, the brouhaha has also undfortunately distracted attention from the Republicans' shameful behavior on much more important 9/11 issues. .

. . . the real 9/11 story. The obstruction by the Rethugs of health care to Ground Zero workers.
And why the Dems (especially Obama) aren't saying this everyday is beyond me.

YES

[BrklynLiberal]

5. The far-right, repukes, Rwingnuts are so far ahead of us when it comes to framing the debate that

is pitiful.

They are the pros, and the Dems are not even at the amateur level yet.

George Lakoff George Lakoff George Lakoff

http://www.truth-out.org/obama-tea-parties-and-battle-our-brains57089
Obama, Tea Parties and the Battle for Our Brains

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/magazine/17DEMOCRATS.html?pagewanted=all
THE FRAMING WARS

http://www.truth-out.org/disaster-messaging61170
Disaster Messaging by George Lakoff


Just google George Lakoff and you will get more info than you can absorb in one reading. Obviously no one in DC is reading any of this....but the repukes have been already using it for decades.