So Friedman said: "...Liberals don't want to talk about Iraq because, with a few exceptions, they thought the war was wrong and deep down don't want the Bush team to succeed..."
This reminds me of something horrible that happened to me the other day. I was walking on a bridge with two Republican friends, George and Dick, who both were carrying American flags from a local rally. They were in a rowdy mood and were behaving like jerks, waving the flags at cars and then, once the cars passed, giving drivers the finger if the cars had European stickers on the rear. I tried to get them to behave more civilly --we were in public, after all-- but they just dismissed me, calling me a pussy and that "all I want is to be liked."
Then, things took a disturbing turn.
[more below the fold]
George started bragging to me and Dick that he(George) could
fly if he jumped off the bridge with the American flag! Worse, Dick willfully fed his delusion and encouraged him to try it! I thought they were joking at first, but a hollow pit in my stomach grew as I realized my Republican friends were dead serious. George made a move toward the edge of the bridge as if to prepare to jump. I pleaded with him not to do it, that he had lost his mind, but he and Don started calling me a traitor because I didn't support our flag and that I was "a coward." I begged them to be reasonable, that nothing good would come of jumping off the bridge and that it would only end in calamity. But try as I might, I was outnumbered 2 to 1, and Dick actually held me back as George wildly took the plunge, screaming, "YAHOOO USA!!!". I gasped and ran to look over the edge. George hit the water hard, and Dick and I could see his body being carried off downstream by the muddy torrent. George was not moving. He was apparently unconscious.
My mind was racing -- how and why did this happen? Was it too late to do anything? Was there anything I should have done to stop them? -- when Dick turned to me spitefully and said the most shocking thing imaginable:
"You wanted him to fail."