Olbermann had another smackdown editorial comment on
Countdown tonight. It most definitely dealt with the President's abominable speech today, and it was
AWESOME. Transcript below the fold.
Jump!
It is to our deep national shame--and ultimately it will be to the President's deep personal regret--that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies--or even question their effectiveness or execution--to the Nazis of the past, and the al Qaeda of the present.
Today, in the same subtle terms in which Mr. Bush and his colleagues muddied the clear line separating Iraq and 9/11 -- without ever actually saying so--the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, "a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government."
Make no mistake here--the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the right, the "media."
A FREAKING MEN. This war is not just on terrorism, such as it is. It has most definitely been on the press as well, and especially focused on those who believe that the Iraq war is wrong. All done in the
name of terrorism.
The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.
Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle:
The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word--"media"--the honest, patriotic, and indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of Al-Qaeda propaganda.
That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American.
My emphasis added. Woo hoo! He's on a roll. And more important - he's right.
Mr. Bush and his colleagues have led us before to such waters.
We will not drink again. [God I hope he's right]
And the President's re-writing and sanitizing of history, so it fits the expediencies of domestic politics, is just as false, and just as scurrilous.
Cut to Bush clip from today's speech:
"In the 1920's a failed Austrian painter published a book in which he explained his intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany and take revenge on Europe and eradicate the Jews," President Bush said today, "the world ignored Hitler's words, and paid a terrible price."
And then back to Olbermann's comments:
Whatever the true nature of al Qaeda and other international terrorist threats, to ceaselessly compare them to the Nazi State of Germany serves only to embolden them.
More over, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek--a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety.
That, my dear Kossack friends, is Bush's REAL legacy. To undercut the promise of Democracy by scaring the populace to achieve his own misguided aims. Worst. President. Ever.
It thus becomes necessary to remind the President that his administration's recent Nazi "kick" is an awful and cynical thing.
And it becomes necessary to reach back into our history, for yet another quote, from yet another time and to ask it of Mr. Bush:
"Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
Best. Commentator. Ever.
Transcript can be found here.
Update [2006-9-5 20:45:6 by RenaRF]: Hat tip to Five of Diamonds for providing a video link, found here:
Video Link
I couldn't get it to work for my browser, but give it a shot. I'll update as other links come in.
Another hat tip for jorndorff who points out in the comments that Crooks and Liars has the video:
Crooks and Liars KO Video
Update [2006-9-5 21:1:48 by RenaRF]: I also want to echo Six Degrees of Aaron's diary from last Thursday. Write MSNBC. Show your support. From Aaron's diary:
1. viewerservices@msnbc.com
2. letters@msnbc.com
3. countdown@msnbc.com
4. KOlbermann@msnbc.com
5. dabrams@msnbc.com