I do not write many letters and/or diaries but I was compelled to write a letter to Tim Russert today about MTP. I rarely watch MTP, but today I made an exception because I wanted to hear Senator Charles Schumer talk about the US Attorney firings. To be truthful, I didn't even bother looking at the list of people on the panel because I had no intention of watching beyond the Schumer segment. Imagine my surprise when the first face I looked up to see was Tom DeLay! I nearly spit out my tea at the monitor! WTF is he doing there? Make the jump to see my letter to MTP.
Mr. Russert,
I have to admit to not watching MTP very often, generally because it is on very early on Sunday morning here on the west coast, but also because it very often makes me very angry or very depressed. Today's show is no exception to that rule. I downloaded the podcast today to see Senator Schumer discuss the US Attorney firings and how the DOJ and White House were involved and publicly lying about it every step of the way. Kudos to MTP for this segment of the show!
However, 50% of the panel today simply did not belong. Along with Rep. Sestak (PA) and former Rep. Tom Andrews (ME) you had the indicted former Rep. Tom DeLay (TX) and Richard Perle from the AEI. Simply put, it seems to me that you could not find any current Republican Congressman or a former Republican Congressman with a good reputation willing to provide counterpoint. I won't even discuss DeLay's lack of standing at this point. There is no reason to put any effort whatsoever to discredit him any further.
As far as I know, Richard Perle has no official standing whatsoever in policy decisions for this country, and again brings up the discredited and false WMD/Saddam/Iraq connection. People that continue to lie and cover for the Bush Administration's past lies and mistakes deserve no such credible pulpit as a seat on the MTP panel. The AEI and their PNAC friends is a significant portion of the reason that this administration is in such severe straights today—listening to very poor advice from authoritarian "think" tanks. After four years of this war and six-plus years of the Bush Administration, we have seen the clear results of the policies promulgated by the likes of PNAC and the AEI. Do we really need any more evidence to discredit them?
The whole panel was therefore the basis of a sham debate. I am 100% for free speech, but if you cannot convince those in the pro-Iraq War camp to put forth people of good standing to continue to debate this issue, I suggest you leave those seats empty and describe why they are empty rather than subjecting the audience to have to listen to exceedingly creepy authoritarian and discredited viewpoints. In other words, the debate is won by the anti-war side due to the lack of qualification and credibility of the opposition.
Regards,
me
I don't know about you (well, I do know about most of you) but I am perfectly willing to listen to reasonable debate from both sides, but when I have to listen to the likes of DeLay and Perle trotting out the same tired reasoning we have heard for the past six years, that same tired advice that has put us into the untenable position we are now in, I come unglued.
There are a couple of other diaries dealing with how DeLay and Perle disrespected Admiral and Rep. Sestak, so I won't even go there, but suffice it to say I admire Admiral Sestak even more now--I'm sure it took a supreme effort to not lay hands on DeLay!
If you feel the same, please let MTP know how you feel too.