To my [shocked] surprise, I tuned in to NBC’s Meet the Press, a supposed icon of current events as discussed by current ‘players’ in politics to find none other than our old friend, Tom Delay offering his supposed wisdom on the future of the Iraq war. Oddly enough, not only did Mr. Russert refrain from asking a single question in reference to his upcoming criminal case; but he also purposefully ‘lent’ credibility to the disgraced Congressman by repeatedly referring to him as “Congressman Delay” in the present tense.
Mr. Russert’s fluffy demeanor toward Delay would have been disgraceful enough; but, as I am sure everyone knows, because Mr. Delay is equipped with an almost inhuman sense of treachery, he took full advantage of Mr. Russert’s graciousness and dug right in:
From Meet The Press 3/18/07
(Transcript) NBC NEWS
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Delay, you raise an interesting point in an interview--in your political column. You talked about congressmen advocating withdrawal, and you conclude by saying, "Yes, I am questioning their patriotism." Why is that?
FMR. REP. DeLAY: Well, I--it, it is my opinion that when you go to war, we ought to all come together. You can debate going to war, that's a legitimate debate. But once you have our soldiers and our, our young people dying on the battlefield, we should come together, and we shouldn't have what we had yesterday on the Mall of, of, of--in Washington, D.C. When the--those are not, in my mind--my opinion, patriots that are talking about impeaching the commander in chief, that are--that are--work as, as Tom's group works....
MR. RUSSERT: But setting a date for--is setting a date for withdrawal...
FMR. REP. DeLAY: ...every step of the day, undermine--I think it's aiding and abetting the enemy. When you tell the enemy what your strategy is, that's aiding and abetting the enemy because they can use that strategy to come back and harm your soldiers.
First off, were I some Bizarro FOX News, I would instantly place a question above my ticker:
“Delay’s Comments: Do Republicans think that the First Amendment is unpatriotic?”
Secondly, the point above all others is that Mr. Delay has absolutely no business participating in debate on programs like MTP. The man is as incredulous as he is in the aftermath of being forced to step down and under indictment. Therefore, while there would be nothing wrong with him pushing his book on morning talk shows, there is something drastically wrong with inviting him to debate on Meet the Press under the guise of having any inkling of credibility or relevance. Yet, there he sat, comfortably and unchecked by Mr. Russert.
If that’s not bad enough, it seems that Rick Santorum’s resurgence is coming along nicely. This diary would become epic were it to even try to scratch the surface of why no one should listen to a word that comes out of his mouth. This, however, sums it up pretty nicely:
I bring these examples up because I am concerned that these are signs of a growing trend among some of the worst former members of one of the worst United States Congresses in history. There is a reason for the recent upheaval of some of the most difficult to remove members of the House and Senate. Simply stated, the American People were at last demanding credibility and accountability from their government. Those who lost their coveted seats in Congress were tossed because the corrupt nothingness behind their ‘patriotic’ rhetoric had at last become visible. They conceded because they could no longer conceal their complete lack of credibility in the stark face of reality, and therefore, outside of partisan outlets or book publicity, they have absolutely no place in the realm of media staples such as Meet the Press, This Week, or Face the Nation.
Frankly, none of us should give a flying you-know-what about what people like Mr. Delay, Mr. Santorum, etc. have to say or what they are trying to do to make their boat payments. Just as if we were to find ourselves locked out were fired from our jobs, shouldn’t they have trouble getting into certain buildings?
Yea, they shold.
Because these oustlings have been rightfully stripped of their direct Congressional power, It has now become a mere question of credibility. Time and again, these (bad word here) have shown us that they have absolutely, positively none.
Period.
EDIT: I made some typos and one boolean mistake and fixed them.
UPDATE:
If you are upset about Mr. Russert's choice of 'guest' yesterday, you can contact him here.
H/T to Terminus.
Thx!
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