I’m not a View watcher, nor am I a Rosie fan; but this thing has blown way out of proportion. Even Chris Mathews’ Hardball jumped into the recent skirmish between Rosie and Elizabeth regarding Rosie’s prior remarks about "who are the terrorists." This after Faux Noise and other Repugnant Righties took Rosie’s initial comments and colored them the darkest shades of the gray rainbow.
Now if you listen to Rosie’s original comments with an objective ear, all you hear is an inference that the United States is somehow responsible for the deaths of more than 600,000 Iraqis. She never says "troops." She says "the most powerful country in the world," etc. So the inference as to whom might be identified with "United States" or "most powerful country" is vague at best. It could be she means "the American Government" or "George Bush" or "this administration" or even "the troops."
But the point is: no one can make any call as to which one she did mean over any other option. All we can say is that her comments make multiple possible inferences that cannot be determined or even weighted with any certainty.
So, what do the pundits on Tweety’s Playhouse have to say? "She obviously meant ‘the troops.’" "There’s no doubt she meant to say "the troops" are terrorists." As if they have some mainline insight into the intended subject of her nebulous statements!
The point of this post is simply to, yet again, point out the media’s tendency to take the low road and drag everything into the mud. To lower the discourse down to the most unwashed level of tabloid "journalism."
I personally choose to believe that Rosie meant "this administration" is responsible for these deaths. Why? Because that’s what I believe. They made the call. They sent in our military. They (mis)planned this occupation. They own every single casualty.
But I do not join Rosie in equating the United States, our troops, our government, or our people as being "terrorists." That’s just a plain and simple stupid statement.