--- In [email protected], "peterklutz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], "peterklutz" <peterklutz@> > > wrote: > > > > > > --- In [email protected], Bhairitu <noozguru@> wrote: > > <snip> > > > > Reread what I said: "impeach them." That includes Cheney. > > > > Investigations will be starting and they may well lead to that > > > > end. I don't want to see these clowns leave offices without > > > > paying for their crimes. > > > > > > Bhairatu: just out of curiosity - at what price to the world? > > > > > > If there's a slight chance that Cheney/GWB administration just might > > > save the world from themselves (i.e. the US) - why frustrate this by > > > indulging in pity vengeance? > > > > > > I suppose this thread could also be re-titled: Highest Justice - > > > Highest Injustice. > > > > > > Do you think have it in your heart(s) to let go of the dark feelings > > > and focus on the faint positives that just might be emerging? > > > > > > "The President is merely the most important among a large number of > > public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the > > degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his > > efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and > > disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. > > > > "Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full > > liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is > > exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him > > when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both > > base and servile. > > > > "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or > > that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only > > unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American > > public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one > > else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or > > unpleasant, about him than about any one else." > > > > --Theodore Roosevelt, 1918 > > > > Reflections.. > > (1) So, as a reply to a particular contemporary issue without > precedence you invoke a dead guy rambling in general? > > Interesting.
First, he wasn't "rambling in general," he was addressing a specific issue of his time; and second, he wasn't just some "dead guy" but a highly respected former president and outstanding patriot. Some features of the contemporary issue are without precedent; others are not. The TR quote speaks to those that are not. The question is, which features are more important in this case? > (2) What exactly is your point? I kinda think if the point isn't glaringly obvious, it'll be really hard to explain. But this is the key sentence: "He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole." > (3) Speaking your mind and heart is one thing. TR speaks my mind and heart, actually. > The question is: which will be better for the world - > given the momenta at large, momenta that are increasing > in speed and momentum as we write: (a) to paralyze an > American president who, notwithstanding his IQ and past > errors, just might be about to do the right thing? Or > (b) to let this president sort out his own mess? "Just might," given the enormity of the past errors (the IQ isn't the problem, BTW, it's the psychological makeup) and the potential consequences of yet another one of an even more dire magnitude (i.e., attacking Iran), is pretty thin gruel on which to risk the welfare of the world. To reach a judgment about whether the gruel is *too* thin--whether allowing him to sort out his own mess is too great a risk--requires that the truth be told about his past errors. If the degree of support warranted by those errors turns out to be none, then he must be replaced, and someone else whose record mandates at least some degree of support given the chance to sort out the mess.
