Oh no, not again.
Folks, if you thought the media firestorm over Trent Lott was overkill, well, you ain't seen nothing yet, my friends. Just wait till the media jackals, licking their chops, sink their teeth into this one.
Brace yourself: I predict the latest GOP foot-in-mouth/faux pas, once the network newsies get wind of it, will make you downright nostalgic for Lott. Jennings, Rather, Brokaw, Woodruff et al, right about now, are probably drooling.
What is it with Hill Republicans and bloopers these days, anyway? Sheesh, haven't we already been embarrassed enough? Seemingly, when it comes to gaffes/goofs/verbal boners, Congressional Republicans have, for reasons which baffle me, more than their fair share. Is there something in the water, or what?
One wag suggested, only half-jokingly, keeping a muzzle on GOP pieholes.
Talk about handing our enemies the ammo to shoot us, the blooper I'm about to tell you about, far and away, takes the cake.
No, it's not another 'racially tinged' remark, if that's any comfort, but it's verbal arson guaranteed to spark an even bigger media hullabaloo, all the same.
And, worse still, unlike the Lott spat -- which, despite weeks of negative publicity, ended with Republicans on top and Democrats on defense again -- this looming controversy has, I'm afraid, the potential for real, long-lasting damage to the Party.
It involves, at once, the GOP's greatest strength but the Democrats' greatest vulnerability: National Security.
Democrats, chafing after midterm elections dominated by questions of security and defense, will, no doubt, go to town on this latest GOP gaffe. Republicans, from Presidents Dwight Eisenhower to Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, have, on foreign and defense matters, amassed considerable political capital. Then along comes this stupid GOP Senator whose slip-of-the-tongue threatens to throw it all away. Incredibly, this Senator is, to boot, up for reelection in '04!
What Senator, you ask? What slip-of-the-tongue?
Well, you're not going to believe this (actually, when I heard about it, I could barely believe it myself) but, here goes:
First of all, this GOP Senator, to be fair, claims she was only trying to be "intentionally provocative" in an effort to elicit a thoughtful discussion, you see. Speaking last week to students at a high school honors class in Vancouver, Wash., GOP Senator Patty Murray (R-Wa.) touched off a furor after telling attendees that America has a lot to learn from terror mastermind Osama bin Laden -- no, not the terrorism, but what she called his tireless work to "help" the sick and the poor of this world.
"We've got to ask: Why is this man [Osama] so popular around the world?" the GOP Senator Thursday told dumbfounded students at Columbia River High School. "Why are people so supportive of him in many countries that are riddled with poverty?"
He's also got, I would add, a huge fan base at Harvard and Berkeley and Hollywood and CNN and Democrat National Committee headquarters, but that's besides the point.
So, why is Osama so popular? Because, 'splains Sen. Murray, Osama is not as bad as evil Bush makes him out to be, after all; in fact, he's a pretty swell dude -- more like a missionary whose vocation in life is doing good works, works of charity, serving the poor -- a kinda Mother Teresa with nails-and-bolts-packed explosives strapped to her body.
Sure, his 'noble deeds' include leveling a couple of skyscrapers one September morning, and, sure, thousands of innocent men, women and children perished, but, hey, can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right?
Forget 9/11 for a moment, Sen. Murray seems to suggest, instead wrap your mind around all the wonderful altruism Osama, the virtuous terrorist, er, philanthropist, has provided:
"He's been out in these countries [serving the poor] for decades," Sen. Murray gushed, "building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful."
So, how does warmonger Bush stack up against big-hearted Osama and his unselfish devotion to the downtrodden and powerless? Has Bush shown as much good-will and concern for the well-being of the poor and oppressed as Osama has?
No way, says Sen. Murray. "We haven't done that."
Why, Osama's loving and caring, kinder and gentler, 'compassionate terrorism' beats Bush's 'compassionate conservatism' hands-down, says Sen. Murray!
"How would [the poor] look at us today," Sen. Murray mused, "if we had, [like Osama], been there helping them . . . rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?"
Her fellow Republicans, to their credit, immediately pounced.
"It is absolutely outrageous and despicable to imply," said state GOP chairman Chris Vance, "that the American government should learn a lesson from the madman who murdered thousands of American citizens."
Mr. Vance added angrily that he knows "Sen. Murray has a habit of sticking her foot in her mouth, but this goes way beyond a simple gaffe," it "sent the message to these students that the United States somehow deserved or brought on the September 11 terrorists attacks. I think all decent people can agree that we most certainly did not, that this was an unprovoked attack of terrorism."
Strong words, yes, but the real test, as I see it, is whether Republicans take it a step further, beyond demanding retraction, and call on one of their own to resign, making the Senate 50-50 again, putting the Democrats within striking distance of retaking the gavel in January.
One thing about this episode I do find strange, very strange though: This happened last Thursday, right? That's 5 days ago; here we are, five full news cycles later, yet, the networks have yet to pick up this story...
I just can't figure that out...
Unless . . . UNLESS . . . WAIT A MINUTE!
AH-HA! I should've known! Patty Murray's a DEMOCRAT, NOT A REPUBLICAN!
What was I thinking?! Sheesh!
Small wonder we haven't heard a peep from Tom Brokaw, nor Dan Rather, nor Peter Jennings about any of this. The media would rake a Republican Patty Murray over the coals by now. We'd see endless 'Will-Patty-Murray-Be-Forced-To-Resign?, or, 'Is-This-The-End-Of-The-Republican-Party?' media panel discussions/symposiums. Shows titled, 'GOP melt-down: Countdown to bankruptcy" would breed like rabbits. Apologies? To heck with apologies -- nothing short of her hand on a platter would satisfy the press. Even censure wouldn't suffice.
Will we ever even see a network blurb on this?
Ha! Don't hold your breath.
By the way, her office defends her comments this way: Look, Osama's no darling, but, hey, he's not some white southerner running as a Dixiecrat, either! So there!
So Strom Thurmond is, by this perversion of logic, worse than Osama bin Laden.
Go figure.
Some question Murray's sanity.
I say, what sanity?
Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"
