It's A Hell of Hoot Says the General

I finally found some time to sit down and attempt to write a decent post for 2GL and the multiple pressing stories of the day all came to mind for possible commentary. Then, I thought back to last night as I was getting ready to head over to a friend's house to play Friday night poker. I turned to CNN first, as I always do when searching for the news of the day. I caught the last five minutes of Paula's interview with Ward Churchill, the U. of Colorado professor who compared 9-11 victims to Nazis. I heard his argument and position and sure, if you take it to its logical conclusion, you kind of get it. But, there is no forum is this country for a comparison of 9-11 victims to Adolf Eichman, that’s simple. My point is that he likely could have been a little more delicate with his use of terms and laid out the same argument. Right or wrong on his point, he's a little full of himself to think that he is not wrong for saying what he did. But that's not what really caught my attention last night. I then turned to my beloved tabloid journalism channel, Fox News, fair and balanced; if you're a conservative at least. As I maneuvered through and around the flashing boxes and rocketing icons that flew past the screen with audio that made me think a plane was seconds away from hitting my room, I saw good ol' Sean Hannity. Beside him, as always, was Fox's proof positive of fair and balanced news, Alan Colmes. I like Alan, he is the sacrificial lamb for the network and he either one, takes his destiny on nobly or two, has no idea that he is a human punching bag for Hannity who takes control of the segment at any time things start heading too far to the middle.

H&C had author Bill Press on discussing the story of three star general Lt. Gen. James Mattis' off the cuff remarks regarding the enjoyment of shooting people. Bill Press' demeanor really made the segment into the disgusting display that ensued. Not by him, but by Hannity. Here is the bulk of the statement from Mattis, and I think it would be difficult to argue that its been taken out of context:

"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling." To be fair, I will add this second portion of his statement. "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

Wow! Sure sounds like a psychopath to me. I think most reasonable Americans, or at least somewhat intelligent Americans could agree that there is no room in a civilized society for talk of this sort. Hell, I bet even Rocky would agree with that, as every now and again, I see a glimmer of hope in the guy. Sean Hannity without reservation, ON NATIONAL TV, stated he saw nothing wrong with the statements. I searched for the transcript of the interview, but Fox News has not updated its site since yesterday. But, take a look for yourself when you get a chance. Bill Press in a non-argumentative way made reasonable comments about how leaders of our military should act more responsibly than this and that you would expect to hear things of this sort from leaders of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Other comments included the idea that it’s never "fun" to kill and that while the General is having "fun", many collateral casualties are also happening. Hannity, without hesitation, commented on how the General was a "great American" as he says about anyone in line with his views. He also stated that he should be applauded for his understanding of the circumstances. Hannity then spoke about the pursuit of freedom and reasoned that the General's statements were precise in that light. I have been appalled by Hannity so many times, but this took the cake, and quite frankly, I think guys like him are destructive to America. He's destructive because his commentary actively divides Americans. His livelihood depends on this and he will say whatever he wants to meet this end. Sure, he would never think he does that, but he does. By vilifying "liberals" and using that word to describe evil people or folks against America, it serves no positive purpose except for his own personal gain and ego-stroking, if you do not see this then that’s unfortunate.

I find it even more interesting that not a peep has come out of the White House about this. No comment whatsoever from Bush. These comments are despicable and this General should be relieved of his duties. I understand a military has to be good at killing and have the mentality of a warrior. In a certain sense, I want this General to somewhat think that killing the enemy is his passion, but politically, we continue to incline the slope America has to climb to reach our goals because of irresponsible and ignorant people like this.