According to Darren Bernard’s Nov. 3 “The anti-war left, spiraling into parody,” the anti-war protesters at the Nov. 2 rally are representative of all anti-war liberals. By the same logic, it could be said that all conservative Christians believe homosexual intercourse is the same as a human having sex with a dog. It could also be said that they all don’t care about the justice system and will gladly lie in front of a jury to protect their bosses. We could go on all day, trading shots back and forth, but the fact is no small group of people is a good representation of the movement they are part of. And what about the “high nincompoops” stuff? Sounds a lot like when Bill O’Reilly called viewers of “The Daily Show” stoned slackers. And I guess if we are going that route, then it is safe to say conservatives are all high on OxyContin, like Rush Limbaugh. Why that was left out of Bernard’s column, I have no idea.
Moving on to the “fundamental liberal ideas” that Bernard pointed out, America is the richest country in the world, yet people can’t have free health care because people want to make money on it. It’s a nice idea for capitalists; unfortunately there are poor people dying every day who would have had a much better chance to live if they had more money. Hurricane Katrina pointed out the great problem our country has ignored for decades. Poor people were left to die because they couldn’t afford a car or other mode of transportation to leave. People complain about the fact that the levees weren’t prepared and there was not enough funding for them. They really should be concerned that not only was there not a plan to evacuate those who were unable to evacuate themselves, but also that they were ignored for days after New Orleans was flooded.
Bernard then goes on to question why liberals don’t like President George W. Bush or his administration. First, Bernard gives a rare truth when he says the president has been “one of the biggest spenders in American history” (actually he is the biggest spender in American history). It’s surprising to see a hack like Bernard forget the other part of the phrase though; he left out the tax part. It’s tax and spend, not cut taxes and spend. I guess he would like to see his kids and grandkids pay off the debt instead of taking responsibility for it himself. Shockingly, Bernard then says Bush “signaled his support for equal rights for gay couples” by proposing an amendment to the constitution that would ban them from having the right to get married to the person they love. I guess I can see how that’s equal rights. Oh, and the whole obsession with not telling the truth, especially in situations of great concern to the American public.
What’s wrong with an anti-war protest that has some Bush-hating in it? He is the person who led our country into the war, and is in control of our military. The troops certainly don’t deserve any blame; they are following orders. So who better to be angry at than Bush? It’s not like the two options are go to war or be pawns to Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan. There is a lot of space in between.
In the end, saying people like Michael Moore and George Soros represent the opinions of most liberals is like saying every conservative has the same ideology as Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity. Saying that a small group of people can speak for a whole movement is ridiculous. The Daily should be ashamed of itself for printing that column.
Bobby Kahn is a University student. Please send comments to [email protected].
