Olberman summarizes.
When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American…See the full speech on video -- .wmv , quicktime
When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"… look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -- attributed to Ben Franklin, published in An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania (1759)Where are all the Franklins? The Jeffersons? The Washingtons? Why are so many without courage? Why are so many blinded by ignorance and fear? The terrorists will only win if we allow their actions to change the way we live our lives, and if we allow their intent -- to spread fear -- to materialize into reality.
The terrorists are not being helped by those who doubt the competence of our "Decider", not by those who criticize the politics of war, not by those who see a failed foreign policy and insist that we change it. The terrorists are being validated by our very own administration -- they are afraid, and they spread fear, and they allow fear to make stupid decisions which strip us of our liberties. We can only hope that the country we had before 9/11 will one day exist again, although we are assured by this administration that it never can.
I do not think that Bush and his "portable public chorus" are good enough, not nearly so, to do irreparable damage to our country. The sycophants of stupidity, and the progenitor thereof, will pass on, and their ugly scars will one day heal. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Light is being shone upon their up-to-now covert actions and activities. And as we all now, stench comes from things that fester unexposed. Their smell has given them away. The popular vote will prevail in November. I feel sure of it. I have too much trust in the courage of my countrymen to despair.
Otherwise, the terrorists have won, because we allowed them to take the one thing that made us great -- our liberty. Even as we took their liberty from them under the guise of "giving them democracy" (as if such a gift can be given), we found that we had not gained any ourselves, and had only sacrificed more. As if such a quest can ever succeed. As if freedom is not earned. As if they don't hate us more today than ever. As if it wasn't our choice to make it this way.
