Ok, ok, I struggled with this one. Here’s the story:

Former Attorney General Janet Reno and seven other former Justice Department officials filed court papers Nov. 20 that the Bush administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying a suspected terrorist outside the court system. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the nation’s handling of the detainees. “What is extraordinary, in other words, is how much, not how little, our law protects enemy combatants,” he said.

I couldn’t decide which bit of smarmy commentary to use, so I’ll use both. Which comment should Uncle have made:

1 – Janet Reno criticizing the heavy-handed tactics of the Justice Department is like Michael Richards criticizing me for racial insensitivity.

or:

2 – When someone who set people on fire says you’re setting a dangerous precedent, it may be time for some serious introspection.

Decisions, decisions?

Update: Funny. Seems that since Insty tossed a link, some folks think I’m an idiot for using a bit of duality here. Take for instance, this guy:

The link “SayUncle” references is from the National Rifle Association. These are the same yahoos that were screaming that Clinton was going to take all their guns away while decrying the “jackbooted thugs” who sent Elian back to his biological father. They’re the same flavor of nut that blame the US government for Waco and not the heavily-armed apocalyptic religious cultist David Koresh. Now they yawn at the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping, torture of US citizens and gutting of habeas corpus, while real conservatives blast them.

The NRA copied text from an AP report, so the source isn’t the evil NRA. One click, and you’d have figured that out there, sparky. The NRA referred to the ATF as Jackbooted thugs during Bush 1’s administration after the Ruby Ridge incident (recall Bush 1 didn’t get their endorsement in 92). Those nuts in Congress also concluded that the government shared the blame for Waco because, well, no matter how nutty someone is (and Koresh was nucking futs), it’s not justification for tossing in some incindiaries and driving a tank through the door. Good post, other than getting substantially all the facts wrong.

Them stoopid gun nutz, they criticize because they’re stoopid and they’re gun nutz. Anyhoo, for the slow of mind: This post is a criticism of the heavy-handed tactics of both the Clinton Justice Department and the Bush Justice Department. In case you haven’t noticed, they both suck.

And it does illustrate one of the problems in dealing with the Waco incident. You cannot criticize the heavy-handed actions of the government without being viewed as one who is defending David Koresh. So, to be clear, Koresh was nuts. Koresh had illegal weapons. Koresh is to blame for the deaths of those people. But none of that excuses the tactics used on the compound. Period. I don’t care how crazy you are, it’s doesn’t justify setting the building you’re in on fire.

Update 2: I called this guy an idiot. Having read his response, I don’t think he’s an idiot. He still gets most of his facts wrong but he’s not an idiot. Disingenuous, sure, but not an idiot. Apologies to the Blue Texan.

Update 3: I rescind my apology. Having read his update in which we learn he cannot write in a manner in which one can determine who he is calling a yahoo; that he says I called Reno a blood-thirsty murderer who did it intentionally; and makes the reference to Clinton-hating (see rule #3); and other misstatements, the term idiot stands.

Posted in uncategorized on November 21st, 2006 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |