Hey Steve, Maybe You Should Switch to Decaf
How desperate are conservatives right now in an election cycle that has GOP disaster written all over it? Pretty damn desperate, to judge by Steve Gill’s immoderate rant Sunday morning on WKRN’s This Week with Bob Mueller. Gill implored Tennessee Democratic Party chair (and fellow This Week panelist) Gray Sasser to share Gill's indignation at recent remarks by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin about John McCain’s military family upbringing—remarks that Republicans have been laboring without success to spin as downright treasonable.
Here’s what Harkin said during a May 16 conference call with reporters:
"I think one of the problems John McCain has, is that his grandfather was an admiral, his father was an admiral. He comes from a long line of just military people so I think his whole world view, his life view has been shaped from a military viewpoint, and he has a hard time thinking beyond that, and I think he's trapped in that. And I think that can be pretty dangerous. It's one thing to have been drafted and served or volunteer and serve for a few years or something and get out and get on with your life. [It's] quite another thing when you come from generations of military people, that's just how you're steeped, that's how you learned, that's how you grew up, it's hard to shake those things."
Here’s Gill’s overreaction Sunday on Mueller’s show:
"I’m…offended that the Obama team has not responded in a week to what Tom Harkin, their leader in Iowa, the U.S. Senator from Iowa, [who] came out with some disparaging statements about our troops, those who have volunteered to serve us in uniform, those who come from a military family. He calls them dangerous. He says that those people who come from a military mindset are dangerous, and those who volunteer rather than being drafted are people that we should suspect [sic]. I think that those statements are a lot more vile than anything that was done to Michelle Obama, and Obama hasn’t spoken on that nor has the Democratic party condemned those statements....[addressing Sasser] Will you call for Tom Harkin to be condemned and stripped of his duties when he’s a guy attacking our troops, attacking our all-voluntary military force?"
People from a military family are dangerous? An attack on the all-volunteer military? Yo Steve, did you bother to read Harkin’s actual remarks, or just the Fox News talking points? Harkin’s meaning was clear enough to anyone with sixth-grade reading comprehension skills: the "danger" is narrow-minded thinking arising from narrow life experiences. Reasonable people can disagree about whether this applies to McCain as a potential president, or about whether it was an artful rhetorical moment for Harkin. But spinning it into an act for which Harkin should be “stripped of his duties” borders on unhinged. Are we to understand that conservatives now want to impeach public officials for their exercise of free speech?
Comments
Gill is a typical right-wing talk show blowhard, so of course he distorts and lies. It's what they do. It's a crucial part of the gig. See his recent column in the City Paper about Hamas and Obama for more good examples. He twisted what Axelrod actually said and what Obama actually said. He just gives his audience what it wants, whether it's truthful or not. To not expect distortions and lies from him is like not expecting a zebra to have stripes.
Posted 05/26/2008 at 07:40:16 PMNot defending Gill's reaction, but Harkin's comment is idiotic. And I wonder what he would say if Obama picked Jim Webb as a vp.
Posted 05/27/2008 at 08:20:33 AMOkay, Matt,
Sure it may have been intemperate (maybe even stupid) politically, but if you're going to police every imtemperate remark made by a member of Congress, you're going to be awfully busy.
The reality is that Gill is banking on the fact that most of Channel 2's listeners won't have read or heard Harkin's actual comments. They'll have only heard Gill REACTING to the comments. In the Balkanized world of MSM, Gill will be betting he can successfully frame the argument in front of people who don't have any frame of reference. Hence, you've just learned rule 1 of talk radio.
Posted 05/27/2008 at 09:22:51 AMHarkin's comment was artless but there was a valid point lurking: the failure of too many on the right to keep in mind that ours is a civilian government that controls the military, not the other way around. (Witness the incessant willingness of Bush, McCain, et al. to defer to "the generals" on how we do our foreign adventurism.)
And if Webb is Obama's veep choice? There's really little basis for accusing Webb of harboring a narrow-minded perspective. Yes, he's the son of a career Air Force officer, but his father ultimately left the service as a vocal critic of the Secretary of Defense's leadership. Webb was a Marine, but also has been a lawyer, a journalist, a consultant, a novelist, a screenwriter, and a film producer.
Posted 05/27/2008 at 09:29:26 AM"Harkin's comment is idiotic"
I will never, ever again wonder if The Scene really has gone downhill under Liz.
Posted 05/27/2008 at 02:03:58 PMGive me the military anyday. It sure beats the families of professional politicians who have thrived in any environment; around here, Clements, Brileys, right on up to the top with the Bushes and the Kennedys.
As for survey, the SCENE has gone downhill! The last great topic was the one on pit bulls' inherent viciousness.
Posted 05/27/2008 at 06:21:18 PM