oppressive blogger regime!

What the devil? (see original post below)
Let's try this again...


Thanks, Mark! Yes, that is one fine woman!

OK. So. Not really in response to MARK, but in response to the general Condi-bashing in the comments here, I will now explain my obsession:

In 1963 Denise McNair, Condi's friend and classmate, was killed when a White Supremacist bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

About twelve years later I came to know Denise's father, a strong, wise, gentle man. FULL DISCLOSURE: I knew him through my work at the time. I am not claiming to be bosom buddies with the man, but I think I can honestly say we were friends as much as business associates ever are.

So there's that, this weird two degrees of seperation cosmic bond that I feel for Condi.

There is also the fact that I think Condoleeza Rice is a very classy lady who overcame hatred and oppression like the "Bush Regime Oppression" whiners have never known.

There's more of course. Much more. I don't claim that I have slam-dunked anybody here, and I don't intend to. I'm not going to go into a lengthy treatise on my complicated political views. I got work to do! I'll just assure you I am not a war-mongering Republican psycho.

If you are reading this right now, odds are that you are somehow involved in comics or alternative culture. Therefore the odds are that you do not agree with me politically, and you may be appalled that I praise Condi and disrespect the "Bush Regime Oppression" whiners. So be it. I just thought I'd address all the Condi bashing. I just had to stick up for that wonderful woman!

7 comments:

SRBissette said...

Hey, Mark -- I'm sure Condi is a good person, and clearly a "good soldier." But her loyalty to Bush and his regime places her firmly in the wrong too often -- as it did another "good soldier" who rose in the ranks against similar forces of prejudice, our former Secretary of State. I dare say Bush's abuse of that fine soldier has forever tarnished his otherwise remarkable career, and I fear the same for Secretary of State Rice.

Thus far this year alone, she's been an apologist for pro-torture policies, lied to the international community in service to her Commander-in-Chief, and backtracked on the fear-mongering rhetoric from her own lips (evocations of "mushroom clouds") that misled our country into war (her NYC shopping spree amid Hurricane Katrina and her response to the rational outrage expressed by those who saw her doesn't do much credit to the family or career you evoke in her defense -- you can't fiddle in Nero's court without sharing some of the ire such fiddling provokes).

One cannot indulge in such behavior, however inspirational the career that led to her current station in our government, without consequences -- including the diminishment of her own career. Thousands have died, thousands more have suffered, at the behest of Rice and her warlords. There's blood on her hands, in her stylish boots, on her ruby-red lips.

Admire the woman, despise the behavior? I can't manage that, my friend. These people in power, protecting the precious bubble around our Fearful Leader (why else speak only to hand-picked, 'safe' crowds?), have much to answer for -- Rice prominent among them.

Mark Martin said...

But I admire the woman AND the behavior, you silly partisan preacher!

I'm not looking at the world through a Daily Kos windshield.

SRBissette said...

Me neither -- I'm not partisan, a preacher, nor looking at the world through anyone or anyplace other than here. I've got two good eyes, two still-sound ears, and a brain of my own, and am judging Condi's behavior (as an official & fixture of the current Administration) on the her visible/audible actions and the reality of the last five+ years, not on conjecture or prejudice.

Mark Martin said...

You must admit your zeal is pretty evangelical.

As for the windshield - I'm not saying you are brainwashed, and should probably choose words more carefully than I do sometimes. That might be the civilized way - but it wouldn't be the COWBOY WAY!

I am saying that your views are more in line with Daily Kos's views. You tend to agree with them more than FOX News. That is, their VERSION of the facts, and which facts they tend to emphasize and focus on. I'm pretty sure that is correct.

I tend to agree with the FOX spin most of the time. Likewise I am not brainwashed and have a brain to wash my own damn self, Mr. Kos and Mr. Fox, thank you very much.

I think the difference in me and you, Steve, and most of the vehement Regime haters that I talk to, is this:

You are absolutely convinced you are correct about nearly everything (as far as current politics goes). And you think we are in a crisis situation.

I am not absolutely convinced you are wrong about everything. I am just convinced that I think you are wrong about a lot of things.

Condi, for example. I appreciate all of the horrors you so carefully present. I know you work hard to debate your side of the story.

I know there is another side. But I'm not going to re-tell it here. I'm sure you've heard it. If you have not (not just you, Steve, but you, anybody), google it up.

Steve, you are an admirable honorable political adversary! Thank you for making life more interesting! I would be proud and glad to have you beside me in the foxhole, should things get that bad.

SRBissette said...

Hey, Mark -- Same from here, about the foxhole. But Condi, sorry, wouldn't want her in the foxhole (no, I won't make the 'foxhole' play-on-words -- no, I WON'T!).

As for 'the other side,' the bottom line is the statements of Condi and the Administration from then to now (hell, from last month to now) simply are not consistent with one another. I've kept tear sheets from local papers (primarily AP), leaning neither left nor right, of our communal march to war, and the chasm between what Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and Cheney said en route to war and now pretend they did or didn't say is mortifying. They sold a bill of goods -- they SOLD it to the House and Senate, too -- and now ridicule those who bought it, acting as if nothing were amiss.

I'm not alone here. The plummeting poll numbers for our Prez demonstrate the lack of belief in anything we're told any longer. Whether you consider them lies or evidence of deceit, manipulation, misunderstanding or incompetence, the end result is the same: 60%+ of the population no longer believe what is said by the current President or Administration.

As for the past month, there's no KOS vs. FOX debate to be had here: I mean, place Condi's statements day Two of her European sojourn alongside her statements of the penultimate day, and you've got quite a gap from the same gap-toothed grimace. The day-to-day backtracking and hypocrisy (the same day Bush reluctantly backed the McCain bill outlawing torture, there's Gonzalez trying to maintain that their definition of torture is other than the most common-sense definition) is tiresome and utterly without a shred of credibility any longer.

We don't need pundits or spin or editorials or KOS or FOX or THE DAILY REPORT to arrive at this: just listening to their own words does it. If you can argue a coherent, consistent line of reasoning there, Mark, I'm all ears.

That said, you're a good man, Mark Martin, and it's an honor to know you.

Just, you know, this Condi thing... well, I've got the complete ILSA collection on my shelves. Maybe we're not as far apart as we think :--/

Mark Martin said...

sigh...

Not gonna do it. Not gonna fill your ears with my logic. You can say that I am unable, that is what most people say. The fact is, I am choosing not to waste my time. I CAN present a defense of Condi. But I can NOT convince YOU. So I'm not going to waste my time re-inventing the wheel.

There is tons of Condi defense out there. Look it up. I don't have time to debate this. The facts are out there, but I fear we are fundamentally different, you and I.

You are not enlightening me. You are not telling me anything I am not aware of. And I suppose I probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything new.

I happen to LIKE the way this administration does things. It's not perfect, there is corruption and obfuscation and imperfection. I just think that THEIR brand of imperfection is better for the country and the world, AND more morally defensible, than the brand of imperfection we would have with Kerry, Hillary, Dean, Leahy, etc - the only viable option under the present two-party rule.

Only time will tell if we are better off after Bushapalooza, or starving in the gutters as Saddam and Osama reap the rewards of payback from our guilty murderous actions. Plummeting poll numbers? What the hell does that mean? The public at large would have you believe that FRIENDS is must-see TV. I am glad we have voting and majority rule, I think it is the only fair way. But I have little faith in my fellow man to make good decisions. Look at YOU - you are a dearest friend, but God forbid you win at the polls.

Anonymous said...

I haven't contributed anything up till now, because I'm essentially a liberal pinko freak. Hell, you've seen how I used to dress. But even if our political views might be different, I'd still pop anyone in the eye who said you're not a decent, friendly, good guy. You've always been cool with me, and we don't even know each other very well. I doubt a warmongering psycho would!

And anyway, even if I'm not in favor of all her policies, even *I* have to admit she looks hot in those boots.