Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Proud to be an American, Proud to Watch Countdown, Ashamed of My President
Tonight, Keith Olbermann delivered a stirring, inspiring, and patriotic rebuttal to Donald Rumsfeld's speech to the American Legion yesterday. With delivery and conviction reminiscent of the man he also happened to pay homage to, Edward R. Murrow, Olbermann articulated what a majority of Americans are now beginning to understand; that our government long ago decided its most powerful political weapon was the fear of its own people.
Before he even mentioned Murrow, I already felt as if I was watching a reincarnation of the man. All that was missing was the dramatic streams of wispy cigarette smoke balancing out the shot. How fitting it was then that with Murrow's same theatric posture, Olbermann turned to camera two and shared Murrow's words from a March 9th, 1954 See it Now broadcast:
I'll let Olbermann's (and Murrow's) words speak for themselves, and in the meantime hope that enough people in this country get the message before they go to the polls on November 6th. That election is, as it should, becoming less about Democrat versus Republican, and more about freedom versus tyranny. It is however, not taking that turn the way the President and his party intended. Rather, it is this administration, with its fear-mongering and ridicule of any and all dissent, that acts with the very same fascist intentions it, ironically, blames on our "enemies".
MSNBC: Olbermann's Soliloquy
Blog: Time to Support Keith
YouTube: Olbermann on the pattern of "Terror Threats"
YouTube: David Strathairn's impersonation of Murrow reminds us of the dangers of stomping out dissent
¶ 10:02 PM
Before he even mentioned Murrow, I already felt as if I was watching a reincarnation of the man. All that was missing was the dramatic streams of wispy cigarette smoke balancing out the shot. How fitting it was then that with Murrow's same theatric posture, Olbermann turned to camera two and shared Murrow's words from a March 9th, 1954 See it Now broadcast:
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.
I'll let Olbermann's (and Murrow's) words speak for themselves, and in the meantime hope that enough people in this country get the message before they go to the polls on November 6th. That election is, as it should, becoming less about Democrat versus Republican, and more about freedom versus tyranny. It is however, not taking that turn the way the President and his party intended. Rather, it is this administration, with its fear-mongering and ridicule of any and all dissent, that acts with the very same fascist intentions it, ironically, blames on our "enemies".
MSNBC: Olbermann's Soliloquy
Blog: Time to Support Keith
YouTube: Olbermann on the pattern of "Terror Threats"
YouTube: David Strathairn's impersonation of Murrow reminds us of the dangers of stomping out dissent
¶ 10:02 PM
