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It must have been an awkward moment for NBC news anchor Brian Williams. Here he had this sensitive piece of video showing World War II vets being prohibited from visiting the Washington, D.C., monument erected in their honor because of the government shutdown. But how to introduce the segment without sounding partisan? Would he really point out that this is what the Tea Party Republicans have wrought? Not to fear, today’s network news anchors are skillfully prepared in the art of phony objectivity. The TV-news version of “objectivity” won out.
As bewildered aging military heroes were milling about outside the closed monument, a guard tried to explain why she couldn’t let them pass, Williams intoned, “No matter what your politics …” If you were a visitor from another planet you would have believed that politics had nothing to do with the amazing tableau as it unfolded.
Maybe the blame fell equally on both political parties — on the one side, the House Republicans wanting to delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act for a year and on the other side, the stubborn president who refused to negotiate. Note: The disrespect shown the World War II vets apparently embarrassed the politicians enough that instructions came down to let them in, and seemingly as far as Williams and his TV-audience were concerned, all was well that ended well while these same shameless politicians hurried to the monument for a photo op.
If someone had injected Williams with truth serum and turned him into Will McAvoy, the fictional news anchor of HBO’s “The Newsroom,” here’s how he would have described things: “You are looking at a scene today outside the monument erected in honor of those who fought bravely in World War II. These brave men are being denied entrance to the memorial that supposedly honors their service to this nation. This is an example of what Tea Party Republicans have done to your government. In their peevish attempt to try to delay the Affordable Care Act, which they scorn as Obamacare, they have managed to take our government hostage. It is as if they wielded political Uzis through the halls of Congress. They did it despite putting some 800,000 people out of work at a time when these same Tea Party politicians have gutted the food stamp program. They did it despite knowing they would damage an already struggling economy — did it despite scenes like this where our military heroes were turned away from the very edifice meant to honor them. And we should note for the record, that even these shameful Tea Party Republicans found this was a bridge too far and these veterans were finally allowed entry. Not without a phony photo op, I might add.
“Part political Neanderthal and part charlatan, they shut down our government despite knowing there is no way the president would delay implementation of a law passed by their own Congress and whose legality has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Did it knowing if the president were foolish enough to accede to their demands, they would only return and make the same demand — like a blackmailer who promises if you just make this one ransom payment, you will never be bothered again. Did it knowing that if they succeeded, they would start a precedent where any president could be held hostage by a frenzied, self-righteous, anti-democratic Congressional minority.
“And what of their Tea Party demands they are taking this drastic measure on your behalf to preserve your freedom? Just what precious freedom is it they are preserving? Apparently it is the freedom of 30 million Americans to go without health care. It is the freedom for the poor and uninsured to jam our hospital emergency rooms … While the Tea Party Republicans worry the Affordable Care Act has more than 2,000 pages, they forget about the uninsured.
“What is it their leader, the dishonorable Sen. Ted Cruz says? ‘Get a job.’ There is currently about one job for every three job seekers in this country, but Cruz, who apparently failed simple math, counsels the uninsured to get a job. It is the same counsel he and his fellow Tea Party Republicans offer to those without work and without food. Get a job.
“Sen. Cruz, in this era where it is popular among some of you to believe climate change is a political hoax, that those in need are just slackers and the real enemy of this nation are immigrants and its own government, is a kind of folk hero. In reality, he’s a demagogue whom we haven’t seen the likes of since that alcoholic bully, Joe McCarthy, held this nation in the grip of fear. These demagogues always thrive where folks crave simple solutions — make that scapegoats — for complex problems.
“Our Democracy is undergoing its sternest test since that blight on our political system known as ‘McCarthyism.’ The Tea Party Republicans have dishonored freedom just as they dishonored these World War II veterans. So I ask them now as McCarthy was asked back then, ‘Have you no sense of decency?’”
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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