Another Byrd in the Aviary

Okay, that's a pretty bad pun, but Senator Robert Byrd has become a hero in my eyes in the last decade or so. He seems to have a knack of eloquently cutting through the bullshit that passes for political discourse nowadays (on both sides of the aisle), and just tells it like it is:

That so many have sacrificed during this war in Iraq is reason enough to ask questions about our government's policy in that faraway country. Our troops continue to shed their blood, and our nation continues to devote enormous sums of our national wealth, to continue that war. Whether one supported or opposed the war at its outset: no American must ever surrender the right to question the government.

The Constitution protects the American people from unjust laws that seek to stifle the patriotic duty to question those who are in power, but it is the courage of the American people that compels them to actually speak out when those in power call for silence. If anything, attacks on the patriotism of freedom-loving Americans may result in even more Americans fighting against attempts to squelch the Constitutional protections of freedom.

(SNIP)

Wednesday evening, the Vice President of the United States even claimed that criticism of the Administration's war in Iraq was "dishonest and reprehensible." The Vice President's comments come on the heels of comments from President Bush, who said, "What bothers me is when people are irresponsibly using their positions and playing politics. That's exactly what is taking place in America."

The President and the Vice President need to reread the Constitution. Asking questions, seeking honesty and truth, and pressing for accountability is exactly what the Framers had in mind. Questioning policies and practices, especially ones that have cost this nation more than 2,000 of her bravest sons and daughters, is a responsibility of every American. It is also a central role of Congress. We are the elected representatives of the American people. We are the men and women who are tasked with seeking the truth. But instead of working with the Congress, instead of clearing the air, the White House falls back to the irksome practice of attack, attack, attack, obscure, obscure, obscure.

Senator Byrd goes on at length about the lies and distortions the administration used to peddle the invasion of Iraq. He doesn't hold back, but calls a spade a spade, and a lie a lie. Read this speech here. It should be front page news and on every network. Chances are slim that it will get the play it deserves.

The bottom line for me: Dick Cheney, George Bush and their ilk are un-American pretenders to a patriotism that orders blind obedience, and rewards the sacrifices of those who fight their lying wars with betrayal and more dishonesty. They should be impeached, and tossed on the dung heap of history with all the two bit tyrants that tried to suppress dissent and democracy by painting it with the brush of "Treason." Bush and Cheney are the true traitors.