First, I heard the comments as I was at the
conference as well. The last thing on my mind, or
the last thing that popped into my head was
“Republicans want to kill us.” That is
completely ridiculous and a complete twisting of
comments that are intended to highlight the piss
poor job that Republicans have done to protect
America. As usual, we do a better job of tearing
ourselves apart and falling into Republican traps
intended to get us whaling on ourselves and not
them. Have we not figured out yet that our
opponents lie, manipulate, and twist the facts to
fit their own personal agenda? Geez, when I think
we've come so far, we fall back two steps.
Begala was pointing out that terrorists want to
kill us, that is their sole mission, and by not
stepping forward and leading in protecting
America, and utilizing leadership that calls for
shared sacrifice to secure our nation, we have
increased the risk of another terrorist attack by
leaps and bounds. Oh yeah, by taking misguided
democracy installation tours that fuel terrorism
you can multiply those risks by about 10.
Republicans HAVE NOT DONE ENOUGH TO PROTECT THIS
COUNTRY AND WE NEED TO SAY IT! That is what his
statement is saying. Republicans have not done
enough to protect our country, our children,
grandchildren, friends, neighbors, and because of
that, Begala’s family (and yours) are at
greater risk for a terrorist attack then prior to
September 11th. That is what he is saying and that
is the reality. The truth hurts, doesn't it?
We have ceded this debate over and over again,
when Democrats are much more equipped to handle,
and have a proven track record of properly
securing and defending our nation. It’s just
that Begala had the balls to say it and no other
progressive has. I stand by his statement and ask
that people quit being so ridiculously sensitive
and be equally as brave as he in declaring the
absolute piss poor job Republicans have done in
defending our nation. Quit playing into the
Republican media machine. Hell, they don’t
need a press release, progressives are doing a
good job of tearing ourselves apart.
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Right-wing press smears Campus Progress Conference and Paul Begala
The anatomy of a right-wing smear is textbook at this point: How fortunate conservatives are to have journalists that are so talented at their craft they can listen to a statement and hear what they want to hear, even if it’s not there at all.
While Campus Progress is pleased that the right-wingers have taken an interest in our National Student Conference, we're a bit confused how they're pushing a complete lie that one of our guests, CNN pundit Paul Begala, claimed that "Republican want to kill" progressives.
These things spread faster than you can say "Durbin," but it appears the accusation first came from CNSNews.com's Jered Ede, who wrote the following:
Young liberals this week flocked to the nation's capital to hear, among other things, liberal television pundit and Democrat political strategist Paul Begala accuse Republicans of wanting to kill him and his children to preserve tax cuts for the rich.
(snip)
Begala's presence on the panel created a stir when he declared that Republicans had "done a p***-poor job of defending" the U.S.
Republicans, he said, "want to kill us."
Which would definitely be an outrageous statement, had Begala actually said that. He didn't. But that didn’t stop first the Drudge Report and then today the Washington Times from repeating this claim. Today, the capital’s own Unification rag reports flatly, "Democratic strategist Paul Begala says Republicans want to kill him and his children to preserve tax cuts for the rich.”
BEGALA: ...we sit back and allow George W. Bush and our Republican friends to pull out 9/11 like a cheap handgun in a bar fight. Okay? "9/11." There's a drought in the Midwest. "9/11." The deficit's up. "9/11" You know? But, I think we need to fight them on that. I think, frankly they did a piss-poor job of defending us, and their strategy was always "we'll fight them over there so we don't fight them here." Well guess what, bin Laden didn't get the memo. He wants to fight us here as well as we saw in London last week. And so, the- their theory is, "we can't really do everything to protect our country because we have to cut taxes for the rich." And so, it... they want to kill us- particularly this city and New York and some other places. I was driving past the pentagon when that plane hit. I had friends on that plane, this is deadly serious to me- they want to kill me and my children if they can. But if they just kill me and not my children, they want my children to be comforted that while they didn't protect me because they cut my taxes, my children won't have to pay any money on the money they inherit. You know, that is bullshit national defense and we should say that.
Sure, Begala could have been more precise in dealing with these pronouns. But save for referencing Bush's "friends" Begala doesn't say "Republicans," nor does he say "terrorists." We're assuming this is because most people with comprehension above a fourth-grade level would realize that Begala was referring to terrorists as the "they" who want to kill us.
So which is it: Do these right-wing journalists have the comprehension skills of elementary-schoolers, or are they lying on purpose?
Please remember that Campus Progress' terms of use do not allow promoting or endorsing any particular political party or candidate for office. Posts or comments that do this will be deleted.
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Begala was pointing out that terrorists want to kill us, that is their sole mission, and by not stepping forward and leading in protecting America, and utilizing leadership that calls for shared sacrifice to secure our nation, we have increased the risk of another terrorist attack by leaps and bounds. Oh yeah, by taking misguided democracy installation tours that fuel terrorism you can multiply those risks by about 10. Republicans HAVE NOT DONE ENOUGH TO PROTECT THIS COUNTRY AND WE NEED TO SAY IT! That is what his statement is saying. Republicans have not done enough to protect our country, our children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors, and because of that, Begala’s family (and yours) are at greater risk for a terrorist attack then prior to September 11th. That is what he is saying and that is the reality. The truth hurts, doesn't it?
We have ceded this debate over and over again, when Democrats are much more equipped to handle, and have a proven track record of properly securing and defending our nation. It’s just that Begala had the balls to say it and no other progressive has. I stand by his statement and ask that people quit being so ridiculously sensitive and be equally as brave as he in declaring the absolute piss poor job Republicans have done in defending our nation. Quit playing into the Republican media machine. Hell, they don’t need a press release, progressives are doing a good job of tearing ourselves apart.