Quoting Someone Else Who Quotes Greenwald

Trey Smith

Ignorance is a diverse trait; it comes in many forms and emanates from many different phenomena. There is sheer stupidity: a lack of knowledge of something for which there’s no genuine excuse. There’s willful ignorance: a head-in-the-sand, nah-nah-nah-can’t-hear you aversion to truths, often times in pursuit of plausible deniability. And then there’s the most rare form: a bizarre mix of the former two that inadvertently highlights how a deliberately narrow political discourse can make otherwise intelligent people uninformed about what should be the most important political issues.

This kind of bewilderment is arguably the most dangerous when it expresses itself at the highest reaches of the government. Case in point is Democratic National Committee Chairwoman U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

In a stunning post-debate interview by the nonprofit We Are Change, and flagged by the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, Wasserman Schultz is asked a series of direct question about why President Obama now asserts the unprecedented right to execute American citizens without charge, judge, jury or trial. The sequence of responses is revealing.

When first asked about why her party’s presidential nominee flip-flopped on indefinite detention provisions in his National Defense Authorization Act, she refuses to answer the question by saying, “I didn’t hear that as a subject at the debate.” When subsequently asked about President Obama’s notorious “kill list,” in which he unilaterally executes those (including U.S. citizens) he accuses of terrorism, she insists, “I have no idea what you are talking about,” then smiles and says, “I’m happy to answer any serious questions you have.” When asked, “Why isn’t that serious?” she shuts down the interview by declaring, “Because I have no idea what you are talking about.”
~ from Kill Lists? Dems Don’t Want to Know by David Sirota~

I was going to feature Greenwald's column on this subject, but decided not to because I feature Greenwald so frequently. But then David Sirota -- a very good writer in his own right -- decided to chime in and so I decided to quote someone who quotes Greenwald (though the exact quote isn't shown above).

This situation with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz represents a microcosm of why I've given up on politics and have chosen solely to vote on ballot initiatives and NOT candidates.

I used to believe -- rather naively, I might add -- that the two mainstream parties each stood on a set of principles. The last twenty years have proven to me that this belief was misguided.

During the Clinton years, the GOP was adamant that the budget deficit was THE issue facing the federal government. They made this point crystal clear at every opportunity. Reduce the deficit! Reduce the deficit! That's all they ever talked about.

And yet, when Dubya became the head guy, he ran up an historic deficit and you heard hardly a peep from them! All of a sudden, the budget deficit wasn't important. Max out our credit line, they laughed. We don't care.

Don't get me wrong. This about-face didn't surprise me in the least. I knew all along that the Republicans really didn't give a hoot about the deficit. It was nothing more than a ploy to push Clinton to the right; as if the guy needed a push to begin with!

But here we are today and the Democrats are playing the very same game. For eight long years, they were up in arms over the shenanigans of the Bush years, yet now that one of their guys is in the White House, they are cheering the very same things and worse that they use to boo. Many of Dubya's worst policies are child's play compared to Obama's and yet you hardly hear a peep from them.

What we are left with are two grandstanding behemoths who are all bluster with little substance. What is wholly outrageous when the opposition party is in power is embraced like a lover when their party is in power. While I expect this rudderless behavior from conservatives, it is painfully obvious that liberals are no better!