Editorial: What were the Republicans thinking?

I sit here tonight shocked, saddened and a bit angry. I am angry because the Republican Party did something that I feel was utterly abominable. The Republican National Committee actually had the audacity to use 2998 deaths, 6291 injuries for the sole purpose to make a morbid political point. Anyone else of a sane mentality would find this mortifying. However, we are dealing with Republicans. It just seems to me that conservatives, not all mind you, have used these attacks as a rallying cry to patriotism. My friend, that is the same thing that Adolf Hitler did during his tenure in Germany.

I was watching the coverage of the Republican National Committee’s convention on MSNBC, when the supposed tribute to the 9/11 attacks was played. It was not in so much that the attacks were shown, it was how they were presented, it was the announcer saying the words “and we will never allow it to happen again.” That, my friends, really bothered me. Because you see, what basically the Republican Party was trying to infer was that if the American people elected a Democratic party president that it is possible that the September 11 attacks could happen again.

The problem with that whole mentality is this, it was a Republican who was in the White House on September 10^th 2001 and not a Democrat.

A Republican president knew that there was intelligence suggesting that Al-Qaeda planned attacks in the United States of America and did nothing about it, not a Democrat.

Furthermore, it was a Republican president, which he used the September 11 attacks; as a reason to go to war with a nation that had absolutely nothing to do with the September 11 attacks and not a Democrat. Further he based that on information that turned out to be outright false.

However, the Neo-Conservative faction of the Republican Party felt the absolute need to take the horrific scars of September 11, 2001 and use it as a political ploy. As much as I know this is going to sound like I am being condescending towards the Republican Party, as far as I am concerned the Republican Party pissed on the graves of those who died on September 11. I say that proudly and without one damned ounce of regret. The Republican Party, as a collective whole, had damned well better be thanking his or her lucky stars that I did not have anyone die on September 11, 2001, because if I did I would be out for blood, so to speak.

This my friends is why I will not be voting Republican come November 4, 2008. No, not because I do not agree with their conservative values, but because I do not wish to be associated with a party, that uses a tragic event such as September 11, 2001 as nothing more than a political prop. I do not wish to be associated to part with a party that treats a death as collateral damage. I do not wish to be associated with a political party that treats our United States Military as a billable part, to a machine called War.

If it sounds like I am angry in this editorial, it is because I am, I am angry as hell that the Republican Party has become the old Democratic Party.

Keith Olbermann, of whom I have the most enduring respect, made a small statement shortly after the tribute was aired. I will share with you the contents of that small statement, let me just go on record as saying that I absolutely agree with his sentiment exactly and if he does not issue a special comment on his show tomorrow, I will be very highly displeased with him.

Keith’s comments are here:

In closing, let me simply say this I may not be a Democrat, nor may I agree with their idea of big government, socialism, nor their promoting of the gay agenda. However, let me be clear, I do not support a party that believes in the fatal conception of perpetual war. Nor do I support a party that believes that the memories of those who died on September 11, 2001 can be used as a campaign wedge issue.

Thank you for reading.