Inflammatory Rhetoric, Mr Lugar?

There are still many Bush enthusiasts who think we should all just put the 2004 election behind us and move on. Easy for them to say, of course. Hard for the rest of us who know what struggles lie ahead for us and the whole world in the next four years until our war criminal president steps down. The only good thing about Bush's faint victory is that he cannot do this to us again. He is only allowed two stolen elections.

The chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dick Lugar, R-Ind., continues to receive bipartisan accolades for his role as chair. I don't know why. He is, I suppose, not as offensive as many republicans. But I don't think he needs to be overly encouraged. Yesterday, as the Senate debated the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, he stood up and cautioned against "inflammatory rhetoric that is designed merely to create partisan advantage or to settle partisan scores." Just this morning minutes ago, I heard Sen. George Allen of Virginia attempting the oft-used tactic of the republicans to frame the debate as inappropriate because we have soldiers fighting overseas for our freedom. To George Allen, debate has no place in our democratic government during war time. As they say, debate will demoralize our military and comfort the terrorists.

Since when is asking legitimate, well-documented, questions a form of inflammatory rhetoric? Since when does pointing out blatant contradictions and outright lies constitute partisan score settling?

Attempts to shame those who would question the President and the republican majority in Congress must not deter those of us who still see the immense problems which our foreign policies are causing daily. If we pray for anything, let us pray that the voices of sanity will not be silenced. Pray that the voices of caring and peaceful co-existence will not cease.

As a principal architect of the Iraq invasion and the administration's war on terrorism, Rice is a terrible choice to be our Secretary of State. Bill Frist, Majority leader, says, in a fatherly tone as if speaking to first graders, "I was disappointed that we are having to march through the debate today." Well, poor Dr. Frist will have to be patient and let the democratic process happen. We're really sorry if democracy disappoints him. May Frist encounter many such disappointments in the next four years. Our goal must be: Disappoint Frist!

[Click on the blog title to read the AP article relating to this blog.]