Jun 12 2008
Olbermann attacks McCain’s claim that troops coming isn’t “too important”
I wanted to post last night’s exchange with Brandon Friedman of Votevets.org even before tonight’s “Special Comment” on the same subject had aired, so I guess I’ll just tack that one on as well. First, I think this exchange with Friedman is important because he, as a veteran of the Iraq war, describes what McCain said yesterday as a “morale killer” for troops. It’s an interesting argument to hear levied at a Republican because so often we’ve heard Republican politicians who haven’t served talk about how we shouldn’t question the war because that is what hurts troop morale. It’s kind of nice to hear an opinion on that for someone who, you know, was actually there on the ground.
And now for the “Special Comment” that aired tonight. While I do like Keith a lot, I’ve become increasingly annoyed with the Special Comments, mostly because now that they’re encourage by the producers it feels like they’re getting a lot more bloated and self-important and I think it ends up masking the really important points that he hits on. I feel the same thing his true with this one, but the important points are significant enough to me, that I can overlook the low points. The general finger-wagging at McCain is the over the top part that I could have done without. But the parts that brought tears to my eyes were the ones where Olbermann cites actual examples of American troops that injured themselves rather than go back for another tour in Iraq and the ending piece where reads the name of the 10 soldiers that have died so far this month there (as well as noting four whose names have not yet been released). We talk so often about “the troops” and too often it keeps us from gaining any kind of truly persona connection with these wonderful people who have given up so much. It’s important, from time to time, that we stop to acknowledge the individuals that are part of that group and what they have had to give up and will continue to have to give up for as long as this failed war continues.
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