07 Dec 2005 John O’Neill Practices the Patriotism of Dissent

When Mac Cleland said the following about John Kerry Tuesday on the Huffington Post, against all odds, he meant it as praise:

[John Kerry] speaks with the same candor today that he spoke with 34 years ago when he came home from the Vietnam War.

Does Cleland not realize that Kerry was lying 34 years ago? That Kerry himself, as John O’Neill pointed out in this Wall Street Journal article, has subsequently described the remarks Cleland now calls “candor” as “over the top”?

Maybe Max Cleland doesn’t care that John Kerry lied about honorable American servicemen, but Cleland doesn’t speak for everybody. Most honorable people, in fact, if they believed Kerry, would wonder why he never named names 34 years ago, so that the “war criminals” could be stopped and their crimes prosecuted.

Max Cleland has odd morals. John Kerry either lied about atrocities or helped cover them up, yet to Max Cleland, he’s an okay guy. John O’Neill objects when American servicemen in combat are accused of atrocities without evidence, and Cleland criticizes O’Neill.

Cleland says:

Questioning the actions of our government defines patriotism. As my friend and fellow veteran, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel said so eloquently, ‘To question your government is not unpatriotic — to not question your government is unpatriotic.’ John O’Neill just doesn’t believe in that kind of dissent.

First off, Max, if you think that’s eloquence, better step up your reading level. Second, Kerry is part of the government. Kerry’s not some shaggy longhair trust fund protester anymore. He’s The Man.

It’s John O’Neill, much-vilified private citizen, who is practicing the patriotism of dissent.

God bless him for it.

Hat tip: Daou Report