The following is a partial transcript of the June 24 edition of Fox News’ Fox News Watch featuring Jim Pinkerton, Neal Gabler and Cal Thomas:
PINKERTON: If we lose — if we lose the war, that would be bad.
GABLER: But what if we lose all our civil liberties?
PINKERTON: Well, I’d rather — I’d rather lose our civil liberties than lose the war.
THOMAS: Amen.
Now there is a funny bit in all of this, where Pinkerton justifies some of his argument with the writings of War Nerd, a parody only the mind fucked would miss. But let’s ignore funny bits for now. If Jim Pinkerton were as big as the Beatles and Northeastern liberals were prone to very pathetic massive expressions of public outrage, there would be Pinkerton photos burning in Manchester, York and New London tonight. He didn’t say he is more popular than Jesus. He said that the war, however he chooses to interpret that, is bigger than the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Pinkerton’s statement, on national televison, that he’d rather see us “lose our civil liberties than lose the war” is the most fuckwitted piece of anti-American goat shit I think I’ve seen in a month or so. When United States citizens lose their civil liberties, the United States loses – Period. We’re not just dealing with land masses and property here; we’re dealing with concepts that transcend both. If we give them up, we may as well shut the whole thing down and acknowledge that we are all a part of something quite alien.
But we know better to than care about the banal notions of fuckwits. They usually come to their senses, or something. Witness Jim Pinkerton’s most recent opinion piece, written just a few days after he said “I’d rather lose our civil liberties than lose the war” on national television:
Should The New York Times get the death penalty or merely a jail sentence? If the Times is guilty of treason in wartime, then obviously the “Gray Lady” should be wearing prison stripes – at best.
Freedom of the press or death? Six of one or a half dozen of the other. High patriotism all the same if you beleive what you see on TV.
As a postscript to this crappy little post, I’d like to mention that I realize that my use of geography was quite lazy and pejorative in this post. A sizable minority, in nearly every state that went for a Republican candidate, voted the way I did in the last several national elections. Win or (mostly) lose, there is just no way around that very basic fact. No matter how great me and quite a lot of other fairly liberal Northeasterners want to feel about ourselves, our brethren are all around.
Moving right along, I was thinking a little about the reaction to John Lennon’s 1966 “We’re more popular than Jesus now” writing the post. The reaction to that statement was quite strong in the Bible Belt, though the protests were far from limited to that area. In my wildest dreams, I imagine the people of my own region standing strong against the authoritarian impulses that seek to destroy completely our civil liberties, but I know the time for that sort of thing has long since come and gone. Now we hope something will be left when we’re left with the gruesome task of trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Obligitory Ben Frankiln quote:
Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.
Update: In comments, Njorl corrects the quote. It should read:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.