Posted by Dan Ewert : 10/01/2002 12:46:00 AM (Archive Link)
In the news recently, three congressmen are taking a little vacation in Iraq and meeting with Saddam Hussein. You can read about it here. One of them, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Washington), has suggested that Bush and company come on over and see if Saddam is honest about his efforts. By his statement, McDermott apparently thinks he is. In another comment, he opined that he thought the president would purposely mislead the American public in order to go to war with Iraq. White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, was right on target when he expressed his disbelief that a U.S. congressman was more willing to believe Iraqi dictator/murderer/liar Saddam Hussein than President Bush. As I’ve noted before, I’m often amazed at how many people, especially those on the left, are more willing to believe and cater to closed tyrannical regimes than they are open democratic governments whether it be their own or others such as Israel. They honor that which they would abhor if it actually existed in the U.S. Truly, truly amazing.

A fun connection to this is that Trent Lott said that the congressmen should come home and shut up. McDermott’s response: “I'm speaking for the peace process. Lott is talking from absolute ignorance of what's going on on the ground. I think he ought to be a little more careful about what he says in a country where we value free speech. Dissent is an American right. Without it, it's not a democracy.” Feel the irony.