Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Hostile Enemy



According to the Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, the "hostile enemy" is Senator Edward Kennedy:

This morning on Fox News, anchor Gretchen Carlson called Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) a "hostile enemy" of the United States because he has demanded that Congress vote on whether to approve funding for escalation in Iraq. In an interview with White House counselor Dan Bartlett, Carlson compared Kennedy to insurgents and terrorists in Iraq, saying that Kennedy represented the same kind of force "right here on the home front."

...

Dan Bartlett disagreed, saying that the White House doesn't "view Ted Kennedy as a hostile enemy" of the United States.

That speech is free does not mean that it is without consequences. To call what in other countries would be called the loyal opposition a hostile enemy is a refusal to see all Americans as citizens of this country, a callous attempt to fan the flames of violence and the process of "othering" some of us. It is disgusting, destructive and dangerous.