Every year on November 11, we honor our nation’s veterans. It was just 18 months ago that, as we were approaching Memorial Day, that Chris Hayes came under fire for saying that not all who fought (and died) in war were necessarily heroes.
I had been watching his show that day, and agreed with him. He came under massive fire and, if memory serves, finally gave in and apologized. And that’s where he lost me.
Today, although I join with the nation to thank those who serve to protect our country, I also beg everyone to ask loudly, “What are we fighting for?”!
The type of wars we fought as recently as four decades ago are now likely obsolete. I doubt we’ll ever see camouflaged soldiers traipsing through the jungles (a la Vietnam) or even deserts or mountains as in Iraq and Afghanistan – as intelligence and drones are the troops and weapon delivery modes of the future.
And what of the wars in which we insinuate ourselves? Are the troops really fighting for “our freedoms” or even for us? All questions to ponder on this Veterans Day…
Journalist Jason Leopold joined me on the show this morning to talk about his latest blockbuster story — the personal diaries of Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubayda.
Jason obtained six volumes in all- spanning from 1990 until 2002, just days before Abu Zubayda was captured and sent to the first of several sites for rendition.
I hope you’ll listen to our conversation on today’s show – but go back and read the stories surrounding the diaries, and the first installment of Abu Zubayda’s words themselves.
We’ll let you know when the next installment is published.
It’s Monday, that means that Nicole Belle and her Crooks & Liars colleagues spent tortuous time yesterday watching the Sunday talking head shows so we didn’t have to. She brings us the best worst of it each Monday in a segment we call “Fools on the Hill”:
Is there anyone that the media loves more than Chris Christie right now? Openly liberal Bill DeBlasio wins the NYC mayoralty and Democrat Terry McAuliffe won the Virginia Senate seat on the same day that Christie won re-election of the NJ governorship. But guess who got booked on five different show the following Sunday? Only Chris Christie.
And he’s so clearly positioning himself for a 2016 presidential run. He even invoked the great Republican deity in association with his presumptive run, telling Chris Wallace that he would do “exactly what Ronald Reagan would have done” and appeal to a broader group of voters.
One of the Villagers who has clearly been won over is Mark Halperin, who despite reporting on the massive amount of oppo research the Romney campaign had done on Christie in their veep vetting in his book Double Down, really finds something so irresistible about Christie, calling him “magical” on Meet the Press.
Someone less enthralled by Christie, but really only because he is another presidential wannabe is Texas governor Rick Perry, who questioned whether a NJ conservative would be considered conservative in Texas. To prove his bona fides of Texas conservatism—and to contrast him to the Obama-hugging Christie—Perry said that the GOP should have “laid wood to the President” in the Obamacare/government shutdown.
Speaking of laying wood, Lindsey Graham is still dancing around his holding up of President Obama’s nominations in order to get “answers” on Benghazi, after Candy Crowley pointed out that CBS and 60 Minutes retracted their story, claiming that he “never asked” for Dylan Davies interview, even though he very specifically cited the 60 Minutes segment.
And Keith Ellison did very well on the This Week panel, rising about all the doom and gloom of Republicans Paul Gigot and Ana Navarro, pointing out that the Republicans had years to do something and didn’t and now all they do is complain.
