Softball with Crosby, Chris, and Nash

In our second story: Is the anti-war movement following in the footsteps of Vietnam, with protests in churches and in song? We‘ll talk to two veteran peace activists-musicians, David Crosby and Graham Nash.- Chris Matthews introduction on Hardball, Oct. 15

It amazes me how the peace movement learned nothing of the right lessons from Vietnam. They are proud of their service to the enemy back then; and desire to subject Iraq to the same treatment of abandonment in the name of peace: resulting in mass suffering and slaughter.



Why is it that liberals say they want "diversity of thought and opinion", yet are crybabies when criticized? I am sick of the Dixie Chicks, Springsteen, Norah Jones, Mellencamp, Neil Young, and all those other Hollywood elites whining about how their "freedom of speech" is under attack, because they dare to speak "the truth" that no one else will say. Good grief!

"Freedom of speech" does not mean you aren't free from criticism. Or is freedom of speech just a one-way street, exercised only by liberals? (If you're on a college campus, don't answer that).

Where and when did President Bush ever attack anyone's "patriotism"? It's another one of those paranoid, self-guilt-induced liberal strawmans.

It is also utterly laughable how these learjet liberals act the role of martyrs, as if they are somehow "courageous" for "speaking out" against the "Bush Regime" and risk defamation at the hands of the vast rightwing conspiracy.

This is what real suppression of freedom of speech is:

You never know how precious freedom of speech is until you meet somehow who has had it taken from them—literally taken from them. During a patrol we came upon two hungry Iraqi men scavenging for food. When our translator began speaking with the men I noticed that one of them had a stub for a tongue. Through the translator we learned that the tongue-less man had spoken against the regime and that Saddam’s henchmen had severed his tongue. Saddam had quite literally removed the man’s freedom of speech.

Here in America, those who denounce the war and criticize the Bush Administration are getting rich. Not persecuted by the government. So spare me the indignation and fear-mongering. It takes more courage to speak out in Hollywood for the war and on behalf of conservative ideology.

Isn't it funny how Ann Coulter can be smeared and slandered, having what she said misrepresented in the LATimes and by the cackle-fest on The View, yet not resort to the "my freedom of speech is under attack" whining?

Back to Chris Matthews and the two aging hippy rockers:

Nash: Who is asking the questions now? Only people like you and Keith Olbermann... and Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert, you know?

Stewart is a comedian. Colbert is playing a character. Olbermann is a comedic character. And these are the types who Nash is listening to for serious politics?

One of the most ignorant and disgusting comments made by David Crosby is when he talks about how the job of American soldiers in Iraq is to kill "mothers and sisters."

This is the only accurate part of the dialogue I can more or less agree with:

NASH: There‘s no draft.

CROSBY: No draft.

NASH: They‘re not dying by the thousands.

CROSBY: They‘re not directly threatened. There‘s no draft. If there were a draft, the campuses would catch fire overnight. And you know, it seems like a peculiar thing for us to say because we really don‘t want a draft ever, but if they go ahead and do it, it‘ll certainly crystallize the problem because then the campuses will go off.

This is the dirty little secret of the Vietnam era "peace movement". It wasn't a "peace" movement. It was an anti-draft movement. By the end of 1971, under Nixon, the draft ended. Major peace protests happened throughout 1968 through '71. The largest, most intense bombing of the war occurred in Christmas of '72 [Operation Linebacker II]. Any protests? Any peace movement marches? Not a peep. Because those protesting the war knew that they would no longer be called up to serve. Yet we're to believe that the "peace" movement were anti-war out of altruistic good conscience on behalf of the Vietnam people.

Listening to Crosby and Nash talk politics is like listening to children. Yes, we have yet to learn to teach our "children" well...

Transcript of Nash and Crosby on Hardball in 2005 (the more things change, the more they stay the same)