The MSM really doesn’t get it
Robert Kagan, writing in the Washington Post, refers to Joe Lieberman, the embattled Connecticut “Democrat,” as the “last honest man” because of his refusal to recant on the Iraq War. Kagan writes:
Lieberman stands condemned today because he didn’t recant. He didn’t say he was wrong. He didn’t turn on his former allies and condemn them. He didn’t claim to be the victim of a hoax. He didn’t try to pretend that he never supported the war in the first place. He didn’t claim to be led into support for the war by a group of writers and intellectuals whom he can now denounce. He didn’t go through a public show of agonizing and phony soul-baring and apologizing in the hopes of resuscitating his reputation, as have some noted “public intellectuals.”
No Robert, the problem isn’t that Lieberman didn’t recant — it’s that he’s wrong. He was wrong about the threat Saddam allegedly posed to America, he was wrong about weapons of mass destruction, and he is in complete denial about the Bush administration’s incompetence and policy failures. Lieberman isn’t being attacked because he’s “honest,” he’s being attacked because he provides bi-partisan coverage to an administration who has pushed our country off a cliff.
And I have to say that I’m sick of the argument that changing your mind and admitting fault is somehow “dishonest.” Get a grip, Mr. Kagan. There’s nothing dishonorable about admitting a mistake. The dishonorable thing is to continue trumpetting the administration’s line on Iraq when all the real world evidence suggests that the venture is failing, the country is in the midst of a sectarian civil war, and staying the course doesn’t seem to be having any effect on how things are going on the ground.
