Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

October 31, 2005

Molly Ivins: Speak Up

Cross-posted to Lifelike Pundits.

Last Thursday, Molly Ivins spoke at the Shubert Theater in New Haven about the loss of freedom Americans are experiencing. She discusses the story of her brother-in-law's mother, a 102-year-old woman escaping from Katrina who was searched at the airport.

Because she had a one-way ticket," Ivins said, "she was pulled aside for a full search. My brother-in-law is watching his bewildered, blind, 102-year-old mother going through this.

"But my brother-in-law was thinking, 'I know if I speak up, it could get worse.' So he held his tongue."

I agree: it's ludicrous that this woman was searched. But if the left wasn't so adamantly against racial profiling, airport security wouldn't be going after grannies in wheelchairs and babies in strollers. By worrying about "offending" a particular group of people who fit the description of those responsible for the 9/11 attacks (and other terrorist attacks around the world), then the rest of us are going to be inconvenienced.

During the evening, Ivins claimed many are being accused of being "unpatriotic" and that she, in particular, was accused of "treason," and that many are "intimidated" by the "patriotic bully." And of course, she got the obligatory swipe in at Bush's intelligence.

Ivins, who knew Bush casually when they both spent their youths in Texas, licked her chops when somebody in the audience submitted a question asking: "Is he as dopey as he appears?"

"He's not actively stupid," she replied. "He doesn't react well to stress. He's limited."

Tee hee. Questioning her patriotism is off-limits, but it's not off-limits for her to call the right "patriotic bullies" and infer that the president is a doofus extraordinaire. She must be really subdued by the opposition.

If so many people are intimidated, as Ivins says they are, why are there so many like her able to talk about the so-called intimidation? Actor Tim Robbins spoke of a "chill wind" at the National Press Club luncheon a couple of years back. Actor Martin Sheen marched in a demonstration with tape over his mouth. Were Ivins, Robbins or Sheen tossed into jail for disagreeing with the current administration? Not to my knowledge.

When conservatives disagree with the left, the left cries that they are being oppressed and bullied, and that their patriotism is being questioned. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Oh, some of us definitely question their patriotism. However, the claim that they're being oppressed is nonsense. If you want to know about oppression, check out the policies of China, North Korea and Iran regarding political dissenters.

Besides, I'm not so sure I want to take the word of someone accused of plagiarism .