American Morning
Commentary: Wingnuts of the week
Editor’s note: John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/22/terry.codepink.getty.art.jpg caption="Randall Terry (L) and Code Pink protestors at a Congressional hearing in March 2009 (R)."]
When President Obama gave the commencement address at Notre Dame earlier this week he called for a constructive pursuit of common ground, even on difficult social issues. It was a welcome attempt at forging a respectful ceasefire in the culture wars that have divided and bedeviled American politics since the late 1960s.
But wingnuts aren’t interested in finding common ground. Armed with ideological certainty, they come to protest and polarize. They are addicted to their drug of choice – a righteous indignation that makes them unable to see any perspective other than their own. Alternately strident and silly, callous and clueless, they become caricatures. They are unwittingly their own side’s worst enemy.
With this week’s wingnuts we’re shining a light on protestors from the right and left who were in the news this week – Notre Dame protestor Randall Terry and Code Pink.
Longtime anti-abortion protestor Randall Terry embodied the outer reaches of American politics this week with a series of stunts and accusations surrounding President Obama’s speech at Notre Dame. While many anti-abortion protesters were respectful and thoughtful, Randall Terry did not honor their common cause.
Camped out in South Bend, Indiana, Terry began with a particularly colorful protest that got him arrested on campus, pushing a baby stroller across the college with dolls covered in fake blood and bumper stickers that read: “Obama '09, one dead baby at a time.”
He escalated in an interview with CNN days before the President’s speech. The money-shot comparison in hyper-partisan politics is Hitler, with a close second being Pontius Pilate. Terry managed to do both in reference to our president. Take a look
In a few short minutes, Terry not only described President Obama as “the premier promoter of child-killing in the Western Hemisphere and perhaps the world" but described the invitation from Notre Dame as being “like inviting Pilate to speak after he ordered Jesus to be crucified.” Then came the inevitable Hitler reference: “If you and I agreed with [Obama] on every issue but he just wanted to kill Jews, would you say, 'Listen, he builds great roads, he has great economic policies; let's forget that Jewish thing for now'?"
Terry somehow managed to hit a new low soon after. With fake blood on his hands and an Obama mask on his face, he lurched forward to scare a group of children who'd been assembled in what was an ostensibly pro-child photo op. Captured by one vigilant video-blogger and posted on YouTube, you can watch a grinning Randall Terry redefine crazy-town callousness in American politics.
Don’t call me a cougar
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/22/ashton.demi.getty.art.jpg caption="Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore at a UK film premiere in November 2008."]
There is a brand new sitcom on ABC this fall: “Cougar Town.” It stars the gorgeous Courtney Cox as a 40-something woman on the prowl for sex with 20-something men. Some of my friends are excited about this new comedy, others are appalled.
There is no doubt though, our pop culture has gone “Cougar Crazy.” Saturday Night Live often parodies the craze and there are dozens of websites devoted to “cougars on the prowl.”
One of those websites, “Cougardate.com,” defines Cougars as: “…women in their forties, who smoke, drink and go to clubs to pick up young men in their twenties." You’ll notice the definition does not include the word “relationship,” but “pick-up.” Some say that’s liberating for women who just want to have fun. Others question the wisdom of reducing “cougarism” to something so shallow.
What’s on Tap – Friday May 22, 2009
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
The Senate sending the White House a message, approving a $91-billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but refusing to authorize any spending on President Obama's plan to close Guantanamo Bay prison. This comes after the present collided with the past, over the best way to protect you. President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney clashed over closing Gitmo, harsh interrogation policies and other approaches to fighting terrorism, as they delivered dueling speeches in which they both pointed fingers and forcefully defended their respective policies. Supporters on both sides are loud. Opinions are strong. We’ll hear from Liz Cheney, a former State Department official who says her father is on the right side of history. We want you to join the debate, too. Call us at 877-MYAMFIX.
We're also following developments in the life-and-death search for a cancer-stricken teenager and his mother. Authorities in Minnesota have issued a felony arrest warrant for Colleen Hauser, who fled with her 13-year-old son Daniel to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy treatments. The warrant allows other states to detain the pair if they're found. It's believed mother and son may be headed to Mexico for an alternative treatment for the boy’s Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Doctors say without chemotherapy, Daniel's chances of survival are slim, and his father is making a public appeal to his wife to return with their son.
And… who are the “wingnuts” of the week? John Avlon is here to expose those on the far left and right who are pulling this country further apart.
We Listen!
Thursday’s American Morning audience had a plethora of topics for comment. The Binghamton, AL, police chase divided viewers who felt the perpetrator created a volatile situation and got what he deserved. Conversely, police brutality was addressed as an issue, as well as the need for additional police training for such situations.
- R, C.: Thanks for showing the video of the Alabama man being beaten by police after a high speed chase. My nephew was stopped and so badly beaten by Birmingham police that his eardrum burst. After an "internal review" the police found no wrong doing. My nephew was unarmed and was beaten by more than one officer. Someone needs to expose this kind of abuse.
- Glo: Adrenaline! That's what these police officers were working on. This perp tried to kill one of their brothers with his car and put the rest of them in danger by having them chase him. Unless you have lived with a person in the police you cannot understand or judge their actions. My Father was a New York Detective and I can understand.
How do you feel about the sentencing of the police accused of brutality? Was justice served?
Rights of the boy with cancer were deliberated, as viewers weighed personal rights against child safety.
- Dee: I cannot believe the fact that we are wasting government dollars to chase down a family who has made a decision to refuse the treatment. I would better understand if this was a case where the child appeared otherwise neglected, but that's not the case. It seems that money is allotted to situations that don't need it rather than to situations where children are in real danger and are seeking help. If someone could show me that the parents are not competent to make the decision regarding his care, I might side with the state. Otherwise, leave the parents alone. As the guardians of their child they have every right to have the final say. The child's inability to read doesn't negate his ability to understand the situation if it is explained to him.
- Barbara: I wonder if the court has had the benefit of research documenting the long term dangers of chemo. There is plenty of research that shows that while chemo can work in the short run, it is so highly toxic to the body that there is a heightened risk of cancer returning. I'm not opposed to all western medicine, but I'm pretty sure I would not undergo chemo. I understand the parent's position. The father, the only parent we've had the opportunity to listen to, seems like a reasonable person.
Is this a personal medical decision that should be decided by the boy and his family, or should the state intervene in order to protect the health of the child? What would you do?
U.S. arms in Taliban hands
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/21/intv.berntsen.art.jpg caption="A former CIA officer says Taliban fighters get U.S. arms by container theft and the loss of Afghan police."]
A New York Times report published this week says markings on ammunition collected from killed Taliban insurgents suggest that it's coming from the Pentagon.
Gary Berntsen spent more than two decades in the CIA. He also led CIA forces in eastern Afghanistan after 9/11. He joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday.
John Roberts: The New York Times suggested poor discipline and outright corruption among Afghan forces is responsible for some of the weapons getting into the hands of the Taliban. What are some of the other ways?
Gary Berntsen: Part of the problem is there has been a lot of container theft over the last year and a half. Containers moving from the Port of Karachi up into Afghanistan on trucks and to U.S. forces have been broken into, have been robbed completely. This is more of a problem than just the Taliban drinking “Red Bull” and listening to iPods. They're getting equipment out of these things. That's one.
Roberts: So the Pentagon sends these containers full of weapons to the Port of Karachi.
Berntsen: Not so much weapons all the time. It’s body armor sometimes. They try not to send weapons that way but sometimes ammunition gets put in these things. So they pick up some of that stuff there. The other issue too is… we’ve lost 1,000 Afghan police this year. Sometimes you’ll have entire governors compounds that are overrun. They'll lose 10, 15 guys. They’ll recover weapons and ammunition during those encounters as well. Sometimes there's theft or sales by Afghan security forces. About a year ago, the attempted assassination of Karzai, it was a senior Afghan official, a general that sold those weapons to the Taliban who tried to kill Karzai with them.
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