Molly Ivins :: Them's fightin' words

[nosmokes]

original

Them's fightin' words

Molly Ivins - Creators Syndicate

09.21.04 - MASON, Texas --- Letter from a non-swing state. Every political reporter and his hamster is covering the swing states. Here's the news from the rest of the country. This column is dedicated to all the Democrats in the red states and all the Republicans in the blue states, with affection for all.

In Mason, Texas, pop. 2,148, there are new yellow ribbons up all over town in memory of young Mathew Puckett, the first Mason man to die in military action since World War II. Though Masonites are united in sorrow, the debate over Iraq has only become more embittered. "Now they've killed one of ours. Now you have to support the troops," say the Republicans.

"Now don't you wonder, 'Should we be there?' Now don't you have to ask, 'What good are we doing?'" say the Democrats.
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Gamel, who had recently had an unpleasant run-in with a Republican woman, reported: "She said, 'I don't believe the 9-11 Commission report. I just don't believe it. Saddam Hussein was so helping Osama bin Laden.' I just about lost it right there. What can you do with someone like that? I'll certainly make concessions for reasonable arguments, but what do you say to someone who says, 'It's better to fight them over there than to fight them here?'"

Mason County Democrats think Mason is now more conservative because the younger people all move away -- and unlike Llano, 35 miles down Highway 29 from Mason, they are not within commuting distance of Austin. It takes some imagination to see Llano, a somewhat larger burg, as a sink of sophistication. (It was at Cooper's Barbecue in Llano that I heard two cowboys discussing bin Laden just before the Iraq war started. They called him "Osama Bin," under the impression that he had two first names, like Jerry Jeff or Billy Bob. They agreed that before going into Iraq, it would be "smarter to git Osama Bin first," which I guess makes them Texas liberals.)
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(c) 2004 Creators Syndicate

[delete_bush]

1. It's this type of thinking

"Now they've killed one of ours. Now you have to support the troops"

that keeps wars going on forever, like the Hatfields and McCoys. I'm sure it never occurred to them that just maybe we killed one of theirs first.

[izzie]

2. What type of reason is killing more is better?

Endless war?

[beanball]

3. Texas republicans

Brainwashed or braindead.? Maybe just brainless.