Thursday, November 11, 2010

I Think That Meghan McCain Completely Missed The Point.

I am not one to go after children or politician's families, but I think that Meghan McCain, John's daughter, has officially stepped out of her daddy's shadow and become a figure all on her own.

She has been making a lot of news recently, weighing in on all kinds of issues. I often, but certainly not always, agree with her.

But today, while sitting on a panel for Time Magazine to help determine who should be this year's person of the year, she called out Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks. She said he was un-American (she added that she knew he was not American, but still, quite the sleight I suppose) and that he looked like a villain from a James Bond movie. Interesting assessment. See some pics here to decide for yourself.

But here is my issue. While decrying the horrors of what Assange has done, she claimed that the leaks had "changed the way Americans view the war."

Was that not the point of WikiLeaks? To bring to light information, some good, some bad, all about what war really looks like. War is an abstraction to Americans, it does not really exist. Happy Veteran's day to all Vets out there (I mean that completely genuinely), but take a look at this number. In 2006 (granted a bit dated, but still 3 years into the war), 6 out of 10 Americans between the age of 18 and 24 could not find Iraq on a map. Their classmates were there and they did not know where THERE was!

So Meghan, I ask you this: Is it not possible that perhaps we NEED to look at the war differently. That does not condone what Assange did, but your current argument is totally off base. This is a great example of taking aim at the messenger. You may think that he looks scary, but he I think that he is still probably a lot more apealing than the message.

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