Washington Mess [Victor Davis Hanson]
Like most, I'm not much interested in the Colin Powell vs. the past administration wars, given all the currents and cross-currents of these feuds, the leaking to the press, and what did and did not really happen in 2002, or during the Libby/Plame mess, or who was really against the Iraq War fighting the good fight against the sinister neocons, and all the other infighting. The general public looks at all that with bewilderment once insiders go at it with each other. But the other day on MSNBC, former Powell aide Ret. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson replied to Liz Cheney by making a case against Cheney and in defense of Colin Powell, and he said something quite astounding. In referencing Liz Cheney, a fine public servant, his ad hominem point was that she was just an example of nepotism and owed her former position in the State Department to her father's vice presidency. Fair enough, I suppose, to evoke the common D.C. practice of familial influence — but isn't that exactly the wrong argument to make in a general defense of General Powell when his own son, a fine public servant, was appointed to head the FCC by George Bush?
The Corner on National Review Online (19 May 2009)
corner.nationalreview.com |
