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Over at MilBlogs, Iraq vet Dadmanly posted an on-scene report from Vets for Freedom's Vets on The Hill event:
Numerous mainstream media outlets covered the outdoor event, as did Amie Parnes for Politico:Bold emphasis added - because I don't think Dadman was aware of the brewing shitestorm. Many (if not all) of those media reports only offered the quote, without that crucial bit of further explanation.Several hundred veterans stood in the cold drizzle Tuesday morning for a man they called their hero.Milbloggers and their readers should be very familiar with Bellavia, a Silver Star decorated combat Vet who’s just published a gritty account of his combat experiences in House to House. His reference played off an earlier description of what it means to be a hero, and how often our society views sports figures as heroes and ignores those who risk all in service to their country.“You can have your Tiger Woods,” David Bellavia, a former Army staff sergeant, told the crowd of pro-Iraq veterans. “We’ve got Senator McCain.”
Ever alert to a racist dog whistle, Keith Olbermann springs into action:
OLBERMANN, from the April 8 "Countdown" opening credits: Nothing obscure about this: Racism as a Republican campaign plank. Sen. McCain introduced at a rally on Capitol Hill."But if you're wondering if Olbermann and his guest were aware of the context of the remarks, wonder no more:BELLAVIA, introducing then hugging McCain: You can have your Tiger Woods. We've got Sen. McCain.
OLBERMANN: Did he actually just say that? And why did McCain then embrace him?
<...>
Those comments by Sergeant Ballavia - how would you describe them?Well I think they're pretty ridiculous. I guess one multiracial black man is interchangeable with another. I think that it indicates that Republicans in broad stroke and Mr McCain in particular have a huge problem with black people. This kind of at least racial insensitivity suggests that there's something disturbing going on here and they can't even make a distinction about who the right opponent is of Mr McCain. So I think that it speaks for a broad concern and a kind of legitimate concern for what his candidacy means, especially for black people in this country.
OLBERMANN: When you hear something said like that, is intent impossible to calculate? And does it even matter? Is the idea behind the remarks the same regardless of the intent?DYSON: Well, my pastor used to say, look, a mosquito's intent is only to get blood from you, but the consequence, it could give you malaria. So at that level, the intent will never exhaust the consequence. The consequence here is huge. Now, we can't discern the person's intent, it may have been fine, but that's even more problematic. If there was no specific and particular and conscious intent to do harm, that means that this grows out of a pattern of habit. That it's just a natural reflex, and that one, you know, interchangeable African-American multi-racial person is as good as the other, or they're indistinguishable...
Viceo at the link.
Damn those pesky milbloggers!
(Title of post explained here.)
