I can’t stop thinking about Harry Taylor, a regular old citizen who happens to disagree with where the country’s gone under the Bush regime — and who had the guts to say so.
Watch the video of Taylor’s exchange with the President
Despite being booed by the rest of the audience, and despite the President’s flip interruption midstream (”I’m not your favorite guy. Go ahead. [Laughter and applause.] Go on, what’s your question?”) Taylor managed to articulate my ever-deepening shame and disgust with the administration.
What I wanted to say to you is that I — in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington, including the presidency, by the Senate, and . . . I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself inside yourself.
Reading the official White House transcript of the Q&A before the World Affairs Council forum in Charlotte, NC, I’m struck by the contrast between Mr. Taylor’s polite but dissenting viewpoint and the sycophantic twaddle comprising most of the other questions and comments from the audience (”Mr. President, I was raised on a ranch in New Mexico. And my heroes have always been cowboys.” Huuunnnhhh?)
What kills me is not so much what Taylor said, but that he was permitted to say it — a telling indictment of the political climate. Witnessing the atrocities both active (the Gulf War) and passive (Hurricane Katrina), not to mention the bald-faced lies that Bush and his cronies seem to tell so easily, I feel as if my ability to make any kind of positive difference has gradually leached away in the past five years. And I’m not exactly proud to admit it.
I’m sure that Taylor will be soundly vilified by conservative pundits, but perhaps his candor will encourage more citizens to speak out against the wrongs of the past five years and look for constructive approaches that can turn around the destruction of our civil liberties, the environment, and our democracy.
jess says:
April 7th, 2006 at 2:46 pm EDTVisit jess
Thanks for posting this — I didn’t know about this and I’m so glad I do. Gives me chills. What the hell is going on this this country? I’m mortified.
Terri says:
April 7th, 2006 at 5:34 pm EDTVisit Terri
I hadn’t seen this. Hurray for Harry Taylor. More people need to confront the president (and the crowds that blindly cheer him on). Taylor’s actions shouldn’t seem so courageous, but the climate has been so WRONG in the past few years that they somehow do. That in itself is perhaps the scariest thing.
That our powers as individual citizens are seemingly being neutralized is one of the most important reasons to fight back.
Max says:
April 14th, 2006 at 8:57 am EDTVisit Max
Yes, that’s awesome. Thanks for posting.
My (ultra-conservative) in-laws are always talking about how liberals don’t have morals. And I’m like…wha?? Good thing my husband can defend us while I fall stammering to the ground. Stupidity renders me speechless, which is why I like guys like Harry.
so sad says:
November 17th, 2006 at 7:18 am ESTVisit so sad
Pathetic fallacy - which means nature’s got more morals than human beings and comes to the right not of the mighty but of the those who are unjustly villified. katrina may not have thought God-fearing Bush that God or nature made him look in his own homeland into what actually much of Iraq looks like thanks to him. But certaintly Harry has to have the last laugh now - after the elections. any sign though that Bush is beginning to get the message from Mother Time, Mother Nature or the Mother of all mothers, God?