"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." JFK Inaugural Address, 1961
"We can do just as much by withdrawing our troops." John Murtha, Winner, Profile in Courage Award, 'Today' show, 5/22/06
The Kennedys have come a long way since JFK gave his inaugural speech. Pres. Kennedy was a cold warrior, not only in the words of that speech, but in action. He stared down the Kremlin over the Soviets' installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba, and with his Cuban embargo took the world the closest it has ever been to the brink of nuclear war.
Forty-some years later, his daughter honors, in JFK's name, a man calling for America to cut and run from Iraq, leaving that country to dissolve into anarchy and chaos that could threaten not just the region but the entire world. So much for bearing any burden, supporting any friend, opposing any fore to assure the survival and success of liberty.
This year's other Profile in Courage is Alberto Mora, former general counsel of the Department of the Navy, who, according to the JFK Library web site, "waged a campaign inside the Bush administration" against "cruel and abusive practices of United States military interrogators at Guantanamo [that] were the result of significant policy shifts at the highest levels of the U.S. government."
And there to publicize these profiles on this morning's Today show was Katie Couric.
Now, if there's one thing that takes absolutely no courage, it is for a Democrat to criticize President Bush's handling of the Iraq war. In interviewing Murtha in a segment devoted to highlighting this year's Profiles in Courage Award Winners, Katie really had to dig deep to find an example of any price Murtha paid.
Katie: "You did take a lot of grief from the Bush administration for making this speech, Republicans in Congress for making this speech. Some people even suggested you didn't deserve the two Purple Hearts and Bronze star you were awarded during the Vietnam War. How difficult was it for you personally in the aftermath of standing up and speaking your mind, how difficult was it to deal with the criticism?"
Stash the violins, please. The relatively obscure Murtha overnight became a hero of the left, instantly lionized like he'd never been before. If 'Caroline,' as Couric repeatedly referred to her friend, was looking for real profiles in courage, she could have chosen from the many Iraqis who risked, and often sacrificed, their lives by accepting positions as judges, political leaders, etc. Or someone like Pres. Hamad Karzai of Afghanistan, whose life is in constant danger as he works to give his country a shot at modernity and democracy. And if the Kennedys are siincerely concerned about inhumane prison conditions, they could have looked to the other parts of Cuba, where truly brave and heroic pro-democracy dissidents languish in Castro's cruel jails.
Instead, Caroline Kennedy has transformed her father's legacy into little more than a vehicle for taking partisan shots at a Republican administration, confident of respectful coverage from Couric & Co.
