Surprise attack

Glenn Greenwald has a post up in which he discusses the absurdity of Wolf Blitzer's surprise at being called a traitor by Lynne Cheney. As Greenwald points out, this has been a standard tactic of the Bush administration from the very outset. Anytime anyone does anything they find inconvenient, they label him a traitor. So, why should Blitzer be surprised?

Greenwald argues that the real reason Blitzer was surprised is because a) he's wealthy and important and b) he's sucked up to the Administration long enough that they know he's a "good guy." He thought he was in an especially protected position, insulated from such attacks by his prominence and subservience. It wouldn't have surprised him if the Bushies had labeled a Democrat a traitor, but Blitzer was above that -- or thought he was until Friday.

All this brings to mind an argument I had with a friend the other day about politics. The friend was saying, "Hey, I'm doing just fine, and everybody I know is doing just fine. Why should I vote for change? Furthermore, I'm not doing anything wrong so even if Bush is wiretapping me, what do I care? They're not going to come after me. So what if Bush can throw people in prison without trial by just calling them enemy combattants. He's not going to do that to me, so why should I care? So what if he tortures them. He's not torturing me, so what do I care?"

Perhaps my friend should think about the surprise attack on Wolf Blitzer.