Already, President Obama’s address and acceptance of an honorary degree have sparked the kind of inbred outrage from the right that you might expect of the most ignorant areas of the country. But what about Harvard Law School, where Learned Hand Professor of Law, and former Bush appointee, Mary Ann Glendon, has castigated Notre Dame for awarding the degree? Strangely, she did not feel so strongly about participating in an Administration which legalized torture, and conducted a war that the Vatican opposed. She is a member of the Institute on Religion and Democracy fronted by the notorious William Donahue. She did not have a problem advising Mitt Romney; so clearly, bombing small children and torture do not bother her conscience in the least. But sharing the stage with a duly elected President who is not as radically narrow-minded as she is, is unthinkable.

It would be one thing if Prof. Glendon had taken a purist line in public life to date; but she has been a partisan and political actor for some time, and shows that rejectionism is deep in the right-wing world view. What makes it a farce is the content of the President’s remarks, which are every bit as generous as her bitter attack is small minded, every bit as open as her mind is closed, every bit in search of unity as her public existence has been one of division and discord. This is Harvard, not Bob Jones University.

It might seem that it is difficult to sink lower than partisan double-think; however, the right-wing manages it with a campaign to replace Jenkins which accepts fake donations. Tom Matzzie stumbled on this, and delivered a hard smack down. The right complains about how it is discriminated against, and yet shows that it’s own objective is to create walled dungeons in academia, where their opponents are unwelcome to even stand and speak.

It was Kennedy who had to explicitly answer why he would be an American first, and not take dictates from any foreign power. It is Prof. Glendon who shows that the right-wing takes such dictates in an attempt to censor and silence, and places America a distant second, if at all, in their calculus.

Related posts:

  1. NYT on Bush Torture Regime: False Banality is Not Evil
  2. Gitmo Lawyer Says Detainee Treatment Mirrored Own Torture Training; Harsh Treatment Tears “Fabric of Who We Are”
  3. Bush DOJ Official Daniel Levin “Not Opposed” to Torture Investigations
  4. Cheney Led Torture Briefings, Democrats Objected, Post Reveals; CIA, Republicans Mum on Veep’s Role
  5. Isikoff Pops the Question: Newsweek Reporter asks Holder About Torture