High Noon at the UN Corral

"We like the idea that he'll represent U.S. interests to the U.N., rather than act as a U.N. spokesman to this country," said Howard Kaloogian, chairman of Move America Forward. "We like the idea that he'll speak truth to power."

The report on John Bolton's nomination presented the above conservative opinion quote in Thursday's LA Times article, "Democrats Set to Reject Pick for U.N." as a legitimate contrary position equal to the Democrats'. But it was a cynical, chauvinist statement to make, underserving of equal airing. Cynical because it co-opts the language of those truly oppressed. And chavinistic because it assumes that when an ambassador supports ideas of the UN, he or she is abdicating his responsibility to the US.

The Democratic objections pointed to facts in the public record as the grounds of their concerns. Move America Forward used innuendo to turn the argument from the nominee to the evils of both Bolton's detractors on the one hand to and the institution of the UN on the other. The pigs of Orwell's Animal Farm would be proud of this Squealer's success at teaching the sheep to chant "US good, UN baaaad."

We admire those who "speak truth to power" because they do in the face of 'power' coming back and destroying them for standing against the behemoth. Is he saying poor David United States is going to stand up to Goliath United Nations? Ridiculous. But what makes it even worse that such comments are reported in the paper without ridicule. The Fourth Estate should be more than a Xerox manchine.

"Speak truth to power" is the motto of the American Friends or Quakers who are, among other things, radically pacifist. Think Grace Kelly in "High Noon." Quakers have endured ridicule because they have opposed war under every circumstance, and would stand with the UN and its preference for negotiation rather than confrontation at every turn.

The neocon/Radical Right/Move America/Bolton folks must mean something very different when they say 'truth' and 'power' than what the dictionary says. If their specialized lingo were translated into common usage language where words are used to clarify rather than obfuscate meaning, Mr. Hooligan's (sic) message is that John Bolton is going to " speak Power to Truth" and speak with all our six-shooters blazing.