At first I was gonna skip this, for a variety of reasons. But then I started reading some of the Mainstream Press's breathlessly inane prattle, and I figured, "Alright, I'll do something, but I'm gonna save it for Friday Mad Science." But my guys are still working, and I can't leave, but there's also not much for me to actually do, so... here goes.
Two things bother me about this Petraeus thing. First, why the Hell is the Media portraying this guy as some kind of victim? I mean, gimme a fucking break. Here is the commander of the War in Iraq, an Army Ranger, and arguably the most powerful guy in the Middle East, and somehow SHE forced HIM? I'm sorry but no. I've never met the man, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that he's probably no one's idea of a shrinking violet. I'm also betting that he knows that "No" means no.
So... Did she tie him down? Was he raped? I doubt it. So can we then please stop pretending that this thing is somehow anything other than his own fault?
In my experience, older, more powerful men are not typically forced into bad situations by younger, far less powerful women. In fact, I think history shows that quite the reverse is normally true. So let's stop feeling sorry for this guy, okay? He knew what he was doing, I promise you.
Second: why did the President accept his resignation? I get that it's a double-standard, perhaps, but really, who cares? I've been in the Army, and I know for a fact that they almost never prosecute adultery, and more to the point, the guy is retired. Okay, maybe there's a blackmail angle, but the same Is true for members of Congress with high levels of security clearance, and those guys cheat with great regularity. So I'm not buying the security angle. I mean, maybe it's true, but it's still bullshit. And anyway, the guy had proven to be effective at killing terrorists. Against that, truthfully, I could care less who he's sleeping with.
I figure this was deemed the easiest way to get rid of him. Or he himself wanted an out and figured this was it.
ReplyDeleteI thought that, too, at first. But as I've read more about it, I've started to think that it really is exactly what it appears to be--a scandal that made the guy feel like he had to resign. Granted, it's a really weird situation, but it seems like the Administration really wanted him to stay--what I read is that Obama asked him not to resign, but he felt that he HAD to--but that they couldn't convince him to.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it is weird, right? If more comes out or it turns out that there was some actual business reason for him to leave, I won't be surprised.