My friend—and blogger extrordinaire—Ed Morrissey took part in a panel discussion at Macalester College last night, the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Macalester is well known in Minnesota as a bastion of far left liberal ideology. The subject of the discussion was the Iraq war. Predictably, three of the four panelists were liberals opposed to the war. They ranged, in their leftism, from a relatively sensible, moderate, and charming former swiftboat veteran, Lou Ellingson, to the off the chart America-loathing of Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, University of St. Thomas Peace and Justice Studies professor (what the heck is a Peace and Justice Studies professor anyway?). The moderator, though not a part of the discussion proper, managed to make it known that he too was opposed to the war in Iraq, and to the Bush administration in general.
The composition of the audience was also predictable. Easily four fifths of the people in attendance were opposed to the war. I have seldom seen more bumper-stickers calling for America to "Say No to War" (a less realistic solution there never was). The alpaca-wearing, asymmetrical haircut sporting, itty-bitty-skinny-glasses crowd were only outnumbered by the geriatric communists, and up-and-coming beret and black t-shirt wearing Che Guevara lovers.
Into this arena our brave Mr. Morrissey walked of his own volition. In his own words:
In a larger sense, this seems the perfect way to honor our loss on
9/11. America is the home of honest and free political debate, and if
we want to prevail against fascism secular or religious, we have to
retain the courage to speak out even in potentially hostile climates.
Ed, to be sure, had supporters there, too. Family and friends were there, as well as readers of his blog, Captain's Quarters. Even so, because of the nature of the panel and the audience, my brother-in-law and I decided to stick around until the crowd thinned in case Ed needed help. None was needed. The crowd was polite and orderly, as were the panelists.
You may have noticed that I have not yet mentioned the arguments of the panelists. That is because, for the most part, they were boilerplate leftist arguments that you have heard before: confident, yet unfounded statements that the only reason for the war was to procure oil for the U.S. Well, except for the other reason, which was to further our imperial ambitions. Never mind that we haven't gotten any oil, and every single country which we have beaten in armed conflict is still free. It is startling to see in person, someone—several someones—espouse such outrageous insanity with a straight face. To hear people outline their conspiracies theories, accusing Halliburton-Rove-Cheney-Bush of planning the war in Iraq in a cold-blooded rush toward profit. To see the joy on their faces as they said things about their own country that would curdle your blood. It was surreal.
Ed said some things that made sense, but they were completely ignored by the majority of the audience. He had prepared a very good defense of the war as an opening statement (you can read it here, and I encourage you to) but he was not able to deliver it in full because of a five minute time limit imposed by the panel rules. The time limit, though frustrating to all of the panelists, was probably a good idea overall, as it helped limit the tag-team tactics used by two of Ed's opponents. Unfortunately, it also eliminated the only real chance Ed had of saying something that was not in response to a biased question.
I admire Ed for standing up for his beliefs in the face of an intellectually hostile audience. As always, he was a good spokesman for conservatism. By far the most gracious of the panelists, he put a human face on the right wing that even the left must agree was admirable. After it was over a very relieved Ed said to me, "Thanks for coming, I know it was a long way to drive." I laughed and answered, "Oh buddy, this was a lot harder on you than it was on me!"
Oh, yeah: my grand niece, and Ed's "Little Admiral", got in on the action by taking him a question card of her own, like she saw everyone else doing. She wanted to know, "What is your favorite color?"
Update: Ed, too, speaks of the Lion's den.
