Demagogue or Fruitcake?
Here's the latest from Colorado's blowhard congressman.
'Crescent' not fully embraced - News - MSNBC.com/Rocky Mtn News
9/11 memorial design resembles symbol of Islam, Tancredo says
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer
Rocky Mountain News
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo wants the National Park Service to reject the crescent- shaped design of a proposed Sept. 11 memorial in rural Pennsylvania, saying it resembles the lunar crescent symbol of Islam and could be seen as a "tribute to the hijackers."The design by Paul and Milena Murdoch, of Los Angeles, is titled Crescent of Embrace and was unveiled last week after a yearlong design competition.
It would be built near Shanksville, Pa., where 40 passengers and crew members died in the crash of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.
The memorial includes a chapel with 40 metallic wind chimes, one for each of the victims, and a crescent- shaped cluster of maple trees and white marble wall inscribed with the victims' names at the crash site.
Does this guy have nothing better to do? Does he go looking for insult to his jingoistic sense of nationality? It would be one thing to think that Tancredo is a demagogue trying to incite the crowd in his district (and nationally if his foolish Quixotic quest for the Presidency is to be believed). But I honestly think there is something genuine in this demented nationalism he espouses and this beseiged mentality he portrays of an America under constant attack. There is something ugly in the way his mind works. But something passionately sincere. Can a demagogue be this consistent?
It would be one thing if he could point to some loony artists and flakey artists commission as the culprits -- but the relatives of the victims helped choose and design the memorial.
'Crescent' not fully embraced - News - MSNBC.com/Rocky Mtn News
9/11 memorial design resembles symbol of Islam, Tancredo says
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer
Rocky Mountain News
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo wants the National Park Service to reject the crescent- shaped design of a proposed Sept. 11 memorial in rural Pennsylvania, saying it resembles the lunar crescent symbol of Islam and could be seen as a "tribute to the hijackers."The design by Paul and Milena Murdoch, of Los Angeles, is titled Crescent of Embrace and was unveiled last week after a yearlong design competition.
It would be built near Shanksville, Pa., where 40 passengers and crew members died in the crash of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.
The memorial includes a chapel with 40 metallic wind chimes, one for each of the victims, and a crescent- shaped cluster of maple trees and white marble wall inscribed with the victims' names at the crash site.
Does this guy have nothing better to do? Does he go looking for insult to his jingoistic sense of nationality? It would be one thing to think that Tancredo is a demagogue trying to incite the crowd in his district (and nationally if his foolish Quixotic quest for the Presidency is to be believed). But I honestly think there is something genuine in this demented nationalism he espouses and this beseiged mentality he portrays of an America under constant attack. There is something ugly in the way his mind works. But something passionately sincere. Can a demagogue be this consistent?
It would be one thing if he could point to some loony artists and flakey artists commission as the culprits -- but the relatives of the victims helped choose and design the memorial.
posted by EPE | Link:9/15/2005 12:42:00 PM
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