I wish that Cunningham had remained true to his finest self, and I hope that history remembers his heroism, not his failings.
Side note: This is a picture of Cunningham having a FAAAAbulous chat with Paul Crouch, queen of the Trinity Broadcast Network. I can't help asking: If fundamentalist Christians oppose homosexuality, then why does Christian TV display such an ultra-campy sense of style? I mean, you could catch gay just by sitting in a chair like that...
9 comments:
I think bravery definitely has something to do with character.
Liddy and North never had an accomplishment like Cunnigham's.
Your post is puzzling. "Courage" in this sense, particularly among young males, is little more than physiological imperviousness to fear and very poor judgment. The possessor of it may provoke admiration in some quarters, but deserves no credit.
This man traduced the public trust in the worst possible way, and for the most contemptible of motives. He's also a hypocrite, pure and simple.
As for his stunt over N. Vietnam, -- I know nothing about it, but it's very hard to take joy in his antics, particularly in view of his likely activities at the time (i.e., dropping napalm on civilians).
One less Republican is always something to celebrate.
Maybe Cunningham looked around and saw that every other connected guy in Republican circles was getting rich, and so he thought what the hell, I may as well, too. It takes a particularly courageous--and stubborn--personality to resist that kind of temptation. I don't condone what Cunningham did, but Joseph may be right. Bravery can express itself in different ways. I sure hope that when the time comes for my last judgment, I am not entirely evaluated by my weakest moments.
Still, one less Republican...
Wrong; anonymous is not a woman.
I suspect people are taking my post a incorrectly. I never intimated that Cunningham's past heroism excused his more recent corruption.
We're dealing with a story that was old even in Shakespeare's day: Othello was a great soldier who ended up murdering his wife. Despite his criminal foolishness, he was still a great soldier.
Better example: Charles Lindbergh -- another great pilot -- embraced fascism. "Bad judgment" hardly covers such a decision. Yet when Billy Wilder (himself an escapee from fascism) made a film about Lindbergh, he focused on the man's greatest accomplishment. I think Wilder made the correct choice.
Cunningham has resigned. He will probably go to jail. He is in disgrace. It is as it must be. Still, I hope that one day he will be remembered for the bravery and skill he demonstrated as a young man, and not as the sad creature he became.
yes I am
Well, when you compare him with Delay you can still see he has some moral fiber left over. He got up in front of the Judge and plead guilty rather than squandering more tax payer money on a protracted legal battle based on the "I don't recall" stance.
Mark Whittaker the informant for the ADM price fixing trial ended up embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from his employer because as he explained it as a top executive at the company, this is what you were expected to do, if he wouldn't have done it, his peers would have become suspicious, and the FBI investigation would have been discovered.
Cunningham took a few million for a little name dropping on contracts that were going to go to someone anyway. It was dirty money to begin with, and it's dirty money to end with. Sure he'll give it back, and then it will just go to some other dirty deed.
As long as he had the balls to admit it in front of a judge, I don't hold anything against him.
Honesty goes alot further with me than party lines.
Remember him for one instance of youthful daredevil-ish-ness (?) while his grown-up corrupt self is conveniently forgotten? Nah, not me.
Remember how he deliberately chose to harm not just himself but the same country he so bravely fought for? Remember how he took advantage of the public trust for personal gain? Yeah, that'll do.
=
Got a bit distracted after reading the posts. What I started to post about is those knives he was selling with the Congressional seal on them -- seeing as how he flagrantly broke the law about that, too, will he ever be held accountable?
I don't propose we forget about his crime of today, but just remember a complete picture, he was a hero as a young man, and will pay the price for his illegal activities and unlike many other political figures like the Blackwells the Delays and many more he is at least man enough to admit and pay the price for what he has done.
That a politician is crooked is basic truth, that this politician is willing to admit responsibility for a crime (not that false responsibility Bush claims to take) and take his punishment is reminisent of the hero he was as a young man.
That's all I'm saying.
Forrest
Post a Comment