You cannot lead where you will not go

I was on my way to Paul Higgins funeral, and god help me, I had Jim Vicevich on the radio talking to Republican lobbyist Ron Kaufman about the recent defection of Republican congressmen from the Bush Iraq policy.

Let's set aside all the inaccuracies, all the bellicose posturings, all the peculiar innuendo and all the lies that were being spewed, and focus on Vicevich's mock horror.

"How could they do this?" Vicevich howled in dismay. "Is this courage?" He was distraught because the troops would not be "allowed" to finish the job they were sent to do. He went on to say that he would never enlist to fight in a war that he wasn't given the opportunity to finish.

Truth is, he never enlisted at all, ever, even when he had the opportunity to do so. Vicevich is a chickenhawk of the purebread variety. Ready to send young men and women to fight for his "philosophy" as long as they are not related to him. (His own grown children are not in the military either). He stands behind his "friends" the soldiers, whom he exploits to get ratings on his pitiful methane-fest of a radio show.

Imagine the temerity of such a chickenhawk to question someone else's courage. Remind you of a certain commander-in-chief?

When I got to the funeral, I looked up at a banner which read: "You cannot lead where you will not go," and all I could think of was Vicevich and Bush (okay, Creepy Joe Lieberman came to mind too). It's ironically very similar to a campaign speech Bush gave during the last election campaign (read in its entirety it is ironical to the core), but the point was completely different.

These guys are the kind of leaders who stand at the rear lines and yell, "Charge!"