Perverse. It’s the only word that I could find to define the chicken hawk politicization of Bowe Bergdahl’s release from prison. For those unfamiliar with the story, Bowe Bergdahl was a POW in a Taliban prison in Afghanistan whose release was successfully negotiated by the US through exchange of five prisoners formerly held at Guantanamo Bay prison.
Yet, because the White House revealed it had negotiated with the Taliban for Bergdahl’s release, the rage unleashed against him by the right and certain media outlets has been brutal. So brutal in fact that Bergdahl’s own home town had to cancel his welcome home celebration because of its inability to handle the thousands of anticipated protestors coming to denounce the celebration of his release and his return home.
The news has been an interesting circus this week. Media coverage cast suspicions on Bergdahl’s father, from his beard which made him look “Taliban-like” to his Twitter feed calling for the release of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, which is something the President had promised to do since first elected.
Ex-POW Senator John McCain was among the same parties who months, years before had complained President Obama was not doing ENOUGH to return our captive soldiers home. Those days McCain had some moral weight behind this complaint. Today he tows the party line in a chorus of Bergdahl condemnation, joining his fellow Senators in walking away from a Senate investigative hearing on the Bergdahl release before all the facts were presented. Bergdahl was a traitor. A deserter. A collaborator with the Taliban.