The right wing is all in a fake tizzy over Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley's statement on critical race theory during a House Armed Services budget hearing this week. You know his remarks were principled and intelligent, because here's how the execrable Laura Ingraham responded to Milley's thoughtful explanation.
"We are sending out tax dollars to this military in an attempt to weed out so-called extremists, which just means conservative evangelicals as far as I can tell. We're paying for that?
"Why is Congress not saying: 'We're not going to give you a penny until all of this is eradicated from the military budget. Nothing. This is my offer to you. Nothing.'
"That's what I would say. I am totally outraged by him and his ridiculous response today."
What did he say that was so very outrageous?
“I do think it’s important for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read." (Well, you know, right there, Fox News has a problem with this guy. If people become widely read, there go their ratings!)
"The United States Military Academy is a university. It is important that we train and we understand. I want to understand white rage — and I’m white. What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out. I want to maintain an open mind. I do want to analyze it. It’s important that we understand it. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardians — they come from the American people. It’s important that the leaders, now and in the future, understand it."
(See, Laura and her friends at Fox really, really don't want to understand that particular topic! Because of He Who Must Not Be Blamed.)
"I’ve read Mao Zedong. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist. So what is wrong with having some situational understanding about the country we are here to defend? I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military — our general officers, our commissioned and non-commissioned — of being ‘woke’ or something else because we’re studying some theories that are out there while calling out those who have criticized military officials as “woke” for entertaining the theory based on the idea that systemic racism exists in America," the general said.
He said the history of race matters "to the discipline and cohesion of this military.”
Oh yes, Laura is so very outraged. Remember, she's paid to be outraged, no matter what. Since Critical Race Theory is the only thing conservatives have on their menu, it's very important that she simulates her indignation in a convincing way.
In other words, she's a carnival barker. She has one job: to get the rubes into the tent, and keep them from leaving.
Her own brother calls her a 'monster." I think he's much too kind.
