I’m not even sure that James Pindell, Chuck Douglas, and Drew Cline were even at the same rally I was from reading their criticism (one at the WMUR site, two Union Leader Op-Eds) – or even bothered to watched the videos that were up at several sites. Each of them decided to tear the folks apart that stood up for their beliefs without seeing what was, to me, the obvious. In fact, I’m not even sure they even saw the obvious reason why 600 folks turned out to participate, volunteers doing the grunt work necessary to put on such an event, and the dozen or so speakers up at the podium. Yes, when you put yourself out in public, this is what happens – others will take pot shots at you, at the rally, or the issue for a variety of reasons: their sense of “professionalism”, their overarching specialized knowledge has been “violated”, their standing within their own specialized communities “demands” they take a stand, or they decided to reject the perceived issue out of hand as “being without merit”. None of them seem to have caught the intense sense of importance of the actual subject to the speakers and the attendees.
Or, to put it simply, wielding a hatchet just because they have an audience to impress or a thinly veiled purpose that may be getting set for the future. Or both.
Honor Your Oath. It wasn’t about journalists worried about column inches, punctuation, and delicately chosen words and sentence structure; it is about keeping a promise. It wasn’t about case law, or legal briefs, or court battles (even if from a former Supreme Court Justice); it is about a man and the importance of his word. It was not about bright lights, teleprompters, self-absorption, politics, or even the crowd; it is about judging a man and his bond. It wasn’t about guns or self-defense or “Stand Your Ground” (although that’s all these three seemingly heard), it wasn’t about Right or Left; it is about answering the question “Do we trust this person when their actions do not match that Oath”?
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