Do You Have Absolute Moral Authority?

Do you have absolute moral authority?

In August 2005, Maureen Dowd argued in the New York Times, in reference to Cindy Sheehan who was then camping outside of President Bush's ranch, that the "moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute."

Of course, Dowd didn't really mean that.  What she meant to say was that the moral authority of parents whose children died in Iraq and who oppose the president is absolute!

In any event, it has become a popular habit on the left to put forward spokespersons whose "victim" credentials make them difficult or impossible to attack.  The strategy seems to be this:  Hide an untenable position behind a victim and you've got -- an unassailable talking point!

Good news!  Hot Air has now introduced the "Absolute Moral Authority" card:

Find yourself in a jam? Are your anti-war lies catching up with you? Then use the Absolute Moral Authority card and get right out of trouble free. Once you play the Absolute Moral Authority card, no one can ever question you again, no matter what you say or do!

 

Did you build your career on smearing the troops? Has that come back to haunt you in the run-up to a crucial mid-term election? Then play the Absolute Moral Authority Card!

But why stop there?   Visit Hot Air and you'll find the Absolute Moral Authority cards for (among others) Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, and  -- one of my "favorites" -- Islamic terrorists:

There's a template at Hot Air for you to make your own Absolute Moral Authority cards.  So go ahead -- expose somebody's "absolute moral authority" today.  It's clarifying.

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Update:  Welcome, visitors from the Daou Report

Comments

[georges father barbara]

Find yourself in a jam? Are your anti-war lies catching up with you? Then use the Absolute Moral Authority card and get right out of trouble free. Once you play the Absolute Moral Authority card, no one can ever question you again, no matter what you say or do!

It works for the White House.

[peteathome]

Such parents deserve our RESPECT. We can respectfully disagree with them or not as the case may be, while recognizing their loss and the sacrifice of their children.

But I've seen abusive attacks on Sheehan. Some justified these attacks by saying she had opened herself up to them by entering a politcal fray. IMHO, this is just plain wrong.

[Nikita]

The statement upon which this post is based should read "The moral authority of victims is perceived as absolute." It's a common tactic to choose spokespeople who are difficult to attack -- see Cindy Sheehan, Lisa Beamer, etc. But does that mean the spokespeople are infallible, or for that matter wrong?

Personally (liberal libertarian here), I dislike both of the above -- but I find that Jessica Lynch and Kevin Tillman have issues that I believe legitimate scrutiny.