Lowering the bar on "treason"

Depending on your point of view, it all began on May 13, when Bill Maher offered this remark in connection with the failure of the Army to hit--or come near--its April 2005 recruiting goals:

"More people joined the Michael Jackson fan club," Maher said. "We've done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit, and now we need warm bodies."

Or, it all began a week later, on the 20th, when Alabama Rep. Spencer Bachus--perhaps a fan of Maher's HBO show who had only then gotten to it on his TiVo, or perhaps alerted to the existence of the quote by a staffer--fired off an angry letter to the head of Time Warner, HBO's parent company:

"I think it borders on treason," Bachus said. "In treason, one definition is to undermine the effort or national security of our country."

Although, perhaps to demonstrate his fair-mindedness, Bachus added that he didn't feel Maher's offense qualified him for the whole send-to-Afghanistan-for-torture treatment:

"I don't want (Maher) prosecuted," Bachus said. "I want him off the air."

Maher can certainly look out for himself these days (it's not his first brush with this sort of thing, after all). It's the diminishing right to criticize the government that needs our care. That's why it's a good thing that, although Bachus's remarks played well to the red-meat right, they didn't play quite so well with everyone in his district:

To the Honorable Spencer Bachus:

I do not know if any of your children or their spouses are currently serving or previously served in the military. My son-in-law is a career Marine in force reconnaissance who should be returning home in the next few days from his second tour in Iraq. During his first tour, he received a Purple Heart.

I mention my son-in-law because in your May 20th press release you call a joke by Bill Maher "supremely insensitive and offensive statement is an affront not only to service members but to their families, loved-ones and friends as well as anyone who respects the sacrifice made by the troops now serving under difficult and dangerous conditions." I am one of those people you mention.

I do not find Maher's remark offensive. I find offensive that you could cavalierly characterize his remark as (from the AP) "I think it borders on treason. In treason, one definition is to undermine the effort or national security of our country." How does his remark undermine national security?

Terms like racism, Nazi and McCarthyism have lost most of their meaning due to people using them for political purposes in situations where they simply aren't appropriate. You have cheapened the term "treason" in a similar fashion. As they teach on Sesame Street, "one of these things is not like the other. One of these things doesn't belong"--Jonathan Pollard, Robert Hanssen and Bill Maher. Pollard and Hanssen committed treason. Maher told what to you was an offensive joke.

Have you rethought the use of the "borders on treason" statement? I note that in your press release you don't call the remark "border[ing] on treason." You use the term reprehensible in the press release on your Congressional website. I don't note any claim by you that you were misquoted so I'm wondering why you left "borders on treason" statement out of your press release.

I appreciate your work to increase the death gratuity but I'd rather see more work done getting our service personnel the materials they need so their families won't have to make use of the death gratuity. My daughter has told me stories of what family members have had to send to their loved ones in order to add to their protection. Isn't that Congress' job and by extension yours?

Gary Copeland
Tuscaloosa AL

As for Bachus, who willfully confuses disagreement with the policies of the Bush administration with disloyalty to our country, Theodore Roosevelt had his number about a century ago:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but morally treasonable to the American public."

I like to think that this is a big part of the reason people are in uniform, serving our country in the Middle East today. Have a good Memorial Day.