A Grim View

Rosie O'Donnell resigned from The View today, three weeks before the expiration of her contract.

Regardless of whether you happen to share Rosie's political views, (and I do) you must concede that in an era where public statements by celebrities (including politicians, who today are little more than celebrities) are either vapid or vetted by spin doctors, Ms. O'Donnell demonstrated the essence of the American spirit by speaking her mind. When I heard her point of view, I was sure that Rosie had done her own legwork in forming that position. She'd done the reading and she articulated her own thoughts. She was not basing her statements on information she was fed by handlers or propaganda cycled through a media machine from a defensive administration.

There will be those who will castigate Rosie for being too emotional and for losing her nerve, but I think that's an unfair assessment of the situation. Ms. O'Donnell never asked to be the lone voice howling in this war-mongering maelstrom. She should be a single voice in a chorus demanding action from the American public and government to 1) end this war, and 2) punish those who initiated, mismanaged, and ultimately lost this war. Instead she was confronted with a blond Cupie doll who could posture as a victim every time the logic of her borrowed points of view were challenged. America will succumb to the tyranny of the weak, or those who adopt the appearance of the weak every time.

Rosie, is loud and abrasive, but she's also an American and what we've witnessed today is the result of a relentless passive-aggressive attack from the political right in this country to silence a popular critic.

Rosie O'Donnell will not be last to be silenced, but I hope America wakes up before the all the voices of dissent are eliminated. We don't have that many left.