PBS Star Tavis Smiley Slams Both Conventions From the Left for Failing to Discuss Wars, Drone Attacks

September 11th, 2012 8:40 AM

These are your tax dollars at work, times two: over the weekend on his public-radio talk show Smiley and West, PBS talk-show host Tavis Smiley denounced both party conventions from the left for failing to talk about war, and "war crimes."

“Beyond the obligatory and perfunctory shout-outs at both conventions to the military, there was no discussion of the war, no discussion of getting out, no discussion, no mention of it. In Mr. Romney’s speech, not a whole lot said about it other than taking credit for killing Bin Laden," Smiley claimed. "Not a whole lot said about it at the Democratic Convention, clearly no mention of the use of drones."

Smiley also strained credulity by claiming "There were two or three topics at both conventions that just disappeared....George Bush’s name didn’t make a cameo at the Republican convention. They just acted like that eight years didn’t exist. His name wasn’t even raised one time." He somehow missed that the GOP convention had a Bush tribute film, if not any Bushes in person. It's like Smiley claiming Ted Kennedy wasn't discussed at the Democratic convention.

Smiley's co-host, the Marxist professor Cornel West, picked up where Smiley left off on the use of drones. These two are at least consistent in opposing any War on Terror, unlike the liberal Democrats who love Obama:

WEST: That’s where you have the bipartisan agreement. If you believe as I do, both as a Christian and a humanist, that to drop bombs on innocent people is a criminal act. So, when you talk about war crimes, you really do have to talk seriously about our powers that be and it leads right through the Pentagon to the White House. And nobody wants to talk about that. It’s not a matter of demonizing the president. But if you’re engaged in war crimes, it has to be called out on moral and spiritual grounds.

Minutes earlier, Smiley underlined that the Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote that George W. Bush and former British prime minster Tony Blair should go on trial for war crimes in The Hague. “Ooooh, that’s true,” said West. “I mean, he’s basically calling them war criminals.” Smiley agreed: “That’s exactly what he said.” West wondered “How many presidents of the last few decades wouldn’t be war criminals in terms of killing innocent people and being responsible for it, if not directly, then indirectly?” He lauded Tutu's "prophetic witness."