(5)This is the beauty of American politics: No matter how ugly you want to say a
politician is, you can—thanks to the First Amendment, i.e., free speech.
Of course, free speech is not necessarily fair speech. Anyway, Henry Kissinger
had to put up with his unpalatable nickname, "Killinger," courtesy of the anti-Vietnam
war crowd.
Ironically, though, "Killinger" ended up as a Nobel peace prize winner precisely
because he had played a key role in pulling American forces out of Vietnam.
Never mind that even today this Nobel thing still sounds like a bad joke to dovish
liberals. Please don't ask me who got the last laugh. (I honestly have no idea.)
I happen to know, though, that Kissinger didn't quite manage to placate hawkish
conservatives who accused him of being a sellout to the PRC at the expense of
American interests, however defined,
Cancel culture left and right, I suspect, began with Kissinger, who found himself
caught in the partisan crossfire. That's not unexpected, however, if you happen to
be an ambitious political middleman. By the way, there's no angel in politics, even
though Abraham Lincoln once publicly appealed to the better angels of our nature.
For the record, Washington, D.C, was originally a mosquito-infested swamp.
That being said, every four years, we'll still hear presidential candidates vowing to
clean up this politically swampy place. "Some things never change."
Author: renqiulan
