As is so often the case, an issue with several important elements has been compressed and distorted, both by politicians and by the media.

It is increasingly obvious that the most important element of this whole story is

• how low our public discourse has sunk,
• how vile are the statements we make about political opponents, and, sadly,
• how we impute the most foul motives to all our adversaries, turning them from “the loyal opposition” into “enemies and traitors.”

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Here are a few more thoughts on these somber issues, which are now, unfortunately, the subject of mudslinging.

• It is right and fitting that presidents phone or write the loved ones who gave their lives for our country and for their comrades in arms. How Presidents undertake this terrible responsibility should be their choice.
• It was wrong and unbecoming of Pres. Trump to criticize his predecessors about their ways of honoring our fallen soldiers.
  • ALL his predecessors were decent, honorable men who took these losses seriously. That should be acknowledged, not turned into a partisan football.
    • We can differ with people politically without concluding that they are, by definition, knuckle-dragging, immoral fools.
    • American politics is being corrupted by our collective inability to differ politically without slinging mud personally.
  • It is beneath the Office of the President to criticize President Obama on this issue. It should be publicly shamed.
  • Trump’s false and undignified criticism was sufficiently upsetting to Pres. George W. Bush, who has been the most dignified of recent ex-Presidents, that he spoke out publicly, at least indirectly criticizing Trump.
    • UPDATE: Steve Bannon’s criticism of GWB on these issues is noxious. Not surprising, but still noxious.

• It is wrong and unbecoming for others, such as the Congresswoman from Florida, to do the same thing, turning a private moment of grief into her public moment in the spotlight.
  • Her bad behavior was made worse because she took a benign statement by the President and twisted into something malicious.
  • Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, known for her hats and not what’s under them, has now personally attacked Gen. Kelly, a Gold Star father.
  • She’s loathsome.
  • UPDATE: General Kelly incorrectly characterized Rep. Wilson’s speech in Florida at the building dedication. It was not all about her, as he said. She shared the credit for the building. (I am sure he misremembered, rather than lied.)
  • UPDATE: Sarah Sanders statement that Gen. Kelly cannot be criticized is clearly wrong and misunderstands the roll of free speech in our political discourse. That would be true even if Kelly were still an active-duty military officer. Sanders has properly walked back most of her statement, but, like most political figures, she can’t quite say the plain truth: “I was wrong.”
• The loss of service members in Niger, which gave rise to this controversy, was a tragic military error, compounded by a lot of uncertainty about the events in their immediate aftermath. It is unclear why the military was slow to reveal publicly what happened.
  • The Democrats have implied that it is Pres. Trump’s “Benghazi” (that is, a high-level political coverup). It’s not unless there is a full-scale coverup and months of lying and misrepresentation, as there was after Benghazi.
• CNN has run the story 24/7. That’s media malpractice. That, unfortunately, is also CNN’s motto.
  • CNN is like a dog with a bone: they bite it and hang on, long after all the meat is gone.
  • The problem is not that CNN’s panels are false. It is the channel’s bizarre news judgment that the story merits round-the-clock coverage for days, driven, I am sure, by their (correct) conclusion that the story harms Trump.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

As is so often the case, an issue with several important elements has been compressed and distorted, both by politicians and by the media.

Here are a few thoughts on these somber issues, which are now, unfortunately, the subject of mudslinging.

• It is right and fitting that presidents phone or write the loved ones who gave their lives for our country and for their comrades in arms. How Presidents undertake this terrible responsibility should be their choice.
• It was wrong and unbecoming of Pres. Trump to criticize his predecessors about their ways of honoring our fallen soldiers.
  • ALL his predecessors were decent, honorable men who took these losses seriously. That should be acknowledged, not turned into a partisan football.
    • UPDATE: We can differ with people politically without concluding that they are, by definition, knuckle-dragging, immoral fools.
    • American politics is being corrupted by our collective inability to differ politically without slinging mud personally.
  • It is beneath the Office of the President to criticize President Obama on this issue. It should be publicly shamed.
  • Trump’s false and undignified criticism was sufficiently upsetting to Pres. George W. Bush, who has been the most dignified of recent ex-Presidents, that he spoke out publicly, at least indirectly criticizing Trump.
    • UPDATE: Steve Bannon’s criticism of GWB on these issues is noxious. Not surprising, but still noxious.

• It is wrong and unbecoming for others, such as the Congresswoman from Florida, to do the same thing, turning a private moment of grief into her public moment in the spotlight.
  • Her bad behavior was made worse because she took a benign statement by the President and twisted into something malicious.
  • Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, known for her hats and not what’s under them, has now personally attacked Gen. Kelly, a Gold Star father.
  • She’s loathsome.
  • UPDATE: General Kelly incorrectly characterized Rep. Wilson’s speech in Florida at the building dedication. It was not all about her, as he said. She shared the credit for the building. (I am sure he misremembered, rather than lied.)
  • UPDATE: Sarah Sanders statement that Gen. Kelly cannot be criticized is clearly wrong and misunderstands the roll of free speech in our political discourse. That would be true even if Kelly were still an active-duty military officer. Sanders has properly walked back most of her statement, but, like most political figures, she can’t quite say the plain truth: “I was wrong.”
• The loss of service members in Niger, which gave rise to this controversy, was a tragic military error, compounded by a lot of uncertainty about the events in their immediate aftermath. It is unclear why the military was slow to reveal publicly what happened.
  • The Democrats have implied that it is Pres. Trump’s “Benghazi” (that is, a high-level political coverup). It’s not unless there is a full-scale coverup and months of lying and misrepresentation, as there was after Benghazi.
• CNN has run the story 24/7. That’s media malpractice. That, unfortunately, is also CNN’s motto.
  • CNN is like a dog with a bone: they bite it and hang on, long after all the meat is gone.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦