Thursday, March 15, 2007

Pilar Manjón, the leader of the pro-Socialist victims of terrorism group, gave a speech on March 9 listing everyone she held in contempt. Manjón's son was killed in the March 11 bombing. Manuel Trallero of La Vanguardia, who has pissed me off more than once, responds with some contempt of his own. Manjon's words are in bold and Trallero's responses in italics. It's long, and highly colloquial, so slightly edited.

For those who are violent
That's in the Bible. Amen.

For the Fascists
That's too easy.

For those who support the mustache (a reference to former prime minister Aznar)
And what about those who called the bombing at Barajas Airport Terminal 4 "an unfortunate accident" (a reference to PM Zapatero)? What about them, Mrs. Manjón?

For those who support wars
They're very bad, yes, ma'am. Good thing some of them lost their lives against Mr. Hitler or we'd all be goose-stepping. But they were very bad. Many were even Americans.

For those who support the torture at Guantanamo
I completely agree, Mrs. Manjón, but we're not bringing up the subject of Cuba today, are we?

For those who did not find the weapons of mass destruction
To hell with them. By the way, where were you when Saddam was cutting the Kurds' throats? Where?

For those who lied to us then
Of course. But for all of them, including the speaker on the Hora 25 program on (pro-Socialist) SER radio, who mentioned the rumors running around Madrid that the elections would be suspended. For him too.

For those who are lying to us now
Yes, that's even a sin. Saying we're better off than last year and not as well off as this year in the peace process. (a reference to PM Zapatero).

For the friends of the former prime minister
They, Mrs. Manjón, did not place the bomb that killed your son.

For the friends of the former interior minister
Ditto.

For the friends of Bush
Ditto.

For those who lose an election and get angry
I do not know a single politician who does not react in that way.

For those who bless the bombings
As Mr. Solana, secretary-general of NATO, a Socialist from the days of "NATO no," ordered and blessed the bombs that fell on Belgrade to stop the massacre in the former Yugoslavia.

For those who bark when they speak
You would prefer everyone to be silent, beginning with the church bells and finishing with the TV images. You decide who barks and who speaks. On TVE they already do that.

For those who use terrorism to justify everything
Not to justify everything, of course. But there are one thousand dead people on the table. Should we look away?

For those who insult me
Take them to court. Why don't you sue them? .

For those who threaten me
You're right. But would you mind giving us the names of those who insult and threaten you? Couldn't you give us a few details?

For all of those, and in my name, my most contemptuous contempt.
And for the murderers of your son, not a tiny bit of that contemptuous contempt? You didn't even mention them. Interesting, isn't it?

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