Smerconish publicly slams Nick Berg's dad

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/8684644.htm?ERIGHTS=4584443592045202402philly

BUSH DIDN'T KILL NICK

HATE MONGERING FANATICS WITH A SICK NEED TO KILL TOOK HIS LIFE

By Michael Smerconish

www.mastalk.com


THIS ISN'T going to be easy. But some things need to be said to Michael Berg even as he grieves the loss of his son. It would have been more appropriate to let the dust settle before this discourse began, but that is no longer an option where he has turned this tragedy into a morbid blame game.

First and foremost, civilized people everywhere mourn for your family. Nick Berg was, by all accounts, a fine son - smart, ambitious and with an independent spirit for life. Twenty-six is way too young to die. No father should have to endure what you must be going through.

But...

George Bush did not kill your son. Nor did Donald Rumsfeld. And, quite frankly, you are the one politicizing his death when you introduce their names into the same breath as his obituary.

And I'd tell him to his face George W. Bush is DIRECTLY responsible for Nick Berg's death.

What pisses me off is that if Michael Berg was a Bushista, Smerconish and the rest would never stop rolling the tapes and would have the guy canonized.

I think Michael Berg should have waited until his son was burried before he issued a public statement. The strange circumstances surrounding his son's final journey, detention and death are still open to speculation and I felt he should have let those stories play a bit before he said a thing.

The fact that he had sued for his son's release and Nick was let go the next day should have been sufficient...at least until he and his family put their loved one to rest and allowed the immediate media circus to vanish. It was as if Michael had to make a statement with all those TV trucks around his home and spoke pure emotion...something wingnuts like Smerconish can't understand.

I fear the last days of Nick Berg will not be ever known with any certainty. I just hope his father is able to find some peace. I also, in the near future, would like to hear his story and hope this is part of a broader investigation into the war crimes committed by this regime.

On Edit: Typos and had to complete thoughts interupted by phone calls. Cheers.

Perhaps Michael Berg did make his remarks from emotion, who wouldn't?

But this article is dripping with condescension. He accuses MB of oversimplifying the causes of Nick's beheading then spouts the RW mantra of "they hate us for our freedoms" and the ever popular "unite behind the president or else you align yourself with terrorists."

I feel a LTTE coming on. :mad:

Think of the position these losers are painting themselves into. They have to defend a war that becomes more and more unpopular by the day, and the excesses of a regime that people are starting to really take a close look at. To expect reason and sense from trapped rats at this time is foolish. I do give slack to those who I have seen show some true contrition (Sullivan for example) as those who tried to believe in good faith and got it shoved back in their faces.

The wingnuts need to find any justification they can for all the abuses that are taking place. Nick Berg serves as their latest cause celebre...unless they've moved onto to the "WMDS were found" meme.

I tend to think a lot of people in Pennsylvania feel the Berg story personally and it will be one that will invite open questions for a long, long time.

in an Iraqi prison while all hell was breaking loose over there and they wouldn't even let him make a phone call or send an email? How would you have felt if you have to sue your own country just to get them to extend the most basic rights to one of its own citizens?

More importantly, why do so many Americans (think Wellstone's Memorial) feel free to condemn the grieving habits of others? The guy lost his son. The guy had a legitimate beef about what happened. Finally, the government was LYING through its teeth about the circumstances of his son's detention in the mass media. Exactly when was he going to get the chance to set the record straight about this little chestnut with the greatest number of people?

BTW:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1615190&mesg_id=1615190

I am SOOOOO sick of hearing this from these hypocrites.

Start a war for political reasons, then when anyone opposes it, accuse them of being POLITICAL! When families grieve and cry for justice, call them POLITICAL!

These are the most cynical bastards ever. They will surely rot in hell.



http://www.wgoeshome.com

Mr. Berg came out and used his son's death to support the IRaq war?

debacle. They don't know the first thing about Nick or the motives of his executioners yet they feel sure that it's proof that the United States did the right thing by invading and there should be more torture because of it.

Any and all criticism from the left of the Bush administration is labeled politicizing.

You damn well better believe this numbnuts would be "politicizing" Berg's death himself.


Fucking republicans.....why can't they all just give it up? Must be tough living in complete denial of reality 24/7.

Did he mention that this war was illegal and needless? Did he mention that we have killed 10,000 innocent Iraqis in our quest to bomb this country into democracy? Didn't think so . . .

Yeah, YOU, Mikey. You're a DICK. You've always been a dick, and one of the reasons I'm glad I got out of Philly med mal was to not have to deal with your fat ego, your big mouth and your obnoxious self anymore. You needed to shut up years ago... 'bout time you got to it.

Meet Mikey "Smerk"-onish... still connected to the "Beastly" firm and the biggest reason we called it so.

(On edit - looks like this is a little pay back to your pal Georgie for your appointment... nothin' like a big ego with a brown nose)

Clinton of killing his son? Probably not. Bush fans in the media are so touchy!

Anyone hear?

I think he gave his parents a "free pass" as to what they are going to express. I am not aware of what Hannity had to say.

Accidentally heard him going off (I think it was Thurs. night) and I thought that I was going to be sick. He blasted this man and I think that he called him a scumbag and stated that he was the reason that his son was dead.

I've been to savagenation and to the talk radio network sites and I can't find a link to get the transcripts, but I would like to have them so that I can send a copy along with a few letters to the local station that airs this sick shit's show.

He writes like an 8th grader. And his logic is equal to that of a houseplant. This is one guy who doesn't deserve his job, and proves it by doing it.
The Professor

He's an egotistical windbag attorney who won a few high-profile cases and now he thinks he's a "personality" and so he spews his RW talking points on local radio in Philly.

I used to find him only mildly pathetic until I read his diatribe against a guy who just lost his son in such a ghastly fashion.

Imagine a tort lawyer who supports Bush. If Bush had his way, Smerconish and his ilk would be hawking Viagra and kitchen appliances on late night tv. IOW, he's a chicken supporting Col. Sanders.

A guy with this lack of logic and so devoid of articulation got through law school? Must have been an easy school or something?
The Professor

and imagined how Michael Berg would feel walking into a store and seeing that paper just laying there in a stack. I mean, it wasn't like a small byline on the front page but a major slap in the face to the Berg family



Obviously this philly writer isn't connecting the dots very well. Nick Berg would have been alive if we weren't in Iraq in the first place OR we actually took care of our prisoners according to the Geneva Convention