Ellen DeGeneres is happy to call George Bush a friend as “sometimes you have to be kind to people you don’t agree with.” But what if it’s not so much their beliefs but the things they’ve done? Do you draw a line at anyone? If the answer to that is yes – “I couldn’t have a coffee with Pol Pot” – then where do you draw that line? Is, as Mehdi Hassan put it, “a long litany of crimes, misdeeds, and abuses of power committed during his two bloodstained terms in office” not enough? Sure it’s kind for the powerful – it’s no kindness to the many voiceless victims including the 250,00+ civilians killed in Iraq or the 780 detainees who were held at Guantánamo Bay prison camp. As Ben Harper sang on this track from 2007: “You don’t fight for us; But expect us to die for you; You have no sympathy for us; But still I’d cry for you.” You can be the better person without being their mate FFS.
Pick of the Political Pops: Ben Harper “Black Rain”
