As always, when the Left is outraged over something, it pays to look at the context. Congressman Patrick McHenry referred to a someone who insisted on seeing proper credentials before letting him into a gymnasium in Baghdad as "a two-bit security guard".
Yes, poor Patrick McHenry. An American stationed in Baghdad followed orders on Green-Zone security only to get mocked by a conservative lawmaker who never wore a uniform. Classy.
Somehow, I have a hunch that if McHenry were a liberal Dem, and he called an American serviceman or servicewoman serving in Baghdad a “two-bit security guard,” it’d be quite a while until we heard the end of it.
Well, first of all, the person was not a serviceman or service women, he was an independent contractor. You know, the guys who Kos was referring to when he said, "Screw 'em." But second, if you listen to the entire clip carefully, you'll see that Congressman McHenry is not characterizing the security guard; he's characterizing himself, deprecatingly. Note that shortly after he was refused entry to the gym, a rocket hit that building. Thus the guard ended up saving his life! Note as well that Congressman McHenry talks about how he stood there like an idiot when the "duck and cover" order was broadcast.
So maybe he did engage in a little DYKWIA with the guard at the time; he recognizes that he was wrong and tells an amusing little story at his own expense, throwing in the "two-bit security guard" to make himself look a little worse.
I'd love to hear the rest of the clip to see if he goes on to thank the guard. At his own website, the congressman has a clip of himself on Easter Sunday (the day of the incident), stating that it was right that he was refused entry to the gym. So as usual this is one of those things that the Left has ginned up that doesn't mean what they claim. Pardon me if I don't join in the condemnation from some conservative bloggers.
