Hyman Has the Right to Remain Silent . . . and Should

Is Mark Hyman sure he wants to go there?

In his most recent commentary, Hyman goes after philanthropist George Soros, focusing almost exclusively on a civil lawsuit Soros settled out of court involving a man who claimed to have been attacked by Soros’ son’s dog.

No, Hyman doesn’t say why he’s attacking Soros (he gives money to Democrats). No, Hyman doesn’t say why Soros’ son’s dog biting someone says anything about Soros himself (nothing). No, Hyman doesn’t say why anyone should care about any of this (they shouldn’t).

This is classic Hyman: throwing mud at someone whose politics he disagrees, not being honest about his motivations, and wasting viewers’ time and airwaves to carry out his personal attacks.

Given the folks Hyman usually jabbers in support of, I don’t think it’s wise to make family legal difficulties a measure of political decency or ideological correctness. We don’t even need to venture into shadiness of folks like Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay, or Karl Rove; the Bush family itself provides enough criminality to provide a season’s worth of plots for Law and Order.

There are, of course, the notorious Bush twins, who carouse while their father sends other young men and women their age to die in Iraq.

There’s the president himself, who has had his share of run-ins with the law, despite the countless strings that have been pulled for him by his father.

There are the Bush brothers as a group, whose collective resume is a collection of influence peddling, shady business deals, and cashing in on the family name, all while showing virtually no evidence of talent in any area of respectable endeavor.

The second generation of Bush children are no better, with Jeb’s kids alone racking up impressive rap sheets.

Does this mean George W. Bush is a bad president or his policies immoral? No. There’s plenty of direct evidence that confirm these facts. I offer this litany of Bush family malfeasance simply as a shot across Hyman’s bow that if he wants to make court appearances the measure of political indecency, the wind’s in his face.

And that’s The Counterpoint.

Hyman Index: 4.20