Rules from the Left

Gateway Pundit brings the predictable news of writers on the left who blame Capt. Phillips for the death of the pirates who kidnapped him and shed crocodile tears for the Seals whose lives were put at risk in the rescue. The Daily Kos, which speaks for an unfortunately large number of people, counsels us to follow the pirates’ rules meticulously. Then, all will be well:

The pirates’ modus operandi is that they hold the crew, ship, and cargo harmlessly until a lot of money is paid to them.  Phillips “heroic” actions put his crew and himself at risk.  If he’d done nothing except acquiesce to the pirates’ demands, there would have been no risk, just possible discomfort until the extortion money was paid.  Instead he put himself and the Seals at grave risk.

I applaud the crew, the Seals, and the military chain of command for their actions.  I think Phillips was in error–if not a grandstander, then greatly misguided.

Pictured below are three grandstanders: Thomas Phillips, John Benbow, and Sir Ralph Delavall.  I could not find any similar memorials to those who followed Kos’ advice.

The rules according to Kos:

Surrender first.
Negotiate a better surrender if the first one is unsatisfactory.
Pay any demand.
Leave any grandstanders among you to the tender mercies of cutthroats.

Those rules apply, of course, only to the curious breed of people stupid enough to venture onto the high seas or high prairie, to Navy Seals, merchant marines, entrepreneurs, financiers, farmers, fishermen, and firemen.

From the comfortable blue-state urban neighborhoods of Kosdom, grandstanding (especially of the rhetorical variety) is perfectly acceptable.