I don’t want to be a downer, but I don’t quite understand all the fuss about this latest Bush Administration scandal. So, they fired eight United States Attorneys for political reasons and lied about it.
And...?
It seems a little like busting Al Capone for tax evasion or giving Martin Scorsese an Oscar for “The Departed.”
“It’s not your best work, but... you’re due.”
Maybe America has just hit Maximum Scandal Density, and there is simply no room in the collective denial cavity for one more. After Ken Lay, Enron, and closed-door energy task force meetings; Abu Ghraib prison torture; no-bid contracts for Halliburton; Halliburton overcharges to the army for fuel; missing documentation for $1.8 billion in Halliburton charges; fabrication of evidence to get us into a prolonged war in which over 3,200 Americans and countless Iraqis have died; outing a CIA agent; and tampering with elections, to name just a few, it’s no wonder that these people believe that they are superheroes and cannot be stopped by mere humans. So far, it’s been true. When this one bubbled up, I just rolled my eyes and thought sarcastically “How SHOCKING! I cannot BELIEVE that our government would be involved in anything politically untoward.” I figured it would vaporize, just like the rest of them.
Then yesterday, a House Judiciary subcommittee authorized subpoenas for Karl Rove and others, and two and a half months after the attorneys were fired, the scandal just keeps roiling.
I think that my shock levels have been so altered and my sensibilities so numbed by six plus years of deceit and nefarious behavior that this one was just absorbed into my consciousness and stored away with other lies, like “I’ll call you,” and “Of course you don’t look fat in that.”
The Administration’s response to this event is the same attitude of scoffing challenge that I am used to. It rivals that of any 18-year-old kid still living at home: “Yeah? Well what are you gonna do about it?” *insert smirk and shrug, swagger out of kitchen into basement room*
This time, the message comes along with a buddy-like-yet-threatening-slap-you-on-the-back “Trust us! You don’t need a transcript or a fussy oath. We’ll tell the truth.” Well but of course; transparency is the modus operandi of this administration. They deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Because it turns out that The Bush Administration is very concerned with the separation of powers. Who knew? They are also concerned that someone out there might be doing something for political reasons that are less than honest. This is why they don’t want Karl Rove to testify, under oath, with a transcript: the constitutionally established separation of powers and honesty.
See, they should have explained that right at the very beginning. Clearly, they have precedent, posterity, and the country’s morale close to their hearts. It’s not because they are afraid of exposure, censure, and possible criminal charges. They have not operated for over six years in a culture of alarming opacity for reasons of greed or consolidation of power in the hands of a corporate oligarchy; it’s that they firmly believe in the sanctity of the plans of our Founding Fathers and the veracity and purity of their own motives. They do not want to take part in a political game such as this; to sink into the quagmire of political muck that the Democrats are slinging around.
Give those liberals a little bit of power, and they go and take advantage of our poor, beleaguered president and his posse.
They just can’t catch a break.
(By the way, I’ll be holding my breath until Karl Rove swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.)
No comments:
Post a Comment