STOP
TERROR
STOP
TORTURE
OUT
OF IRAQ
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
No, I Don't Know What [Scruples] Is, But If You Got 'Em, It's A Sure Bet They Belong To Somebody Else
This whole cock-up with Bernard Kerik has been simply hilarious. In their typical Keystone Kops fashion, spokesmen for the White House can't even agree on how long his nomination was under consideration -- a week? Several weeks? Since June? Similar confusion abounds regarding the employment period of Kerik's possibly nonexistent illegal nanny.
And it gave me hope for America.
Because, through everything -- through the power they are trying to consolidate, through the illegal acts they commit every day -- the Republicans are afraid.
Simply, they are afraid of getting caught.
Stay with me here.
A cult of personality has grown up around Dubya. Large sections of the American population can apparently forgive being misled about everything. That's policy stuff.
But this same buncha folks finds themselves having to defend Dubya's people, all the time. Kerik is only the most recent. Their "moral values" demand that they care about this sort of personal weakness... at least if it's displayed by Democrats.
The cognitive dissonance involved in letting the Right hand win by the same rules by which the Left hand loses cannot go on forever. Something's going to give.
Now, there is a chance that it could end up going completely sour -- violence against the offensive Left. But if Dubya's own people keep screwing up, over and over, eventually, some of Dubya's supporters are going to get mad at Dubya's people.
And, perhaps, at long last, at Dubya.
I do not believe the American people to be stupid. But I do think they are slow on the uptake sometimes. And, eventually, getting lied to enough times is gonna have them going, "... Hey."
And that is what BushCo fears: a populace up in arms because of what Dubya and his thugs are doing to the country. Because of their hypocrisy. Because of their willingness to flout national and international law, the international community, basic principles of science and accounting, and the will of the people...
... and then act guilty about it.
They lie about things. (Saddam Was A Threat.) They phrase them confusingly, so people think they're saying one thing when they mean another. (The Clear Skies Initiative.) They backpedal furiously. (We Vetted Kerik For A Month -- No, A Week -- Look, Being President Is Hard Work.) And they act as if they know they are wrong, and they know America would take them to task for being wrong. Not because they might have a change of heart -- oh, no, that would involve them giving up what they feel is their due. But they don't want to be humiliated. Nor have to pay any kind of penalty for their transgression.
The irony, of course, is that I believe part of the reason Dubya is so far invulnerable to any backlash from this constant barrage of evil is that he convincingly portrays himself as a man who truly believes he is doing the right thing. He's not acting guilty -- at least, not so much as his sidekicks do. But Kerik acted guilty. Rumsfeld, when questioned last week by soldiers in Kuwait, acted guilty. Condi Rice is a serial blinker and head-shaker when she speaks -- her body language screams "liar". White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan couldn't answer a single question if he couldn't repeat his "answer" for the previous question, whatever that day's catch-phrase happens to be. They don't even let Karl Rove on TV, except to gloat.
And they know that, when the American People finally realize that someone, or a pack of someones, have been knowingly mucking them over, one of our oldest traditions kicks in.
Frontier justice.
And it gave me hope for America.
Because, through everything -- through the power they are trying to consolidate, through the illegal acts they commit every day -- the Republicans are afraid.
Simply, they are afraid of getting caught.
Stay with me here.
A cult of personality has grown up around Dubya. Large sections of the American population can apparently forgive being misled about everything. That's policy stuff.
But this same buncha folks finds themselves having to defend Dubya's people, all the time. Kerik is only the most recent. Their "moral values" demand that they care about this sort of personal weakness... at least if it's displayed by Democrats.
The cognitive dissonance involved in letting the Right hand win by the same rules by which the Left hand loses cannot go on forever. Something's going to give.
Now, there is a chance that it could end up going completely sour -- violence against the offensive Left. But if Dubya's own people keep screwing up, over and over, eventually, some of Dubya's supporters are going to get mad at Dubya's people.
And, perhaps, at long last, at Dubya.
I do not believe the American people to be stupid. But I do think they are slow on the uptake sometimes. And, eventually, getting lied to enough times is gonna have them going, "... Hey."
And that is what BushCo fears: a populace up in arms because of what Dubya and his thugs are doing to the country. Because of their hypocrisy. Because of their willingness to flout national and international law, the international community, basic principles of science and accounting, and the will of the people...
... and then act guilty about it.
They lie about things. (Saddam Was A Threat.) They phrase them confusingly, so people think they're saying one thing when they mean another. (The Clear Skies Initiative.) They backpedal furiously. (We Vetted Kerik For A Month -- No, A Week -- Look, Being President Is Hard Work.) And they act as if they know they are wrong, and they know America would take them to task for being wrong. Not because they might have a change of heart -- oh, no, that would involve them giving up what they feel is their due. But they don't want to be humiliated. Nor have to pay any kind of penalty for their transgression.
The irony, of course, is that I believe part of the reason Dubya is so far invulnerable to any backlash from this constant barrage of evil is that he convincingly portrays himself as a man who truly believes he is doing the right thing. He's not acting guilty -- at least, not so much as his sidekicks do. But Kerik acted guilty. Rumsfeld, when questioned last week by soldiers in Kuwait, acted guilty. Condi Rice is a serial blinker and head-shaker when she speaks -- her body language screams "liar". White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan couldn't answer a single question if he couldn't repeat his "answer" for the previous question, whatever that day's catch-phrase happens to be. They don't even let Karl Rove on TV, except to gloat.
And they know that, when the American People finally realize that someone, or a pack of someones, have been knowingly mucking them over, one of our oldest traditions kicks in.
Frontier justice.
Comments:
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Actually my theory is that W is going to be hung the hell out to dry once his handlers, cronies, and Cheny get too close to being caught. He'll take the blame for everything while they try to get away.
# posted by 
: 9:05 PM
: 9:05 PM
They won't get caught. Because just like W's father late one night at the end of his term he's going to issue a couple of key pardons and it'll all be over.
We may never know the crimes they've hidden.
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We may never know the crimes they've hidden.
# posted by : 9:56 AM
: 9:56 AM<< Home
