The uproar over the White House-orchestrated firing of conscientious U.S. attorneys stirs mixed emotions. It would be nice to believe it's grounded in public outrage, but such outrage would have been searingly befitting years ago -- and it never came. If an illegal war didn't merit the public's unforgiving disgust then, what possibly could now? The canning of government lawyers? Come on. Let's get real, even though these days that is a sad exercise.
My guess, proffered as an empirically based one, is that Americans at large could name more contestants on "American Idol" than those principals behind the latest subversion of the U.S. constitution. I would further guess -- again, empirically -- that if stopped on the street and asked about the current "uproar," a depressingly statistically significant number would respond, "What uproar?" Indeed ... "What scandal?"
No, the furor is mostly taking place in the Washington bubble, and politicians from both sides of the aisle are merely trying to stay ahead of the issue as an electoral one in a year or so from now, just in case. That's why we read comments coming even from the right about the administration's behavior being "troubling" and "dysfunctional." It's not that the pols themselves are deeply troubled by the democratic dysfunction, however. They're just nervously cautious, which often renders their somber comments on the matter as laughably calculating.
Republican Congressman Thomas Davis III, for instance, said "This is going to be a rockier year for the White House because every time there is a perceived mistake, they can fire up an investigation. It puts the White House on the defensive." Now there's a statement intended to please just about everybody in its CYA cautiousness.
"Mistake" is snuggled in there as a partial reality check, but preceded by the thoroughly modifying "perceived" for the reality-denying crowd. Then the "fire up" is meant to make any investigation sound like nothing more than a politically motivated shot from the hip by the irresponsible opposition. Last, the White House is on the "defensive": meaning the Democrats are executing a wicked offense, meaning by implication that the scandal's genesis lies somewhere separate from the corrupt little buggers who actually spawned it.
Nice tricks. They may cover Mr. Davis' rear, but did they really suggest he is "troubled"; that White House "dysfunction" is the least bit intolerable? Nah, it's all just politics, something those incorrigible Democrats play.
But consider the real and ultimate reality check: Fundamentally what the White House attempted was a covert, political revamping of the American legal system. The occasionally attentive may think it was just petty politics, but in some respects its potential consequences loomed greater in terms of constitutional subversion than even an illegal war.
When one thinks more than one move ahead in the White House's game of political chess, one can easily imagine a future legal system in which there are excusable, unprosecuted crimes committed by "good" Republicans and inexcusable, prosecutable crimes committed only by all others. Taken to its logical extreme: did Unitary Executive Adolph's political supporters have to fear prosecution -- for anything?
In the study of comparative political systems there's a name for the particular one that accommodates that sort of selective jurisprudence. Yet I seriously doubt the at-large public is giving more than a minute's thought, if that much, to the White House's attempt at Move One, let alone Move Six, or Eight. And therein lies the deeper danger -- today, and tomorrow.
It's RAMPANT fascism and impotent public protest; with DEM halfascism in between. Anyone got the bills for IMPEACHMENTS or FINANCIAL anti-Bush wars filibusters?
Posted by: Vic Anderson | March 15, 2007 at 11:05 AM
This is exactly what worries me now and was worried about during the 2 hijacked elections. I knew how the extreme East & West Coasts would vote and scared witless about the rest of the uneducated masses in this country. This country has been dumbed down to such an extent that no one reads, no one educates themselves about what is going on. American Idol gets more votes than an election. I no longer watch the local news and prefer to get disgusted watching the debates on C-Span between "my distinguished colleague across the aisle.." Finally hearing the work "impeachment" from a couple of our distinguished representatives. Can't be too soon.
Posted by: Nina | March 15, 2007 at 11:12 AM
"Imagination is more important than knowledge," says Albert Einstein, and I think you're right to imagine the next iteration of Bushosaurus Rex.
Here's another fantasy that zings around my brain like a dragonfly: the Medal of Honor to Dick Cheney for realizing, before anyone else could, that Iraq's oil was meant to be protected and preserved by the United States, the only nation in the world fit for the job. Dick Did It For US, will be the refrain.
Posted by: J Marra | March 15, 2007 at 11:29 AM
Just how insane has our political system become? Lest we forget, a Democratic president was IMPEACHED for the "high crime" of lying about a sexual affair between consenting adults. Yet one of the main stormtroopers leading the assault against Clinton,(our boy Newt), was leaving his boots under the bed of another woman. He even had the cojones to serve his wife of the time divorce papers as she lay recovering from chemotherapy! Where was the public outcry? Where was the media consternation and 24/7 coverage of this "moral outrage"? As usual for our vaunted members of the press, they collectively yawned and continued to parrot the GOP sleaze aimed at Clinton. And the American people in general? I can almost bet that the good folks of the good old USA were GLUED to their televisions anytime a "story" was aired about the sordid details of the Lewinsky scandal and then went into zombie mode for anything else that was passing itself off as "news". Is it any wonder that the rest of the civilized world sees us as a bunch of knuckle-draggin', mullet wearin', toothless, NASCAR watchin' buffoons? I sure can't. Because I still can't figure how lying about a blow job (resulting deaths from said lie: 0) is a more heinous crime than say.....lies about WMD's, connections to terrorist attacks, oh hell, the list is endless (resulting deaths: approaching THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION and counting!) Had a Democratic administration attempted even a nanofraction (if there is such a measurement) of the illegal b.s. to consolidate power for themselves and make our country a one party dictatorship, the American people, Democrat and Republican alike, would have marched en masse like the villagers in "Frankenstein" with torches blazing and pitchforks in hand. Or maybe I'm giving the citizens of this coutry WAY too much credit and we really are sheep to be sheared by whoever wins the next popularity contest we still laughingly refer to as "elections".
Posted by: Rick | March 15, 2007 at 12:16 PM
We, and only we, will determine what is a scandal, what and when you need to fear, and what you need to think about.
DC Elite
Posted by: hadenuf | March 15, 2007 at 04:23 PM
Just wait for the economic disaster to hit. Once our economy collapses, we'll all be happy to work for $2 a day without benefits -- that will save the corporations from the hassle of having to ship jobs off to other countries where the gov't cracks the whip on their citizens.
People think that all this is happening b/c Bush is an idiot. He is -- but the people calling the shots on our policies aren't. They've got to grab power now while we are still so scared of the big, bad Islamofascists (whatever the heck that is) that we wet our pants when they tell us that countries like Iraq and Iran pose a serious threat to the U.S. If they pose a threat, heaven only knows what China and Russia could do to us. The only country they threaten is Israel. And AIPAC has such a grip on politicians that they aren't allowed to question wars that are meant to take out Israel's enemies even though they are making the US hated around the world. I must have missed when we annexed Israel -- or did they annex the US? I'm trying to remember where in the Constitution it requires us to sacrifice our nation's economy and security to carry out wars of aggression for a foreign entity, even if they are our ally ...
Posted by: Scarlett | March 15, 2007 at 11:40 PM
That mythical being the average American probably never heard of a U.S. Attorney before this flap...
I gather "American Idol" is a TV program? Just to let you know, here's one American who does NOT do TV. Yes, it IS possible! It is not yet illegal.
Thanks for your great columns! Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Joanne Forman | March 16, 2007 at 12:52 PM
The reason the public appeared fixated on the Clinton affair, and disinterested in the far more significant recent crimes can be summed up in two words: CORPORATE MEDIA.
The media corporations are owned exclusively by the wealthy, who use them to advance their own agenda.
They control which stories are covered, which are censored, and which slant will get the most emphasis.
It's anti-democratic in both senses of the word. Citizens' interests are ruthlessly suppressed, and the Republicans, who are the most rabid in advancing the agenda of the wealthy, are given every advantage.
Posted by: Alan8 | March 16, 2007 at 07:48 PM
If you look at who has access to information and the time to learn it, you realize that if you are reading this you are a rare "elite".
Most folk in the US do not have fast internet (much less computers, and how to use them)and many who do, are warned against believing the "unofficial" story.
One hundred million people could march on Washington and Faux "News" will report it as a "gaggle of protesters" if it is reported at all and any photos will be tight shots of the weirdest they can find at the edge.
I watched them do this as they shot the last five feet of a protest that stretched for a mile.
We are only now learning of mass killings, in the open, in Mexico and Indonesia, going back to the sixties, up to similar goings on in China since Tienanmen.
If they manage to shut up the internet, expect the same here.
Posted by: FreeDem | March 17, 2007 at 12:54 PM
I believe we are on a path of the Lone Star Country the cursor of the Lone Star State which was propogated by the Bush regime for a couple terms in Texas.
A scarey prophecy but real ...
The take over of the judicial; the dumbing down of the schools, and the totalitarian control of the legislature are just a few things that took place in Texas with the power of corruption and big money. The same money that control our air waves; our corporations and the like to whom it may concern.
The bottom line is the American People must wise up ...
Posted by: makesenseofit | March 17, 2007 at 12:59 PM
Where did the creeping fascism start?
Like makesenseofit says - Look to Texas, friends. Texas is the living laboratory of the radical right, and we Texans are simply living in their petri dishes.
Texas is today what the country will be tomorrow: 1st in executions, 1st in number of gun shows. Last (50th out of all 50 states) in tax expenditures per capita, and almost last (47th out of 50) in SAT scores. 1st in percentage of population without health insurance and percentage of children without health insurance. 49th in percentage of children immunized, and dead last (50th out of 50) in percentage of population over 25 with a high school diploma. We are 3rd in the percentage of the population living below federal poverty level and 3rd in the percentage of population that is malnourished. Thank God for Mississippi. It’s a race to the bottom and Texas is winning.
So what’s new in the Lone Star state today. Well, we see that Halliburton (that corporate darling of the radical right) has much in common with Texas Governor Rick Perry?
They are both going to Dubai for the corporate good. Read about it here:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA031507.05B.perry.trip.34d22b1.html
Posted by: U. Whinge | March 17, 2007 at 07:14 PM