Friday, February 18, 2005

Honor and dignity in the White House

Okay democrats, now is not the time to let go of Gannon/Guckertgate. This is a scandal that will make Monicagate look like small potatoes. Do not let the major media bury this as they will be wont to do. All kudos to Anderson Cooper who is at least trying to find out what the hell happened. How did this totally unqualified person get repeated passes to the White House Press Corps? He claims he just applied and was given the passes. There is no way that could have happened unless he had some very high level support. Furthermore, he was given passes even before he supposedly represented Talon News, a known Republican right wing organization. He was asking questions of Ari Fleischer before Scott McClellan was on the scene, which is not to say that McClellan might not have had some influence to get him his passes. McClellan knew he was using an alias. He also called on him repeatedly, especially when the questioning was getting difficult. And McClellan apparently is known to have visited gay bars in Texas. So who was responsible for getting him into the White House Press Corps with no genuine credentials and a false name? If you believe he just asked all by himself and was given the passes, I have a bridge here in Bonners Ferry, Idaho that I will sell you cheap. This is potentially the scandal of scandals. Don’t let it go, milk it for all it’s worth. And give no sympathy to Gannon/Guckert who is now saying his private life is not fair game. Tell that to Bill Clinton. Never in the history of the world have there been hypocrites like the current Republican variety.

Somewhere on the web today I saw a report from a recent University of Maryland poll. I can’t repeat it all here but, for example: 75% of Bush supporters believe Iraq was providing substantial support for al Qaeda. 74% believe Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in agreements on trade. 72% believe Iraq had a WMD’s or a program to develop them. The same percentage believes Bush supports the treaty banning landmines. And etc., etc., etc. What is truly disturbing about this is that even if only half of it, or even less, is correct it means that these people are so divorced from reality there is not even any hope of convincing them otherwise. This represents an ignorance so abysmal, so profound, as to be insurmountable. Heaven forbid, it would appear there either has to be a cultural revolution or a pogram. I guess the basic question was asked by someone in Europe: “How could 59,000,000 people be so stupid?” I guess the answer is, we work at it.

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