February 09, 2004
Spinning History
Paul Krugman strikes again, hitting the bulls eye with his insightful piece on Bush's Ministry of MisInformation. Dubya is trying to unsay the lies he spoke about the reasons for attacking Iraq and for getting the country in so much debt. With the former, Bush is setting the stage to blame the CIA for providing faulty intelligence.
Can all these awkward facts be whited out of the historical record? Probably. Almost surely, President Bush's handpicked "independent" commission won't investigate the Office of Special Plans.
With the latter, he tries to explain away a $507 billion a year mistake in budget projections on 9/11 and the Iraq war.
By February 2002, when the administration released its fiscal 2003 budget, all the bad news -- the bursting of the bubble, the recession and, yes, 9/11 -- had already happened. Yet that budget projected only a $14 billion deficit this year, and a return to surpluses next year. Why did that forecast turn out so wrong? Because administration officials fudged the facts, as usual.
He finishes by hoping that these efforts will backfire, "that the media and the informed public won't let officials get away with this. Have we finally had enough?" Unfortunately, the people who watch the news, listen to talk radio or read the mainstream press don't know any better. I am afraid that our once independent free press is gone here. There is no investigative journalism worth mentioning in the news that reaches the bulk of Americans. Had Watergate broken today, the news would have quickly been buried before it got momentum and the Republican-controlled House and Senate would have set up the same kind of toothless "investigations" that Bush is using now.
The open question is how do concerned citizens seek justice for wrong doings at the highest levels of government when the press is owned and operated by the people that raise money for the wrongdoers? I'd like to know the answer.
Posted by Norman at February 9, 2004 02:30 AM | TrackBackI posted Krugman's review yesterday. I thought the psychology and corruption of the Bush Administration was summed quite nicely by this quote from American Dynasty:
"While the Kennedys and the Rockefellers may have a sense of entitlement, they also display a sense of noblesse oblige—what one might call an urge to repay, with charitable contributions and public service, their good fortune. The Bushes don't have that problem; there are no philanthropists or reformers in the clan. They seek public office but, if anything, they seem to feel that the public is there to serve them."
Touche!
Some days I think the infection won't be cured until guillotines are set up in all major shopping malls.
Still, that the facts are slowly seeping out -- despite the press -- indicates things may be getting better. After 9/11 if looked as if the bozos were sure to get a second term. That's no longer certain. But do any Democrats have the courage to change things? To prosecute and convict? Will corrupt politicians go to jail?
If not, then after a term or two, the old gang will be back. There are four Bush boys, and W is probably the most thick-headed.
Posted by: Karlsfini on February 10, 2004 09:02 AM