Blogged by JC on 01.19.06 @ 08:36 AM ET
Buying Time, Part II
Silly Season
What does a Republican party do when a congressional scandal has engulfed its agenda, Iraq continues to detriorate into a potential civil war, and the President is caught red handed engaging in illegal spying? Change the subject, of course. The always favorite topic: Bill Clinton.
The right wing spin today will be about a new independent counsel report. At the outset, I would simply note that this report should be provided to the Judiciary Committees, which oversee independent counsels, and the public. Notwithstanding this requirement, before I had been provided a copy of it, I read about it in the
New York Sun (which claimed that the report "worries Democrats." It doesn't, but the byline
"R. Emmet Tyrell" of "troopergate" infamy should tell you all you need to know about the story's accuracy and the agenda behind it.)
Today I still haven't seen the report, but the New York Times
has. Apparently, it comes courtesy of "someone sympathetic to the Barrett investigation who wanted his criticism of the Clinton administration to be known."
But as much as we criticize the media, give credit where credit is due -- the Times went out and got some context and did not simply write a story spun by the obviously vindictive source of the report. I don't want to dignify this report with a point and counterpoint on the details, but the Times second paragraph tells you all you need to know: "[t]he legal inquiry by the prosecutor, David M. Barrett, lasted more than a decade, consumed some $21 million and came to be a symbol of the flawed effort to prosecute high-level corruption through the use of independent prosecutors."
So we are back to Clinton bashing. Which part of the Clinton Administration is it that the right wing didn't like: the peace or the prosperity? I welcome the contrast between this Administration and all of its wrongdoing and the achievements (as well as the foibles) of the last.
It is tempting to do just that. But with so many more important issues before us of unprecedented constitutional concern, it would be frivolous to do so. And it would buy time for the right wing to distract from its problems in the here and now. Then, silly season would be upon us.
In these times, it is critical that every one of you be a media activist. Contact media outlets and tell them that you expect continued and serious coverage of the issues impacting our lives today. Also, be sure to praise media outlets when they do well and provide balance, as the New York Times did on this story in my estimation.
Replies: 6 Comments
Comment #1: Nolip said on 1/19/06 @ 8:49am ET...
Congressman Conyers,
Truth will out and the simple truth, through all the obfuscation, is that NO ONE is above the law, be it President or anyone else down the line in the food chain of government.
We've have five years of "push back" that is Team Bush using smoke and mirrors, outright lies and delay tactics worthy of the Mob. This is taking up a good deal of their time while they plot and plan to do more damage. Enough is enough!
As someone in an earlier post suggested, Capone went down on a technicality. Isn't there some such technicality, amidst all the reams of available data that's been compiled so far, that would force Bush and his cronies into court. Enough has been said in the courtroom of public opinion to make one want to vomit. It's time to hold Bush and his henchmen accountable. While all your efforts so far are viewed with respect and admiration, isn't there some guy wire to trip up Bush available because once he goes down, the dominoe effect takes hold and everybody else in his corrupt administration goes down with him (even Scotty McClellen). So here's a request, assign some interns the noxious task of pouring over all the waste product available on the Bush administration and using a strainer pull out that golden nugget of truth that will topple Saddam Bush!
Comment #2: Nolip said on 1/19/06 @ 8:58am ET...
Addition to Post #1...
While the Democrats are the David in this battle with Goliath (the Philistine Rethuglicans) it is worth noting that it only took a small stone embedded in the skull of Goliath to bring him down. Find that "stone", that kernel of truth, and Bush and his Philistine band will fall.
Comment #3: rainbowsally said on 1/22/06 @ 6:39am ET...
Only two comments so far?
First of all Silly Season is a great concept. But that's
not what I want to comment about.
You wrote:
--------
In these times, it is critical that every one of you be a
media activist.
--------
There's another mostly unexplored avenue also. That's to
print up our own flyers and hide 'em around like easter eggs
for folks to be surprised by.
To everyone else.
Pen is to sword as desktop printer is to X.
Solve for X.
By becoming the media you don't have to compain or praise
those who play keep away from us little guys, and who so
often punch us in the nose as if by accident.
You ARE the free press whenever you decide to be.
And when the cops come to tell you to remove your flyers,
ask them:
If they were ads for a pizza parlor would I have to remove
them?
Let 'em give you a ticket or play it any way you like. Call
their bluff. If they come down on you hard, then you may
also get MSM attention, especially if they give a damn about
their co-equals in the profession.
I mean it. Amendment 1 does not protect false advertising
except as fallout, a necessary parasite on this form of
government's back.
But the fleas are the only survivors of this flea bath?
So remember. It ain't over until you yourself give up.
Even if (especially if) the internet goes down.
[None of your business, but yes, I have been dong it and I
do know what I'm talking about. I also use food color to
refill my cartriges. That's all I care to say about it other
than, if you want to sign your flyers with my handle, do so
with my most profound blessing.]
Comment #4: rainbowsally said on 1/22/06 @ 7:59am ET...
Hi nolip.
Call this blank verse poetry so I don't have to explain
the disjointedness or the metaphor interwoven into this
post.
---
Found your 'raq (prnounced "rock") in the middle east
and the skull turned up at Yale.
But the plates are tightly fitted and you can't peirce
them with a regular arrow.
New game?
Consider this: Johnny Reb wasn't evil, he was just
diabolically ignorant.
Compare:
http://usconstitution.net/csa.html
to the valid
http://usconstitution.net/const.html
First a clue: 21 years was considered a legal
generation back in the old days. And that could be
taken as a "grace" period. Grace for some, degradation
for others.
It's a new game. The masks come off. Who was worthy of
grace and hogged it instead of sharing?
With a brief look at the preambles and article 1, sec 8
(just one item in the usa and two items in the csa)
everything begins to come into focus, including the
"federalist society" and their agenda.
Watch 'em try to deny it. Show them the Confederate
Constitution's broad daylight confession.
So how might we accomplish the impossible in this new
game?
Your strongest ally is your enemy. They don't know what
they are doing but what if they did...
Now we are looking at "love your enemy" a new way, are
we not? That wisdom suddenly makes a lot more sense in
this context.
Masks come off in the new game. Who is worthy?
And who is not worthy because they don't know peace,
don't want peace, and have no interest in true peace.
Only dominance.
Am I right?
The more innocent, the more honorable of the nit wits
have always been ready to support their own oppressors
to their last dying breath.
The mystery of political power and statesmanship reads
like a madman's diary. A mass murderer's secret
boastings.
They are like gladiators fighting any target that's
called out. Let's call them "honorable" though so as
not to offend them. Besides you can't deny they have
some kind of loyalty!
But to what???! That's the bug in the ointment.
Always ready to match sin for sin, crime for crime with
any "enemy" that gives them reason to ignore their own
standards.
You see that right?
If not, aren't you puzzled that you are somehow branded
as evil though your intentions are nothing but honorable, honest, and fair? Even for THEM?!!
But when you trust them, they think you are stupid and
the punishment soon follows. And if you don't trust
them, they wonder why?
Reboot, New Game, Masks come off. 40 Jubilees In
Arrears. Who is worthy?
So the poor are divided against the poor -- along any
convenient battle line. What is the MOST convenient?
Well, when the ignoratti and illiteratti and the &ss-
backward "patriots" have their noses rubbed in reality
(the broad daylight confessions of the CSA) the clammor
changes pitch, even if the lyrics stay approximately the
same.
So... The Game Plan.
The Republic
We are dealing with 1) the many-headed beast (also
mentioned by Socrates), 2) the lion and 3) the man.
It's probably in book 8 or maybe book 9. It's all worth
reading though... if you can. It's hard.
Comment #5: rainbowsally said on 1/22/06 @ 8:58am ET...
This is somewhat off topic but it's important and I don't know where else to post it that it might catch the eye of our representatives and those of us who are watching what they do with interest.
I tried the link to the 30-something-dems but the message bounced. So I'm tossing it in here.
------
We The People Can Play This Game Too. Let's Spy On Our Government.
Sweet Revenge #10 - Remind Congress To Call For Time On Midnight Express Votes
Find "midnight express" here.
thomas.loc.gov
Some of the 15-minute and 17-minute votes that were held open for an hour or more can't be verified in the House Record, probably because nobody thought to call for "time".
Assuming we ever get out of this mess, the House Record will be a paper trial worthy of making a required study in public schools.
This amaturish hack job the Democrats are doing id also part of the permanent record.
[No offense, John, but I have the Republican Revolution on 60 VCR tapes. There we can even see cute little grins on the faces of the end business as usual and
begin business as unusually usualcoalition. -rs]
Comment #6: point of order said on 1/26/06 @ 8:17am ET...
Cindy Sheehan weighs in on Former President Clinton,
"And about Bill Clinton . . . . You know, I really think he should have been impeached, but not for a blow job. His policies are responsible for killing more Iraqis that George Bush. I don't understand why to rise to the level of being president of my country one has to be a monster. I used to say that George Bush was defiling the Oval Office, but it's been held by a long line of monsters. We don't have to support our administrations to love our country. True patriots of my country dissent when our country's doing something so wrong."
http://www.counterpunch.org/sheehan01102006.html
