The Republican National Convention climaxes and concludes in Manhattan this evening with the nomination of George W. Bush for a second term as president of the United States. Inside the hall this week, speakers have commended Mr. Bush for bringing strength, purpose and dignity to the nation’s highest office. On the floor, delegates have marched and swayed, called and chanted on cue. The networks and the newspapers have reported it all with due solemnity.
August 30-September 2, 2004 may go down in history as America’s foremost case of mass delusion. The speakers and the delegates can – to some extent – be excused. They’re selected from among the most mindlessly partisan Republicans in America. But the media? They robotically report that Giuliani said this and Cheney said that, all the while feeling no apparent compunction to report that most of it is patently untrue. The crowd on the Knicks’ home court, and the reporters covering them, couldn’t be more divorced from reality if they were wearing tin foil on their heads, instead of Stetsons festooned with campaign pins.
Just this week, while the elephantine faithful have been whooping it up in Madison Square Garden, Army investigators have recommended that charges be brought against 26 soldiers for the abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan. The worst of the incidents left two prisoners dead; both men were beaten to death.
In Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, a hearing is convened to determine whether Private Lynndie England should face court-martial for her part in the Abu Ghraib torture. If she goes to trial and is convicted, she faces 38 years in the stockade. A report released last week on the Abu Ghraib torture sessions indicates as many as 48 soldiers may be charged in the scandal and even at that, it’s a whitewash.
Meanwhile, back at the Pentagon, it is revealed that the FBI has conducted a two-year investigation to determine if the neoconservative henchmen of Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith are maintaining illegal contacts with the Israeli government in an effort to phony up intelligence as a pretext for an pre-emptive war with Iran.
National news pundits, taking pains to avoid linking any of this to the confetti-covered conventioneers at the podium in New York, cluck their tongues and say it’s absurd to think Israel would spy on the U.S. when the two governments are already so close. Perhaps, but if American leaders deliberately look the other way, is it really spying? No member of Congress or mainstream media outlet is likely to breathe a critical word about Israel, no matter how tough things get for the Palestinians. No American president will be seen anytime soon along the Green Line yelling, “Mr. Sharon, tear down this wall!” Power corrupts in Jerusalem and in Washington and the corrupted powerful become arrogant, sloppy and reckless. Reckless arrogance is the link between the Israeli mole, the Abu Ghraib torturers, the Afghanistan murderers, the Iraq invasion and the whole Bush administration.
There it is, we’ve gotten to the bottom line, the moral of the story and we still haven’t finished the news of the week. We haven’t yet mentioned a report by Hollinger International that says Pentagon advisor Richard Perle took five and a half million dollars to shill for Conrad Black. We haven’t mentioned that two terrorism convictions in Detroit were thrown out because of improper conduct by the U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case and that said attorney is suing the Justice Department for interfering in said prosecution. Reckless arrogance all around.
The most reckless arrogance this week is inside the convention walls, where the warmongers pronounce John Kerry unfit to serve as commander-in-chief and question the courage he displayed in Vietnam. Mr. Kerry was awarded five medals for his courage under fire; his bravery is well-documented. Somehow, without a shred of evidence, Republicans are seeking to cover John Kerry’s record not with mud, but with shit – bullshit.
George Bush did not serve in Vietnam. His father obtained for him a plum’s billet in the Texas Air National Guard. No one disputes that. What else happened – or did not happen in Mr. Bush’s guard service is open to dispute, because the records have been destroyed.
On one hand, a full clear record of service and sacrifice. On the other, an incomplete record replete with shirking and nepotism. Distorting that simple truth is a monstrous act of arrogance and it’s compounded by those who let it happen.
Reckless Arrogance
The Republican National Convention climaxes and concludes in Manhattan this evening with the nomination of George W. Bush for a second term as president of the United States. Inside the hall this week, speakers have commended Mr. Bush for bringing strength, purpose and dignity to the nation’s highest office. On the floor, delegates have marched and swayed, called and chanted on cue. The networks and the newspapers have reported it all with due solemnity.
August 30-September 2, 2004 may go down in history as America’s foremost case of mass delusion. The speakers and the delegates can – to some extent – be excused. They’re selected from among the most mindlessly partisan Republicans in America. But the media? They robotically report that Giuliani said this and Cheney said that, all the while feeling no apparent compunction to report that most of it is patently untrue. The crowd on the Knicks’ home court, and the reporters covering them, couldn’t be more divorced from reality if they were wearing tin foil on their heads, instead of Stetsons festooned with campaign pins.
Just this week, while the elephantine faithful have been whooping it up in Madison Square Garden, Army investigators have recommended that charges be brought against 26 soldiers for the abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan. The worst of the incidents left two prisoners dead; both men were beaten to death.
In Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, a hearing is convened to determine whether Private Lynndie England should face court-martial for her part in the Abu Ghraib torture. If she goes to trial and is convicted, she faces 38 years in the stockade. A report released last week on the Abu Ghraib torture sessions indicates as many as 48 soldiers may be charged in the scandal and even at that, it’s a whitewash.
Meanwhile, back at the Pentagon, it is revealed that the FBI has conducted a two-year investigation to determine if the neoconservative henchmen of Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith are maintaining illegal contacts with the Israeli government in an effort to phony up intelligence as a pretext for an pre-emptive war with Iran.
National news pundits, taking pains to avoid linking any of this to the confetti-covered conventioneers at the podium in New York, cluck their tongues and say it’s absurd to think Israel would spy on the U.S. when the two governments are already so close. Perhaps, but if American leaders deliberately look the other way, is it really spying? No member of Congress or mainstream media outlet is likely to breathe a critical word about Israel, no matter how tough things get for the Palestinians. No American president will be seen anytime soon along the Green Line yelling, “Mr. Sharon, tear down this wall!” Power corrupts in Jerusalem and in Washington and the corrupted powerful become arrogant, sloppy and reckless. Reckless arrogance is the link between the Israeli mole, the Abu Ghraib torturers, the Afghanistan murderers, the Iraq invasion and the whole Bush administration.
There it is, we’ve gotten to the bottom line, the moral of the story and we still haven’t finished the news of the week. We haven’t yet mentioned a report by Hollinger International that says Pentagon advisor Richard Perle took five and a half million dollars to shill for Conrad Black. We haven’t mentioned that two terrorism convictions in Detroit were thrown out because of improper conduct by the U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case and that said attorney is suing the Justice Department for interfering in said prosecution. Reckless arrogance all around.
The most reckless arrogance this week is inside the convention walls, where the warmongers pronounce John Kerry unfit to serve as commander-in-chief and question the courage he displayed in Vietnam. Mr. Kerry was awarded five medals for his courage under fire; his bravery is well-documented. Somehow, without a shred of evidence, Republicans are seeking to cover John Kerry’s record not with mud, but with shit – bullshit.
George Bush did not serve in Vietnam. His father obtained for him a plum’s billet in the Texas Air National Guard. No one disputes that. What else happened – or did not happen in Mr. Bush’s guard service is open to dispute, because the records have been destroyed.
On one hand, a full clear record of service and sacrifice. On the other, an incomplete record replete with shirking and nepotism. Distorting that simple truth is a monstrous act of arrogance and it’s compounded by those who let it happen.
(c) Mark Floegel, 2004