No, these -and the many other deceptions told to the American people and to Congress""are indications of a larger truth. It's not just the lies. It's that this president and his people are liars. They have lied repeatedly and chronically and about the most vital of matters, even matters of war and peace, life and death.
It's not just that the president willfully and secretly violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the constitutionally-protected rights of American citizens against warrantless searches. It's not just that the president leaked classified information -and that in a highly selective and distorted fashion""without following the established rules, and for purposes of political advantage. It's not just that the administration practiced torture, in violation of the law of the land. It's not just that the administration has put forward outrageous arguments usurping the constitutional powers of the other branches of government to create an unchecked, tyrannical presidency.
No, these -and the many other instances of the violation of law and Constitution and treaty and tradition --are indications of a larger truth. It's not just the specific violations of laws. It's that this president and his people are criminals. They have shown contempt for the sacred American principle that we are a nation of laws, not of men. They have run rough-shod over those structures -those sets of laws and rules""that our Founders and generations since have erected to govern how power is wielded by the most powerful people in the country.
Similar sets of widely known facts -from the multiplicity of scandals""can be assembled and simplified into other major conclusions, such as:
These are the intermediate conclusions to which the facts of the many individual scandals point.
The first stage could consist of connecting the well-known scandals to these larger conclusions (perhaps starting with the idea that this regime is a bunch of liars). And by election day in November, if these various elements have been established -that they are lying, self-aggrandizing, law-breaking, arrogant, destructive, irresponsible""it will be time to name the one big elephant in the room: that this Bushite regime (in the White House, and on Capitol Hill) is the most morally bankrupt ruling force America has ever endured.
The issue here is not liberal versus conservative. It's moral versus immoral.
Fielding the Inevitable Questions
If the Democrats do in fact take the field for this year's campaign to tell Americans the Big Scandal about this Bushite regime, several questions or challenges to them can be anticipated. It would be good to have suitable answers ready.
Here are some of those questions, and the corresponding answers that might be given.
The best answer to this question involves some confessional honesty. Such honesty would be a refreshing change from the political atmosphere created by the Bushites, and might even be rewarded.
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It's not just that the president willfully and secretly violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the constitutionally-protected rights of American citizens against warrantless searches. It's not just that the president leaked classified information -and that in a highly selective and distorted fashion""without following the established rules, and for purposes of political advantage. It's not just that the administration practiced torture, in violation of the law of the land. It's not just that the administration has put forward outrageous arguments usurping the constitutional powers of the other branches of government to create an unchecked, tyrannical presidency.
No, these -and the many other instances of the violation of law and Constitution and treaty and tradition --are indications of a larger truth. It's not just the specific violations of laws. It's that this president and his people are criminals. They have shown contempt for the sacred American principle that we are a nation of laws, not of men. They have run rough-shod over those structures -those sets of laws and rules""that our Founders and generations since have erected to govern how power is wielded by the most powerful people in the country.
Similar sets of widely known facts -from the multiplicity of scandals""can be assembled and simplified into other major conclusions, such as:
· The administration, and the Republican Congress, have been willing to serve the mighty and the rich at the expense of the average American and of future generations, and corrupted the political process to serve greed and the lust for power.
· The Bush administration has refused to take responsibility, or to hold its members accountable, and the Republican Congress has abetted the lies, the evasions of responsibility, and the law-breaking of the administration.
· The Bushite regime has deliberately sown division -waging unnecessary war abroad, turning groups of American against each other""just to expand its power and achieve political advantage.
· This regime has shown an arrogance that has led the nation into disasters, both at home and abroad, because of its reckless assumption that it knows all it needs to know, and its wanton disregard of good counsel and information that doesn't suit its assumptions and desires.
The first stage could consist of connecting the well-known scandals to these larger conclusions (perhaps starting with the idea that this regime is a bunch of liars). And by election day in November, if these various elements have been established -that they are lying, self-aggrandizing, law-breaking, arrogant, destructive, irresponsible""it will be time to name the one big elephant in the room: that this Bushite regime (in the White House, and on Capitol Hill) is the most morally bankrupt ruling force America has ever endured.
The issue here is not liberal versus conservative. It's moral versus immoral.
Fielding the Inevitable Questions
If the Democrats do in fact take the field for this year's campaign to tell Americans the Big Scandal about this Bushite regime, several questions or challenges to them can be anticipated. It would be good to have suitable answers ready.
Here are some of those questions, and the corresponding answers that might be given.
Q: If this regime is as bad as you say, and if the evidence goes back as far as you're citing, so how come you Democrats didn't tell the American people about all this sooner?
The best answer to this question involves some confessional honesty. Such honesty would be a refreshing change from the political atmosphere created by the Bushites, and might even be rewarded.
A: As with the American people themselves, the Democrats might say, some of us saw what was happening sooner, and others of us took longer to recognize just how dangerous this group is. Also, some of us have been brave, and others of us have not. Profiles in Courage are known to be rare""among politicians as well as elsewhere; people hesitate to risk their jobs by stating a truth for which they might be punished. And in recent times, we've been operating in a political environment in which the liars have been very effective at punishing the truth-tellers.
It's now up to the American people whether that's changed now or not, i.e. whether the truth -even an unhappy truth""will defeat the lie.
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Q: You criticize the administration's handling of Iraq. But do you Democrats have any better plan for how to deal with that mess?
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