Today is the fourth anniversary of the "Mission Accomplished" speech by the Commander in Chief following his fighter jet landing on the USS Lincoln, way out there on the Pacific Ocean (uh, actually in the bay right next to San Diego -- just one of many staged illusions). The beginning of the end of innocence of even those enamored of the Noble Global War on Terror. Four years ago.
Keith Olbermann tonight did an excellent feature on the inconsistency of the statements on the "progress" of the war since then and concluded quite logically that we always seem to have made enough progress to warrant our staying the course, by whatever name you call it, but never enough to justify our coming home.
Visited friends Keith and Mary Ann in northern Indiana this weekend. One thing we always enjoy talking about is politics, at least in the misery-loves-company-enough-to- have-a-good-laugh-before-we-break-down-and-cry sort of way. I introduced them to the Stephen Colbert roast of the Commander in Chief (which, although the Washington press corps concluded it "fell flat," was popular enough with opponents that there have been over 4 million hits of it online). And they showed me an interview of Jon Stewart by Bill Moyers they'd taped.
I want to share some of that with folks. I guess I understood what was happening when Alberto Gonzales gave his disgraceful testimony before the Senate committee but Jon is brilliant and incisive in a way that I will never come close to being and I appreciate it when he cuts through the PR and BS and reveals to me what is going on.
From the Moyers-Stewart transcript:
JON: For instance, Alberto Gonzales, and you've been watching the hearings. He is either a perjurer, or a low-functioning pinhead. And he allowed himself to be portrayed in those hearings as a low-functioning pinhead, rather than give the Congressional Committee charged with oversight, any information as to his decision-making process at the Department of Justice.
And I used to think, "They're doing this based on a certain arrogance." And now, I realize that it's because they believe there is one accountability moment for a President, and that is the four year election. And once you get that election, you're done.
MOYERS: They're right, are they not?
STEWART: They're completely not right. The election moment is merely the American public saying, "We'd rather you be President than that guy." That's it. The next four years, though, you still have to abide by the oversight process that is there to prevent this kind of bizarre sort of cult-like atmosphere that falls along. I mean, I accept that kind of veil of secrecy around Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, but I don't accept that around our government.
BILL MOYERS: Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of words were written about Gonzales' testimony last week in Congress. And I still don't think a lot of people get it. And all of the sudden, there on THE DAILY SHOW that evening, you distilled the essence of it.
CLIP: THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
JON STEWART: So there it was today, the big fight. Gonzalez v Senate. Are you ready to bumble!
SENATOR: Who's [whose] idea was this?
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: Senator, I don't recall specifically
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: I don't recall the-the contents.
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: Senator, I have no recollection.
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: I-I don't have any recollection.
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: I have searched my memory.
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: I don't recall remembering…
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: Senator, I can only testify as to what I recall.
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: Senator, I don't recall…
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: I don't recall…
ALBERTO GONZALEZ: I firmly believe that nothing improper occurred.
JON STEWART: After weeks of mock testimony, there you have it, Alberto Gonzales does not know what happened, but he assures you what he doesn't remember was handled properly.
END CLIP: THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
JON STEWART: And by the way, that was all just — that was a game, and he knew it, and the guys on the committee knew it. And for the President to come out after that and say, "Everything I saw there gave me more confidence in him," that solidified my notion that, "Oh, it's because what he expected of Gonzalez was" it's sort of like, do you remember in GOODFELLAS? When Henry Hill got arrested for the first time and Robert DeNiro met him at the courthouse and Henry Hill was really upset, 'cause he thought Robert DeNiro would be really mad at him. And DeNiro comes up to him and he gives him a $100 and he goes, "You got pinched. We all get pinched, but you did it right, you didn't say nothing."
BILL MOYERS: Gonzales said nothing.
JON STEWART: Right. And "you went up there and said nothing. You gave them no legal recourse against you, and you made yourself, a smart man, a self-made man, look like an utter pinhead on national television, and you did it for me."
[My italics.]
Get it? Get the contempt? The utter contempt that this gang -- this cult, indeed -- these WISE GUYS!!! have for us the people?
An old saying: "There is honor among thieves." "Honor" meaning they have loyalty to one another: they don't rat one another out. And these particular thieves run this country; they rob us blind and we have no power to resist it.
Yet.
Deliver us, O Lord.
2 comments:
You have to see "Tsotsi."
Saw it tonight. Quite moving. I've always liked stories in which the main character changes his or her ways. Thanks for the recommend. Oh, and the music was great. I love that African choir harmony.
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