Character Assasination
It seems to me that it is the refuge of a desperate defense and a weak character to blame the victim. This is what we see happening now with the Bush administration’s sudden attacks on the character of Joseph Wilson, the man whose wife was recently “outed” as a CIA agent, perhaps by the Bush administration itself.
When the story broke there was immediate hue and cry by the democrats, who, scenting blood, called for a special prosecutor. After the debacle of the Ken Starr investigations (which left us all in need of a shower) I’m not sure that a special prosecutor is the way to go- except that the administration’s assurances that Ashcroft and Justice will be thorough and impartial make me laugh til I cry. If they’re going to handle this so thoroughly, why did the swift hand of Justice wait until Wednesday to order administration staffers to preserve any and all documents they might need for the investigation? Isn’ that usually the first thing you do? Even a person less cynical than me could be forgiven for thinking that Ashcroft got the word that the White House staff was done with the paper shredders by then and so the coast was clear.
As soon as that little detail was taken care of, the White House began phoning Republicans and encourageing them to agressively portray former ambassador Wilson as a partisan flake with an agenda.
I certainly don’t know if he is or isn’t, but I find it totally irrelevant at this point. It’s like saying that the man is an alcoholic or has 11 toes: does that somehow make him wrong? does it mean that his wife couldn’t have been deliberately exposed to punish him for speaking against the administration? Of course not. It’s like an accused rapist saying, “Your honor, this woman went home with the boss after the last Christmas party.” It’s a stupid, callow and craven attack on the person’s character, because even if it’s true, it’s irrelevant to the issue at hand!
Fortunately for us, such irrelevant character attacks are no longer permitted in a court of law. Sadly, in the court of public opinion, they go on all the time. A lot of people in this world are stupid and shallow enough to believe that if the man is a flake (and we’ve yet to see proof that he is) then George and Company must be innocent.
If they are, in fact, innocent, one assumes a Justice Depatrtment probe will show this.( Actually, some of us suspect that a probe by the Justice Department will show this even if they’re guilty, but we’re jaded by past bad acts, which are not permissible in court your honor.) As the police are so fond of saying on television: if you’re innocent, then you’ve got nothing to hide, do you? So why all the resistance to an investigation and the “slime and defend” approach, as one Republican called it?
Personally I suspect a delay tactic. The puppetmaster (Cheney) is probably trying to line up the right sacrifical lamb to fall on his sword over this one, like Tenet took the heat over Bush using intelligence about Iraq that had long-since been proven false.
Believe it or not, it gives me little pleasure to see that George Bush’s presidential boat is taking on water. After all, we’re all in the dang boat with him, (and I have a suspicion that we have big old bullseye’s painted on our backs!)
A recent poll shows that more than half of the country still think Bush is more honest than most people (Good Lord, what rock do they live under?) and that Sadaam planned 9/11 and we have found WOMD in Iraq and are more safe from terrorism since Bush took office (and that the Easter Bunny brings candy for good little boys and girls)The man, unless he’s caught driving drunk again, will probably be re-elected. Lord help us all then, because I don’t know if the world can survive 4 more years of Bush foreign policy.
On a side note- speaking of the gullible electorate, I see der Ahnold made a mea culpa and said that he has made some mistakes in the past, but he’s a changed man. Those little “playful incidents” that were “a bit hurtful” were all long ago, and he’s reformed, and he really values and respects women as equals now. Cross his heart and hope to die.
I do believe that it is possible for people to leave the folly of their youths behind, and I wouldn’t want to be judged today by my behavior at age 20 (although I never grabbed anyone’s ass, or drove drunk) However, the last alleged case of sexual harassment by Arnold the Swarz was not 20 years ago, but 3. Not exactly ancient history, and not proven. But we’re supposed to believe that yesterday he had a bolt-from-the-blue conversion and will keep his hands to himself from here on.
The man as governor may make Jessie Ventura look like a model statesman! God help California, too.
Tracy Meisky is a poet, writer, singer, songwriter and all-around boat rocker from way back. Feel free to look around, but if you break it, you bought it.
I agree with you wholeheartedly on this. Shame on the graverobbers. But you realize,of course, that this is the same country (U.S. of A.) which shot buffaloes for fun, and took Indian children off their reservations and away from their families and dressed them up in the superior white man’s clothing and sent them to school. And while we are at it, why were there no environmentalists present when the hills of the Dakotas were desecrated by the scuplting of faces? And please, do not forget the trail of tears….