To Tell the Truth
Not so long ago, Republicans refused to require oil company executives to be sworn in before they testified to the senate. Do you remember what happened? They flat-out lied to congress and the people of the United States and faced no penalty for it.
Senate republicans learned from that experience alright, but not the way we would have hoped. Monday, over vehement objections from democrats, the republicans on the Judiciary Committee refused to have Attorney General Gonzales promise to tell the truth at their hearings on the illegal eavesdropping the administration has engaged in.
What possible reason could members of the United States Senate have for insisting that a witness be allowed give testimony without simply promising to tell the truth? Can it even be called testimony with no oath? Gonzales was there to answer questions vital to the national interest…yet he was not required to be honest about it. Are we supposed to just trust him, the way we trusted the president when he said that “anytime” the government uses a wiretap, they get a warrant? And will the senate grant this same freedom to fib to those who accuse the president of wrong-doing as they extend to those who defend him?
Does anyone think it’s ironic that the man who will probably be asked about why the President lied to the American people was able to potentially lie without penalty when he answered?
And why are senate republicans are so afraid of the truth?
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.