Poignant Excerpts from Alterman

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-24-2003
Poignant Excerpts from Alterman
Tue, 10-05-2004 - 4:44pm
• October 5, 2004 | 2:42 PM ET

Eric is still on the road, discussing the finest book he has yet produced, When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and its Consequences.

When Presidents Prevaricate

What would the title be if Eric had hired John Kerry's consultants?  "When Presidents Mislead?"  How about if Eric worked for CNN?  "When Presidents Claim (and What the Other Side Claims in Reply)."  The title When Presidents Lie reminds us that presidents often lie about very serious matters and that we have a right and a duty to call them on it.  It seems that our political culture has become so paralyzed with fear of offense against those in power that we can't find anyone significant calling a lie a lie.  Telling lies yields no repercussions these days.  But calling a lie a lie is somehow deemed too risky.

Some journalistic outlets this week have not let Bush get away with his latest lie: Claiming that Kerry said he would submit to the wishes of foreign leaders before initiating military action to defend the United States.  In fact, as we read in a few places (and saw live on television last week) Kerry pledged just the opposite of what Bush is saying he said.  Bush's accusation is a baldfaced lie.  There.  I said it.  See, nothing bad happened to me.  Go ahead.  Try it for yourself.

Yet this morning on NPR's Morning Edition, even Juan Williams bowed to the creeping laziness and conservativeness of NPR management and repeated Bush's accusation as if it were fact.  "He talked about getting global consent for America to take preemptive action," Williams said of Kerry.  The anchor, Renee Montaigne, said nothing to correct Williams.  Don't they watch the debates or read the newspaper at NPR?  Why don't we help them.  Clearly, folks at NPR are overworked and understaffed.  So here is their correction policy.  Everybody click on this NPR Corrections mail link and tell NPR's editors they need to correct Williams' error.

More Laziness and Carelessness

Were you impressed by all those media outlets doing "fact checking" of both candidates' statements just after the debate last week?  Neither was I.  The only thing they could get Kerry on was that he includes money planned for Iraq as part of the $200 billion cost of the war.  Of course, Kerry's estimate is debatably accurate.  But they had to say something against him.  So what the heck.

The fact checkers got Bush on a bunch of little lies (although no one called them lies).  But they all missed a doozy.  In the debate, Bush said, "We busted the A.Q. Khan network. This was a proliferator out of Pakistan that was selling secrets to places like North Korea and Libya."  And later, he said, "The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice."

This is a lie.  There.  I said it again.

A. Q. Khan is sitting in comfort, considered a national hero and a friend of the corrupt and brutal dictator of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf (you might remember Musharraf as one of the global leaders Bush could not name last time he ran for president).  In fact, Musharaff officially pardoned Khan!  Not only is Khan suffering not at all for endangering you, me, and the entire world, Musharraf has not allowed U.S. intelligence officials or U.N. weapons inspectors to interrogate him.

The failures of the Bush administration are many, perhaps uncountable.  But 10 years from now, Bush's failure to interrogate or prosecute A. Q. Khan could be the most serious and dangerous of all.  I sincerely hope I am wrong about this.

What about Poland?

Meanwhile, remember how insistent Bush was that Kerry include mighty Poland as an active member of this bogus alliance helping out in Iraq?  Well, Poland no longer wants in.  Sorry, George.  Time to practice pronouncing other leaders' names.

The Veep Show

If Dick Cheney thinks attacking plaintiffs' attorneys is a good move to use on John Edwards tonight, he is sadly mistaken.  Edwards can just challenge Cheney to cite any case he handled that Cheney would disagree with.  Cheney can't.  Edwards spent his life protecting the victims of negligence from the impersonal machinations of faceless corporations.  Trial lawyers are the only instruments of justice for the working class in South, where unions are weak or absent.  Besides, the Republican candidate for Senate in Florida is one of those slimy trial lawyers, right Dick?  Cheney is the failed CEO of a faceless corporation, Halliburton, that is now sucking away our tax money and making Cheney even richer.  Go ahead, Dick.  Let's talk about the private sector.  I dare you.

What Conservative Media?

Why does George Bush hate veterans?  Is he jealous of their bravery in the face of his cowardice?  Is he ashamed of their selflessness in the face of his self-indulgence?  Whatever the reason, his vicious lying about brave and decorated men like John Kerry, Max Cleland, and John McCain is well documented (if widely ignored).  Now we find that reporters are finally getting around to documenting how badly the Bush administration is treating all veterans from all recent wars.  How can anyone from a military family give this guy the time of day?  It's shameful how he treats those in uniform.

If we had real liberal media, we would have seen such stories about Bush's mistreatment and disrespect for our soldiers two years ago.  The liberal media would have been aching to score hits on the hypocrisy of the fraud in a flight suit we have to call our president.

If we had real conservative media, we would have seen the brutal, realistic honesty that serious conservatives have been offering for centuries.  But we don't even have that.  Instead, we have shallow, sloppy, untrained hacks like the entire staff of Fox News.  In case you missed Atrios this week, the Fox staff actually took a spoof group called Communists for Kerry seriously.  And this was just after Fox chief political correspondent Carl Cameron was "brought to justice" (wink, wink, Pakistani style) for making up some crap about Kerry claiming to be a Metrosexual.

I wish we had a real conservative news channel (besides CNN and NPR, of course).  It would at least be interesting and responsible.  The few, remaining honest, bold, and independent conservatives are a brave lot.  And they will remain endangered for some time.  Sadly, McCain and Colin Powell are no longer among them, having been broken by Karl Rove's machine.  America deserves honesty and diversity in its political discussion.  All we get is bickering, bantering, and bowing to pressure.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/