What REALLY infuriates me about the Niger lies.

George W. Bush claimed, "I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services."

Now, hypothetically, if I go publish a dissertation or a report containing data that is at best questionable, and at worst a forgery, it doesn't matter if the paper was cleared by my professor or editor. I'm the one that's going to take the fall. Not being aware the data is bogus is no excuse either, because verification is simple common sense. My reputation and career would be ruined, and deservedly so. Yet our sorry excuse for a president and human being basically says, "Well they said it was OK," and walks away. Case closed.

How dare he?! What nerve that bottom feeding trust fund baby has to pawn off the responsibility for his actions! As if the little tyrant didn’t know (bullshit, he didn’t), so that makes it ok. Every day of my life, I'm told “Ignorance in no excuse,” that I have to take responsibility for my actions. We, the common people, are consistently held to the highest public moral standard on the job, the street, or increasingly, in our own homes. When we screw up, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the penalties are often quite severe. We are pounced upon by the academic, corporate and judicial authorities of the elite, who frequently seek to enact the stiffest possible penalties for our crimes against society.

Witness the case of Jayson Blair, "A troubled black journalist whose overweening ambition, fueled by the politics of race and inflamed by substance abuse, led him to lie and mislead the public in story after story, singeing the reputation of the hallowed New York Times—quite a tale!"

http://www2.observer.com/observer/pages/frontpage6.asp

What Blair did was wrong, and he should have been fired, but I've been growing more than a bit disgusted with the media coverage that has been holding him as some kind of pariah in a sea of untainted honest journalism. I recently caught part of a program on C-SPAN in which a group of our esteemed press corps, under the guise addressing problems facing journalism today, basically roasted the guy. It wasn’t the Hugh Hefner kind of roast either. Speaker after speaker continually made him out to be all that was wrong with the profession. Did anyone else catch this? The program made me so nauseous I had to turn it off.

The differences between the Jayson Blair and George W. Bush cases illustrate what to me is a fundamental (no pun intended) problem in our society: that is the double standard which certain individuals, particularly wealthy public figures on the right, continually live and prosper under. Blair was really nothing more than just your average everyday reporter, a working slob like most of us, trying to get by and not doing a particularly good job at it. He wasn’t fortunate enough to be born into wealth, well-connected, or (son of) the President of the United of the United States of America, as 99% of us weren’t. Yet ignorance is no excuse for Jayson, for me, or for you.

The presumptuous arrogance of George W. Bush, in claiming ignorance then walking away without taking any responsibility whatsoever for misleading the American public into supporting a war that has left thousands dead, absolutely infuriates me. As a head of state, especially a state that wields so much destructive power as the United States, ignorance should be no excuse for him. If Bush knew the statements were false then he lied to the nation and should be impeached. If he was ignorant to the dubiousness of intel as he claims, then he is simply unfit to be President and should also be impeached. Case closed.

In layman’s terms, George W. Bush should be fired, but sadly it looks like he’s going to get away with another warning. This man has never taken responsibility for a single action in his life, yet he walks away from every mess he makes smelling of roses. His arrogance knows no bounds, and the past week it has reached stupefying new heights.

When Bill Clinton was getting impeached for lying about a blowjob, all the right wing cried about was what a bad example of responsibility he was setting for our children. Now Bush shirks off responsibility for lies that are still getting my peers killed, and all I hear from the right is crickets.

It is a collective arrogance on the part of this amoral majority, a hypocritical corporate mentality of leaving the smoking gun in a lackey’s hands and walking off, personified in one George W. Bush. What kind of example does this set for our children? Ignorance won’t be an excuse for them, it’s not an excuse for me or Jayson Blair, and it shouldn’t be an excuse for Bush or anyone else.

If we as citizens are to be held to a higher standard, one that leaders of our country apparently can’t meet, maybe we should be the ones running the show. Wait... That kind of thing only happens in a democracy.

:mad:

Jay

This is the same game that set off the new rule forcing CEO's to sign their financial papers. They used to claim (still do) they didn't know what was going on. If the head of the company doesn't know what is going on then they should not be the head of the company.

Where is Kenny boy, anyway?

I'm still in awe of the lack of accountability on the part of our leaders. The next time someone tells me ignorance is no excuse, I think I'll say "But it was for Bush."

HE gave the speech, and it was written and vettd by HIS inner circle of PNAC and Heritage Foundation hacks.

And it wasn't just any speech, it was SOTU, intended in the Constitution to be an advice to Congress but used by all Presidents to advance their agendas.

And it was filled with phony reasons why we should go to war. Again.

This sociopathic putz who couldn't wipe his ass on is own, much less win elective office, has never in his entire life had to accept responsibility for anything, and can't, or won't, start now.

That SOTU was a disgrace for many reasons, and everything in it, admittedly even the miniscule decent parts, is his responsibility, and his alone. Throwing the blame at an outsider, and a Clinton holdover at that, is one of the most cynical acts of a repulsive administration.

I never, even in my darkest nightmares, ever thought I would feel nostalgia for the days of Reagan. I don't feel much nostalgia, mind you, but Helen Thomas was right-- this is the worst President in our history. And he may be even worse than she thought at the time.

I threw a shoe at the TV. Several actually. The next day I took off from work to go march in the rain with 2000+ people in New York City.

If Kenny Boy had walked into a bank and stolen the money from his employees, he'd already be in jail.

If Bush had not been Bush, he'd have faced charges for being AWOL.

If Cheney were an every day person, he'd be in rehab or sitting his ass in jail for his DUIs.

I'm sick of the double standard of justice. If repukes oppose affirmative action, then that should apply to rich and powerful fucks as well as some kid trying to get an education.

ranks up there with "let them eat cake" on the arrogance meter.

It's well written. And yes, you've hit upon the crux of the issue, and one of the defining qualities of this admin. and these types of people who are currently in charge...

Welcome to DU. You are exactly right.

and welcome to America here at DU :hi: