"What was in the minds of the president and his political advisers?"

Village Voice
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0549,schanberg,70697,6.html

How Do They Deceive You?
Let me count the lies—the building blocks of Bush's 'democracy'

by Sydney H. Schanberg
December 6th, 2005 11:37 AM

Every time I try to wrap my mind around President Bush's Iraq war and his associated war against the press, I come back to the lies the president and his courtiers have endlessly told. And to how they conned and cowed much of the press into being their early accomplices.
Those offended by the jolt of the word "lies" can substitute a gentler synonym, such as "fictions" or "frauds" or "breaches of the national trust."

The lies haven't stopped. Vice President Dick Cheney lately accuses the "reprehensible" Democrats in Congress of twisting history when they point to the flagrant disinformation campaign that got us into the war. He is saying, in effect, that telling the truth about a lie-based presidency comforts the enemy and makes you a bad American. That might be so if anyone were revealing national-security secrets. But these senators and representatives whom the vice president would crush are merely—and very belatedly—calling attention to the untruths sown by his own tribe to concoct a war.

The press too was slow to question and reveal the lies. Most of America was slow. People were still in shock over the 9-11 terrorist attacks and didn't want to believe that their president would mislead them into the wrong war. The press, like many other Americans, was temporarily intimidated.

What was in the minds of the president and his political advisers? Many of them (who had never seen battle) seem to have believed that 9-11 was the opportunity they had been hoping for since the 1991 Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein, though defeated, was left in power by the first President Bush. But how did they imagine they could, by force of arms, create a world empire on a foundation of distortions and lies about a "grave and gathering danger" from Iraq? Maybe someday they'll give us a halfway credible insight into what they were thinking.

There certainly don't seem to be many downsides to the practice, particularly if you pick a pious moron like Bush to take the fall and then pardon everyone.

Look at the illegal redistricting of Texas. Only NOW does anybody say it was illegal, but what's going to be done about it? Nothing. The job is done.

The illegal Iraqi invasion. Oh, we lied about the WMDs and so many other things.... No, we're NOT sorry, why do you ask? We're there now and the oil companies made billions! You don't like it? You miss your dead family members? Fuck you!

No, we don't think it's illegal to pay newscasters here and abroad to tout our opinions. It's a free country and we can bribe anybody we like. You got time to take us to court over this one? Besides, our Congressional Ethics Committee is so busy that they haven't found the time to open a SINGLE case in the past 12 months....

The gutting of FEMA and the Park Services and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the State Department was a master coup! What do you mean it's not ethical to replace all the managers with politically screened employees? Not even legal? Really.... Again, you got time to prove that in court?

Torture isn't legal? Really? What a shame, see if we care. We did punish the "few bad apples" though.

What? You find our security negligent to the point of criminality? Coverups? Will someone please shut that Sybil woman up? There, all quiet. Isn't that much better now? No problems here!

Oh, look, we cheated during the elections! Whatcha going to do about it? What? I can't hear you because Katie Couric is talking too loudly about her new denture cleaner.

RANT: Why do I think Katie is a dumb bitch?

Because this morning, on the boob tube, in response to the 9% rise in cost (in the past year!) of all the gifts in the Partridge in a Pear Tree song, Katie Couric says, all cheerfully, something like this: "Well, at least the good news is that the cost of employing the Lords A-Leaping and Maids A-Milking has not gone up."

You stupid, stupid bitch! Do you even realize what the hell you're saying?
:grr:

On edit: It has come to my attention Katie, that I might be wrong (again) and that you may just might be very clever! I certainly hope so! (thanks, papua)

only way to point out that wages have not risen.

It takes a little getting used to - she has a winning smile that she uses to cover up the sarcasm -

But I have watched her for many many years and come to the conclusion she is perhaps the only GE hire beside KO that even tries for truth.

Brian Williams, Tweety, or Tim Russert is a much better choice for a rant about insensitive, lying by telling partial truth, owned by the GOP and rich, PR reading, media whores - IMHO. Indeed her co-host Matt and most of the GE/NBC reporters deserve a daily rant IMHO

:-)

I don't watch TV except for sitcoms and "reality" shows (no cable *sigh*) so I don't know her - I do know, though, that her face is everywhere and she has a very big smile! So I would LOVE to believe she's on the ball and I will laud her graces all over the place if this is so. Thanks for the hopeful news!

may be moving to CBS:shrug:

... and well said. Nominated. :)
Or I should say, thread nominated.