Dirty Laundry

Propaganda, from the White House? Really!? Now who would have thought that possible? Scott McClellan, one time White House press secretary, is the latest in a long string of Bush administration insiders to publicize in book form the dysfunction at the heart of the Bush inner circle. McClellan is scathing in his criticism of Bush and his top aides, in particular Condoleeza Rice, in spinning the country to war with Iraq. He also takes aim at a sycophantic and "too deferential" Washington press corps that was too quick to swallow all the bull being shoveled. While McClellan deserves some plaudits for finally coming clean, or at least beginning that process, he appears to be far too uncritical of his own complicity in propagandizing the American people. After all, for years he was the point man, the go-to-guy, the "Maytag Man" in the Bush spin team. Who can forget the seemingly endless press briefings from the White House, with McClellan standing there sweating like a bridegroom, torturing the English language in order to get his talking points spinned just right. I for one couldn't stand to listen to him for more than five minutes at a clip, so impenetrable was the dissembling.

While media coverage of McClellan's mea culpa (such as it is) has been rather significant, most of the attention has been of the tit-for-tat aspect, that is, the story has been about the "sensational" aspects of an insider coming out of the White House and criticizing the administration. Predictably, however, there has been very little additional discussion of the actual substance of McClellan's charges. This is perhaps not too surprising since a major focus of the criticism has been the media itself, so, major news outlets are not particularly keen on focusing a spotlight on their own substantial shortcomings.

However, the biggest aspect of the story that has been "missed" is that we knew all this stuff already! Essentially all of McClellan's charges have for years now been the focus of significant reporting from independent media outlets (like Democracy Now!) and the liberal blogosphere. In fact Karl Rove had the temerity to proclaim that McClellan now sounded like a "left wing blogger." Actually, that would be about right, since many such bloggers had long been documenting the propaganda campaign leading up to the war and beyond. However, if that's not "main stream" enough for you, then just consider that only a few weeks ago the "Paper of Record," published extensive reporting on the Pentagon and administration's use of retired Generals in an extensive propaganda campaign to support the Iraq war. Such propagandizing of the people by their government is of course illegal, but since when did the law ever trouble this crowd. But, you may not have been aware of that either, since this story has also been declared largely untouchable by the major outlets, for the same reason just mentioned above.

So, rather than entertaining right-wing talking heads to "debate" whether McClellan is right or not, or, in the case of Fox News, just arguing how he is wrong, the major media could simply do a little real reporting, like actually reading a newspaper, and they would find ample evidence to conclusively establish that the bulk of McClellan's charges are true. Oh, but that's right, the big media don't actually do any real reporting anymore, they just ask vacuous questions of equally vacuous pundits. Indeed, in a rare moment of candor on the Today show, three of the biggest (read, most overpaid) TV anchors recently absolved themselves of any blame as "enablers" of the Iraq war. See the post by Glenn Greenwald for a link to this rather astounding video and some insightful commentary on the complete abdication of journalistic integrity by these so-called media "heavy hitters."

Let Us Not Forget

It's hypocrisy time. Just as surely as the Sun rises and sets we can be sure that as Memorial Day approaches their will be a steady stream of political double-speak from our leaders claiming to support the troops and "honoring" their service. We can also be sure that the most egregious transgressions will come from the highest offices in the land.

Since Mr. Bush is urging all Americans to mark a moment of remembrance on Monday to honor fallen veterans, let's also take a moment to reflect on the recent past and vow to remember the following the next time this administration speaks about honoring the troops.

Let us not forget that almost 5 years ago Mr. Bush orchestrated an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq that has now claimed the lives of 4,080 US soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Let us not forget that this was the most heinous kind of war, a war of choice. A kind of war outlawed by the UN charter.

Let us not forget that the administration's twin pillars in the argument for war; alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and alleged Iraqi ties to the 9/11 attacks were both fabrications, unsupported by any solid evidence.

Let us not forget the "smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud."

Let us not forget "shock and awe," "mission accomplished," "we don't do body counts," and "bring 'em on."

Let us not forget that Mr. Bush never did complete his service commitment after being accepted in a "champagne unit" of the Texas Air National Guard. This enabled him to avoid the draft and likely service in Vietnam.

Let us not forget that Mr. Cheney had "other priorities," as he obtained five deferments from the draft, thus also avoiding service in Vietnam. Indeed, the number of right-wing chickenhawks is quite astonishing, particularly in that they seem to be more than willing to sacrifice other peoples kids. And for all your Memorial day gift giving, consider the deck of chickenhawk playing cards.

Let us not forget that after one disastrous war, Mr. Bush seems dead set on starting another one before he leaves office.

And, come November, let us not forget the Republican Party that has been in lock-step with this criminal administration every step of the way.