Well, well, well. Scott McClellan has written a book telling the American people what was already known, but many didn't want to admit. Our citizenry is basically fantastic, but gullible to the point of refusing to believe the truth until human cost supersedes belief. Thus far the human cost is nearly 4500 American dead in Afghanistan/Iraq, thousands of casualties and even more experiencing the horrific effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Over 107 active duty personnel committed suicide in 2007 and discharged Vets are taking their lives to the number of 150 weekly. There is no way to calculate the human grief families experience, but we all know the feeling. The damage done to our national psyche is incalculable, but living out the darkness again seems to be nearing.
Why do Americans allow a substandard candidate such as George W. Bush Jr. become President of the United States? His history indicated a silver spoon youth who flaunted responsibility and depended upon his father to bail him out of trouble repeatedly. Bush influence granted him access to the Texas Air National Guard 3 days after college graduation in lieu of being drafted though the waiting list was 18 months long. Later he was given a direct commission and allowed into flight training again being unqualified for the first and woefully for the second. Bush and his handlers have attempted to blur this man's fall from grace during the Guard period, but facts do exist. George Bush Jr. was removed from flight duty for failing to obey orders to take a flight physical and other reasons. Any flight duty removal immediately necessitates a board review composed of field officers who then document the exact reasons for this action. This document was never brought up by the press who either never knew or chose not to ask. Bush was aware of this and kept very quiet emphasizing only his discharge.
He also never admitted violating a signed contract and two other documents when he agreed to seek out a Reserve or Guard unit in Massachusetts after being accepted in Harvard Business School and discharge from the Texas Air National Guard. He simply failed to do this without fear from the FBI who regularly investigated and detained deserters. He has no reason to fear since his father was a US Representative and being a silver spoon youth. Bush simply chose his life path as he saw fit and never worried about the consequences.
His business experience is inconsequential since he followed the same routine of irregularity and authority deviation. Dependence upon his Father and George Sr.'s friends for both business advancement as well as to extricate him from delicate situations became a trademark. One business after another failed and in one situation he used his situation to make a stock market killing. Problem was he as on the board and specifically a budget committee which knew the financial status of the the corporate stock. Nevertheless, Bush dumped the stock, made a mint and was later investigated by the SEC. The SEC never really dropped the investigation, but Bush would claim, erroneously, it had been.
His wild days of college and the Guard were punctuated by stories of alleged drug abuse, alcoholic stupor and debauchery. Bush, in one account, allegedly impregnated a girl and then drove her to a Houston hospital for an abortion. Larry Flynt, renown Penthouse publisher, apparently tracked down the woman, now married to an FBI agent, but she refused to talk for fear of his husband's future. It was this type of fear Bush and his protective friends depended on to stymy any criticism whether valid or not. Another reaction was to simply attack the credibility of anyone who dared uttered a disdainful statement, but that didn't always work.
Bush was elected Texas governor and quickly embroiled himself in scandal of major proportions involving a funeral home corporation. He immediately ever meeting with any corporate officials, but others quickly corroborated seeing officers in Bush's office. The scandal didn't really follow him like Whitewater did the Clintons, but the stain remained. It was there for anyone to see and a responsible press could quickly bring up credibility questions.
Americans want to quickly forget any discrediting episode and have a tendency to positively reinforce their position. The Nixon deal is an ideal example of this since he was a law flaunter of major proportions before and during his presidency. Bush Jr. has shown a tendency not only to skirt the law, but to openly advertise the fact he has down so. Congress will not hold him accountable, but history will long after he is gone. He can't hid his record forever nor transfer records to a safe have as he did his Texas governor papers to his father's presidential library. Eventually, a lawsuit forced Bush to relinquish these to the State of Texas and archivists are busy cataloging the documents. This President has a tendency to believe what he wants, as McClellan points out, and then justify his position at that moment regardless of recorded facts. The honesty of it is fleeting, but his doesn't seem to bother the Bush administration.
The Iraqi War is stocked with pre-war propaganda and mistruths. Bush will defend his actions to the hilt without answering any questions. His handlers were very careful not to expose him to hostile questions, but facts have been bubbling up regardless. The weapons of mass destruction did not exist and in fact, had been sold to Sadaam Hussein by the Reagan and Bush Sr. administration during the earlier Iran-Iraqi War. Their hope was both sides would simply do each other in and then the US could move into the created vacuum for US hegemony. Congress did investigate this, validated the sale of both chemical/biological agents and nuclear information. It was noted this fact did not appear during this war period, but it is vitally important. The absence of historical fact only leads to widespread distortion of the truth and the ability to bend public will to a predetermined conclusion. Bush's handlers were aware of this and carefully groomed major corporate CEOs, particularly media, to their way of thinking. Consequently, the war became primarily a media affair with very little truth coming out until recently. Now a maelstrom has developed over domestic propaganda and White House involvement.
Hopefully, the press will meet their failings and rehabilitate themselves. The same exists for the White House and Congress; however, it will take the American public to force the press, government, the pentagon and many other institutions to change their wayward ways in remembrance of their basic purpose towards public trust. Until then, society's fabric will continue to tear away with each hateful utterance by the likes of Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of their ilk who distort the truth with a disdain much like the White House.
Scott McClellan is not a hero, but he is a symbol of a conscience which finally prevailed in a cesspool of eruditic confusion. The wholesale desire by the White House to fabricate anything in order to spin a story and maintain public credibility whether by manufacturing a myth involving Jessica Lynch or the existence of WMDs in Iraq. It all comes down to the same disdain for the truth and the prevalence of ignorance in the highest officers of this land. We have only yet to realize the tip of this iceberg.
Why do Americans allow a substandard candidate such as George W. Bush Jr. become President of the United States? His history indicated a silver spoon youth who flaunted responsibility and depended upon his father to bail him out of trouble repeatedly. Bush influence granted him access to the Texas Air National Guard 3 days after college graduation in lieu of being drafted though the waiting list was 18 months long. Later he was given a direct commission and allowed into flight training again being unqualified for the first and woefully for the second. Bush and his handlers have attempted to blur this man's fall from grace during the Guard period, but facts do exist. George Bush Jr. was removed from flight duty for failing to obey orders to take a flight physical and other reasons. Any flight duty removal immediately necessitates a board review composed of field officers who then document the exact reasons for this action. This document was never brought up by the press who either never knew or chose not to ask. Bush was aware of this and kept very quiet emphasizing only his discharge.
He also never admitted violating a signed contract and two other documents when he agreed to seek out a Reserve or Guard unit in Massachusetts after being accepted in Harvard Business School and discharge from the Texas Air National Guard. He simply failed to do this without fear from the FBI who regularly investigated and detained deserters. He has no reason to fear since his father was a US Representative and being a silver spoon youth. Bush simply chose his life path as he saw fit and never worried about the consequences.
His business experience is inconsequential since he followed the same routine of irregularity and authority deviation. Dependence upon his Father and George Sr.'s friends for both business advancement as well as to extricate him from delicate situations became a trademark. One business after another failed and in one situation he used his situation to make a stock market killing. Problem was he as on the board and specifically a budget committee which knew the financial status of the the corporate stock. Nevertheless, Bush dumped the stock, made a mint and was later investigated by the SEC. The SEC never really dropped the investigation, but Bush would claim, erroneously, it had been.
His wild days of college and the Guard were punctuated by stories of alleged drug abuse, alcoholic stupor and debauchery. Bush, in one account, allegedly impregnated a girl and then drove her to a Houston hospital for an abortion. Larry Flynt, renown Penthouse publisher, apparently tracked down the woman, now married to an FBI agent, but she refused to talk for fear of his husband's future. It was this type of fear Bush and his protective friends depended on to stymy any criticism whether valid or not. Another reaction was to simply attack the credibility of anyone who dared uttered a disdainful statement, but that didn't always work.
Bush was elected Texas governor and quickly embroiled himself in scandal of major proportions involving a funeral home corporation. He immediately ever meeting with any corporate officials, but others quickly corroborated seeing officers in Bush's office. The scandal didn't really follow him like Whitewater did the Clintons, but the stain remained. It was there for anyone to see and a responsible press could quickly bring up credibility questions.
Americans want to quickly forget any discrediting episode and have a tendency to positively reinforce their position. The Nixon deal is an ideal example of this since he was a law flaunter of major proportions before and during his presidency. Bush Jr. has shown a tendency not only to skirt the law, but to openly advertise the fact he has down so. Congress will not hold him accountable, but history will long after he is gone. He can't hid his record forever nor transfer records to a safe have as he did his Texas governor papers to his father's presidential library. Eventually, a lawsuit forced Bush to relinquish these to the State of Texas and archivists are busy cataloging the documents. This President has a tendency to believe what he wants, as McClellan points out, and then justify his position at that moment regardless of recorded facts. The honesty of it is fleeting, but his doesn't seem to bother the Bush administration.
The Iraqi War is stocked with pre-war propaganda and mistruths. Bush will defend his actions to the hilt without answering any questions. His handlers were very careful not to expose him to hostile questions, but facts have been bubbling up regardless. The weapons of mass destruction did not exist and in fact, had been sold to Sadaam Hussein by the Reagan and Bush Sr. administration during the earlier Iran-Iraqi War. Their hope was both sides would simply do each other in and then the US could move into the created vacuum for US hegemony. Congress did investigate this, validated the sale of both chemical/biological agents and nuclear information. It was noted this fact did not appear during this war period, but it is vitally important. The absence of historical fact only leads to widespread distortion of the truth and the ability to bend public will to a predetermined conclusion. Bush's handlers were aware of this and carefully groomed major corporate CEOs, particularly media, to their way of thinking. Consequently, the war became primarily a media affair with very little truth coming out until recently. Now a maelstrom has developed over domestic propaganda and White House involvement.
Hopefully, the press will meet their failings and rehabilitate themselves. The same exists for the White House and Congress; however, it will take the American public to force the press, government, the pentagon and many other institutions to change their wayward ways in remembrance of their basic purpose towards public trust. Until then, society's fabric will continue to tear away with each hateful utterance by the likes of Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of their ilk who distort the truth with a disdain much like the White House.
Scott McClellan is not a hero, but he is a symbol of a conscience which finally prevailed in a cesspool of eruditic confusion. The wholesale desire by the White House to fabricate anything in order to spin a story and maintain public credibility whether by manufacturing a myth involving Jessica Lynch or the existence of WMDs in Iraq. It all comes down to the same disdain for the truth and the prevalence of ignorance in the highest officers of this land. We have only yet to realize the tip of this iceberg.
