My brother has an unusually good column today, Caught on Tape, capping a good week.
You read enough of this stuff, and you wonder just how much incompetence and lying we must endure before a handful of Republican patriots wake up to idea that war crimes is an impeachable offense.
And then of course reality sets in: the Democrats would have to go first. Seen even a baker’s dozen of gutsy national-party Democrats recently?
Given that this administration lies to its own politically appointed lawyers, it should hardly be a surprise that it lies to the rest of us too. Still, you might think that when they get caught doing something bad, announce that they are shocked to learn about it, and promise that they’ve put a stop to it, they might actually stop.
But no.
Via TalkLeft,
When Donald Rumsfeld said the Pentagon had stopped paying to plant favorable news stories in the Iraqi press, he meant to say that the Pentagon was thinking about stopping. His earlier statement was
a liemistaken and has been withdrawn.
Last week Rumsfeld gave an interview in which he said,
“When we heard about it we said, ‘Gee, that’s not what we ought to be doing,’ and told the people down there,”
But apparently none of that ever took the trouble to actually happen.
Reminds me of the joke we used to tell about Nixon:
Q: How do you tell if Nixon is lying?
A: See if his lips are moving.
While attention is focused on the Veep’s decapitation authority, the real issue of his declassification authority is not getting the attention it deserves. LiberalOasis has a nice analysis. I haven’t checked the original sources personally, but this seems very plausible to me.
Ted Kennedy reported the Chappaquiddick accident a full eight hours after it happened, and has never entirely lived it down.
How long did Cheney wait before informing the local police? It’s unclear, although presumably the closed-mouthed Secret Service knew right away. But Cheney did wait almost 24 hours before telling anyone else, and the media strategy screams cover-up. Not that we yet know a single fact that would have been worth covering up, do we?
Bonus jokes — I think they are jokes — here and here.
I suppose it distracts from Iraq, the economy, Plame, New Orleans, the deficit, Abramoff, and all the rest of it.
Probably the best historical parallel for Vice President Cheney’s shotgun accident while quail hunting is Talking Point Memo’s remark that,
Dick Cheney now joins Aaron Burr as one of the two vice presidents to shoot someone while in office. Are we leaving anyone out?
That said, questions swirl around the incident, including just how severe the injuries are, and why the Veep’s office waited 24 hours to acknowledge the incident.
TalkLeft has some background on the legal issues. It appears lawyers were not in season…
Juan Cole explains the Plame scandal in pictures. Simple enough for anyone to understand.
Jotwell Blenderlaw