« More on the Recent Study of Genetic Diversity in Human Populations
Main
What Does This Have to Do With the Price of Olive Oil in Jerusalem? »
October 28, 2005
Bitter Sweet Thoughts on the Libby Indictment
Today I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, senior advisor to President Bush and chief of staff to Vice President Cheney was indicted on two counts of giving false statements, two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. It is possible, but I think unlikely, that more will come. In one sense, this may seem like happy day for those of us who believe that the whole Bush Administration, top to bottom, is a bunch of crooks and liars. While Mr. Libby deserves the presumption of innocence, the indictments themselves give the lie to Administration claims that they have somehow restored "honor and dignity" to the Whitehouse. They know nothing of real honor and have only the illusion of dignity.
On the other hand, as Joe Wilson, husband of Valerie Plame Wilson, said in his prepared statement,
Today is a sad day for America. When an indictment is delivered at the front door of the White House, the Office of the President is defiled. No citizen can take pleasure from that.
However necessary and justified these charges may be, however much bringing them may strengthen us in the long term, the very fact that they had to be brought shows the misplaced trust of the electorate. And while I blame the Administration as a whole for whatever crimes and damage may have been done, I also blame the people who voted for President Bush knowing what he was and what he stood for. And finally, I blame myself for not doing everything I could to keep him out of office.
As the political debate over these charges and the trial goes forward, let us all remember what it is about and what it is not about. It is not about Joe Wilson or Valerie Plame. It is not about retaliation for Clinton's impeachment. And it is not about the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald.
It is about the evils of attack politics. It is about the judgment of the President and Vice President when it comes to selecting advisors. It is about the extent to which high level members of our government including the President and Vice President can be trusted. It is about the arrogance that often comes with power. To be sure, it is about Mr. Libby. But it is also about why we went to war in Iraq because the reason we went to war relates to all the other things these indictments are about.
Posted by Duane Smith at October 28, 2005 4:46 PM | Read more on Current Events |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1422
Comments
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.
Send me an email if it is important.