Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Karl Rove & The New Standard of Dishonesty

From David Sirota:

The revelation that Karl Rove helped compromise U.S. national security by potentially leaking the name of a CIA operative's identity raises a simple question: what, if anything, do you have to do to get fired by the Bush White House?

It seems there is no limit anymore to what abuses top government officials can engage in and still face no consequences. In fact, not only do they face no consequences, they get promoted. For instance, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice essentially perjured herself in front of the 9/11 Commission. Instead of being fired, she was promoted to Secretary of State. Similarly, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld lied to America by telling us "We know where [the WMDs] are - they're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." He was rewarded by being re-appointed Secretary of Defense.

Now, after selling out America's national security, Karl Rove got himself appointed White House Deputy Chief of Staff.

The only people who get fired, it seems, are people who actually tell the truth. When White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey said the Iraq War might cost $200 billion he was fired. Likewise, when Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told the truth about the effects of the President's tax cuts, he also was fired.

Can you imagine it the other way around? Can you imagine how loud the demands for firing would have been had a Clinton cabinet secretary committed perjury on national security issues before Congress? Yes, you can - which shows the hypocrisy of the relative silence about this affair.

The Rove-Plame matter really highlights how the lasting legacy of this administration will be to create a new standard of government dishonesty where the public is trained to expect everything that comes from official government sources to be lies.

Think about it: A top White House aide still has access to classified information even while he is under investigation for using that access to get back at a political enemy and thus endanger U.S. national security. Meanwhile, the White House press machine has repeatedly lied about this aide's role, with impugnity.

In short, we have come to the bottom of a bottomless pit of deception, where there ceases to be any standard of truth, and where even the hardest of hard facts can be distorted. The lasting effect will be the true erosion of our government's credibility both with its own people, and the world.

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