by Patrick Lang
In listening to the “Beltway/K St.” crowd discuss the ever widening Abuse of Power scandal surrounding the Bush Administration I am struck by the profound immorality of many of the statements being made by people who have served for decades at the right hand of presidents and members of Congress.
 Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including PBS’s Newshour, and most recently on MSNBC’s Hardball and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” His CV and blog are linked below the fold. |
“That’s just how the Game is Played,” or “Let’s not Criminalize Politics” would be samples of the kind of rhetoric floating around these days in the world of the “talking heads.” What is meant by that?
The idea implicit in statements of this kind by people like David Gergen and Pat Buchanan is that there is nothing wrong with using the power of the executive branch of government to manipulate the press to destroy the reputations and livelihoods of political opponents. The belief seems to be that pressurizing or seducing media executives to accept false and misleading statements about critics of the policies of the government of the day is just a form of “contact sport” and that, in fact, all is truly fair in love, war, and now politics. It seems that the “wise men” also believe that it is just part of the game to “recruit” reporters for the national print media and then use them as instruments of propaganda to deceive the public and contribute to the destruction of the “loyal opposition.”
If it is true that the politics of personal destruction are so widely accepted by the political establishment … Cont. below:
If it is true that the politics of personal destruction are so widely accepted by the political establishment in the city named for one of the most honest men who ever lived, then perhaps we should change the name of the place. Maybe “Nixon City” would be more realistic or perhaps “Pedernales Flats” for one of my “favorite” presidents.
Patrick Fitzgerald is evidently still deciding what to do about the cruel and selfish “system” that his investigation into the equivalent of the “bungled burglary” has revealed. To my mind, the central question before him and his grand jury is not whether or not some combination if these monkeys “outed” Mrs. Wilson.
No, the main issue is whether or not it is a crime punishable under federal law for federal officers and employees to use the power of the state to combine in the covert destruction of a man’s reputation and livelihood.
It seems possible that the putative conspirators have violated the civil rights of Joe Wilson by so combining against him. If Fitzgerald thinks so, and a conviction occurred on this charge….
There might be some change in the “rules of the game.”
Pat Lang
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib <a href="Posts
Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
is how craven the media mavens have become. You’ve hit the right note here: there’s nothing moral about the actions of the Bush administration and many Republican politicans these days in Washington. That anyone has come to accept it as normal behavior or business as usual is sickening.
They are “testing” new frames
That’s just How the Game is Played,” or “Let’s not Criminalize Politics”
… I can just hear it now… Let boys..be boys…
While repeating the same lies over and over and over again.
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard Andrea Mitchell slip into every discussion that Joe Wilson wasn’t always truthful … and that’s why Larry’s story above is SO important. He shows how the powerful in the media — like Andrea Mitchell — can control the message, even when it can be proved false.
I suppose the outing of Clinton’s sex like is just how the game is played, too!
It sounds to me like the echo chamber has given up trying to pretend that the Repubs are innocent, and now they’re trying to pretend that the things they’re guilty of aren’t really crimes. Perhaps the next stage is attempting to redefine words, to wit: “Well, it all depends on what you mean by ‘treason’.”
Exactly… so where is the Democratic response frame.
is that a new oxymoron?
to have their own MSM tv show. Two of the smartest men inside the beltway that have integrity to boot! Who shall we pitch them to?
They’d better put it on HBO. What with obscenity restraints and all.
(Oh, I’d love it … right before Bill Maher!)
I’ll third the nomination. Some of the networks would be concerned that neither of them obviously owns a blowdryer. They look like people who actually work for a living.
Geez, two real analysts, neither of whom are particularly beholden to right or left, and who think that ‘fair and balanced’ means getting the real story and telling the truth, not parroting opposing spin memos. Journalism, what a concept. What would Ed Morrow think?
IOKIYAR.
Say what?
“It’s Ok If You’re A Republican.”
Thank you sbj….I was having a blond moment there. Just could not pull it out for the life of me…lol!
Sorry, wasn’t trying to cause confusion…
But it does sorta sum it up, to me. These guys really DO have several sets of standards depending on where any particular person or group stands in their particular pecking order… basically, might makes right, with scales on how much can be done to you, based on how much you might be able to fight back. You can do whatever you can get away with as long as you’re doing it to people lower than you are on the scale.
The egg hunt for WMDs in the oval office?
The shooting gallery named Iraq?
Certainly they don’t play “Sorry”.
They like Monopoly, and Risk (with first strike rules in effect) but don’t have a Clue.
If they end up in jail they might learn Upwards.
They have always been partial to Battleship, but now find themselves in Trouble.
I guess the real question is whether they played Treason, or High Crimes and Misdemeanors. The rules there are little fuzzy, but we know it when we see it.