Dan Eggen reports:
It was bad enough for President Bush to have shoes tossed at his head during his farewell journey to Baghdad. Now comes a new poll in which Americans call Bush all sorts of names — some of them a lot worse than “dog.”
In a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, respondents were asked to volunteer their assessments of how Bush would be remembered after he leaves office. The most frequent response, from 56 people, was “incompetent,” followed by “idiot,” “arrogant,” “ignorant,” “stupid,” and so on. Nine people volunteered a three-letter synonym for donkey.
No matter how much we learn, we still don’t get it. Bush is a C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L. He might be an incompetent criminal, an idiot criminal, an arrogant criminal, an ignorant criminal, a stupid criminal, and so on. My might even be an ass. But it’s the noun, not the modifying adjective, that really matters.
Bush has committed crimes. At some point it seems that all of our presidents commit some crime or another. I have a pretty low opinion of the morals of every president since Jimmy Carter, and Carter was no saint. But Bush’s crimes are consequential. Bush’s crimes wrecked the country. We could afford to overlook JFK’s affairs but we couldn’t afford to overlook Nixon’s. The same is true of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
And no, it’s not all Bush’s fault. People voted for Bush after they’d had every opportunity to see him in action. The media and the opposition enabled Bush in his criminality almost as much as his own party. And, for that very reason, they’re inclined to give him a pass for his crimes. Understand this…the people already think Bush is lower than a dog. There’s not that much political peril in adjudicating him as one.
I understand the need for national unity and healing. Believe me, I do. But real unity and real healing can only come after we stop thinking of Bush as some hapless blunderer and pass the verdict of felon on him and his legacy.
Will it happen? All I know is that it should happen. Richard Nixon was a quarter the crook that Bush has turned out to be. And Nixon could actually run the country’s affairs without bankrupting us.
If I was Obama, after the swearing-in I would call over Eric Holder, tell him to immediately appoint Patrick Fitzgerald as Special Prosecutor to investigate any and all crimes committed during the War on Terror, and let Fitz go at it.
If the investigation takes down some major Democrats — Pelosi, Rockefeller, Jane Harman, Daschle — then oh well. Nobody is safe, nobody is above the law, and whoever authorized and committed crimes will pay with fines and/or prison sentences.
If Bush doesn’t pardon anyone, then you have no excuse not to investigate. Claiming it is “in the past” is ridiculous. WWII was “in the past” when Nuremberg took place. Every crime is in the past.
If Bush does pardon some (I don’t think he will pardon everyone) then that will place a big enough cloud of suspicion over the Bush years to necessitate an investigation. Oh, and everyone who got a pardon will have no excuse not to testify fully and accurately, lest they face the penalty of perjury or obstruction of justice.
If one of us were Obama, that’s what we would do. He will never do anything as bold and controversial as go after Bush for crimes. Not going to happen.
Can’t pardon someone out of a civil suit.
Even if Bush pardons everyone, you can investigate. They no longer have Fifth Amendment protections. They have admitted to a crime in accepting the pardon. So you can get information. And you can impeach if you have the likelihood of getting the votes to convict. And impeachment can be most useful in disqualifying a new generation of Busheviks from ever gaining power in spite of the facts of their pardons.
It will be interesting to see if there is a change in Congressional Republicans after January 20. Current indications are that there won’t be, but Bush-Cheney are still in a position to hurt Republicans. And Paul Weyrich is gone, leaving a hole at the Heritage foundation in terms of vision and strategy; those sycophants who are getting wingnut welfare there can’t save the Republican Party. And there are a significant group of Republican Congressmen and Senators who have not been behaving to type during the entire Bush administration. Maybe Dick Lugar will find his voice again, for example. Or Olympia Snowe, her independence. Again, not likely but interesting to see.
Fitzgerald?
Whadda you? Kiddin’ me or what?
He’ll prosecute some Renfield-ish gofer type like Scooter Libby or Blagojevitch and the real vampires will just laugh up their sleeves and retire to their castles.
Further…
This will never, ever happen. Yer livin’ in some sort of dream world.
Pelosi, Rockefeller, Harman, Daschle?
Right.
Give me a break!!!
Where have you been the last 50 years? Shangri La?
Nuremberg?
If Germany had won W.W. II and then prosecuted the people who appeared in the dock at Nuremberg a parallel might be made between this situation and that one. Or if the U.S. actually fell to a superior power and was totally occupied.
Otherwise…empty dreams.
Empty.
Sleep well.
Later…
AG
maybe this is a job for duane “dog” chapman. as they say, it takes a
thiefdog …Keep hammering away, BooMan. I agree with you completely. Hope the coming economic crash, with all its ramifications, does not cloud the issue so much that Bush THE CRIMINAL escapes with all his evil cohorts. Madoff stole some fifty billion, GWB has put a nation in peril. Both are sociopaths, both should pay for their crimes.
There is nothing so crucial than shedding light on what has happened. Personally, I dream of dozen “perp walks” but I don’t think it will happen. Our legal system requires a unanimous verdict for a criminal conviction and the GOP has done too good a job of convincing low information voters that their lives and property were at peril. There’s also the problem of statute of limitations; Cheney is good at some things!
Yes, Holder can do it. It is no coincidence that the Republicans want to hold up his confirmation as long as possible. There are significant dates in March that will make some convictions impossible.
But at the very least, a “truth commission” must be formed. My personal concern is the extensive data mining, and I don’t think the average citizen has a clue. Hopefully, the total economic collapse arranged by the neocons on their way out won’t be a total distraction.
And there are also the potential civil suits…Especially for voter caging. It’s important that they be pursued because (like OJ) being impoverished may be our only recourse for Rumsfeld, et al.
No one is going to telegraph punches before January 20.
We will know then whether it is cowardice or studied ambiguity.
As if Obama’s choices so far have not “telegraphed” his intentions.
Ain’t gonna be no punches.
He sees himself as a healer. He is into elision, not collision.
Bet on it.
Time will tell if he is correct in his tactical choices.
Time will tell.
Later…
AG
You act like Obama is going to be a dictator of what all of the government does.
Congress will continue to carry out investigations. Who Obama appoints as US Attorneys will be a tell; see if they are “rule of law” fundamentalists on the order of Patrick Fitzgerald.
People will be bringing suit for damages, which may or might be thrown out as “frivolous”.
Obama is not going to control the situation even though he will control the rhetoric.
In 21st century America, controlling the rhetoric is controlling the situation. 1984 came a little late this century is where this really sits. Bet on it.
Provided that he can maintain a positive position with the opinion-making media…a position that will not change as long as he can continue to hold out the promise of rectifying the mistakes of the past 8 years that have cost their corporate owners trillions…he’s got that corporate media part knocked.
Remember…there has unarguably been a changing of the gurard, but the castle that is being guarded?
No change.
None at all.
Trust me.
The check’s in my mouth and it won’t come in the mail.
Watch.
AG
As I’ve said here before, George Bush needs to be is a glass booth answering charges.
But Obama either doesn’t have the stones or the moral imperative to put him there.
Anybody wanna bet otherwise?
To add insult to injury (or would it be injury on top of injury?), Bush is salting the earth and poisoning the wells as fast as he can on his way out. I’ll be amazed if he’s held to account. So far the message has been that if you’re of a certain class or station in life there are no consequences.
There is an essay in the book THE ASSASSINATIONS, edited by our very own RealHistoryLisa, which deals with the rewritten history of JFK over the years. The author of the essay does a pretty convincing job that most of the affairs that have been attributed to JFK just didn’t happen. You could also read Donald Spoto’s incredibly detailed biography of Marilyn Monroe. The affairs with JFK and RFK? They just did not happen. The times when they were supposed to be together they were in different places. Judith Campbell Exner? Nope.
Everyone should read that essay, if only to understand how lies are injected into our culture. Oh, and who was injecting those lies.
Oh, and JFK wasn’t likely to drop dead from Addison’s Disease anytime soon, if you want to rationalize his death.
Just saying.