Lower expectation, less accountability

[struggle4progress]

Sunday, June 12, 2005
MUSTARD SEEDS n Rick Senften Repository special projects editor

The Republican national strategy is so dumb it’s brilliant. So brilliant, we may never see the end of it. <snip>

The goal seems to be this: Lower citizen expectations so much that accountability is never a concern. Given the aptitude of the average American regarding matters of public policy — he or she is more likely to know the nightly reality TV lineup than the names of town council members — this is an entirely sound plan. Regular folks who aren’t on top of the facts aren’t likely to hold their elected officials responsible for the same sin; that would be hypocritical. <snip>

Then we have George Bush, who confesses a disdain for current events (you can believe that of a guy who’s glossed over such little matters as prisoner abuse in Cuba and Iraq, taxpayer-gouging by Halliburton and the Enron scandal). He takes his cues from heaven, he says, so it must have been the Lord who told George the Iraqis were squirreling away nukes and poison bombs and that it would be a good idea to send soldiers over there to make them stop. How can we blame him for the fact we still haven’t found those WMDs, or that 1,600 soldiers have died? Maybe he just misunderstood the voice. Maybe it was a party line.

When did we fall into this permissiveness? Perhaps back in the ’80s, when Ronald Reagan was so asleep he didn’t know Ollie North was in the White House basement cooking up the Iran-Contra scheme. Bonzo’s sidekick seemed so baffled when the news came out, but he maintained that cheesy Gipper grin and we kept letting him. <snip>

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=26&ID=227446&r=1

[KoKo]

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