Moral Values, George Bush, Bernie Kerik, and Hypocrisy....

[kentuck]

Think about it. This Administration has just run a political campaign on "moral values" with their big Republican noses stuck high into the air. They are so much more "moral" than those Democrats. Some have said that was the issue that won the race for Bush.

Now fast forward to one month past the election and George Bush is nominating Bernie Kerik, ex- NY police commissioner, as head of Homeland Security. Then in a matter of days, they report he is withdrawing from the position because of a "nanny" affair.

But that was not the only "affair" going on. But it was the only one the White House was concerned about. Reportedly, they knew about Mr. Kerik "colorful" past? They knew about his direct connections to the mob? They knew about his whore-hopping around while he was still married? They knew about his misuse of his dept in helping his girlfriend, Judith Regan? Just how much did they know? Everything except his "nanny" affair?

Just how much does George Bush care about "moral values"? Obviously, not very much at all. How should we interpret this den of iniquity that was known to the White House but they were willing to turn their heads? What can we call it other than "hypocrisy"?

[disillusioned1]

1. I read today where Kerik has mob connections

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[Cats Against Frist]

2. Attempting to wrap your mind around it is near futile

but my best guess is that it works from a psychological phenomenon called "projection."

So they set "moral standards" up for themselves, and they fail to reach them, because they're humans, and they're really no better than any random human -- but they react poorly to this failure, which leads them to two basic perversions: 1. As a result of repression, they become obsessed with a behavior, and therefore continue to seek it out. This can be explained easily in the relationship between myself and a two-layer, dark chocolate cake.

The second one is projection: this is where we come in. As they subscribe to a black-and-white worldview -- this usually means that there is tension in their world between the "good object" and the "bad object" MEANING that the good object is virtue and the bad is libertinism. As they continue to fail, however, these states become ultra-polarized, and they begin to develop self-hatred for their failures -- BUT, rather than accept this -- they PROJECT IT, onto a scapegoat -- liberals. It's much like homophobia and latent homosexuality, which IS, psychologically, a sound correlation, though it is not true in all cases.

This explains a lot of the Orwell-GOP stuff, and why they seem to totally have no problem blaming us for being "angry" or "attacking them," -- when it is obvious to us, the rest of the world, and any educated person who isn't a neocon, that their transgressions in this area are FAR more egregious.

Of course, you attempt to tell them this, and they say some shit about psychobabble, and how they can drive a backhoe and you can't change a light bulb.

[kentuck]

3. Moral examples for us all..

Do as we say, not as we do...

[Supersedeas]

4. the GOP convention keynote speaker should have made it clear

what kind of Party these people run.

The folks in the Hinterland do not care about truth.

They just want to hear that their leaders are faith-based.

[Zero Gravitas]

5. the nanny

the nanny may well just be a cover for the corruption (moral and otherwise) and the incompetence and the cronyism and the mob connections and the lies. The few who are looking for actual facts about the alleged Nanny aren't finding much hard evidence. The Nanny excuse is becoming Washington's equivalent of "spending more time with his family" in the business world.

Apart from Kerik being a goon and a slimeball, this whole episode shows how messed up this Administration is, Kerik was chosen on account of his loyalty to The Cause, his "tough guy" image (which turns Emperor Bush on) and on Bush's "gut feeling". There is apparently no mechanism in place to discover even the biggest obstacles to his confirmation before the announcement was made. The White House staff is apparently unwilling or unable to contradict The Leader's proclamations.